Audio Book Review: A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher

This is a charming story of a 14-year-old magical baker.
A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking
Author T. Kingfisher
Narrator: Patricia Santomasso

Duration: 8 h 30 min
Release Date October 2021
Publisher: Tantor Audio
Genre: Fantasy, Magic, Middle Grade, Mysteries
My Rating: 4.5 of 5.0 Overall; Story 4.5; Narration 4.5.

Publisher's summary
Fourteen-year-old Mona isn't like the wizards charged with defending the city. She can't control lightning or speak to water. Her familiar is a sourdough starter, and her magic only works on bread. She has a comfortable life in her aunt's bakery making gingerbread men dance.
But Mona's life is turned upside down when she finds a dead body on the bakery floor. An assassin is stalking the streets of Mona's city, preying on magic folk, and it appears that Mona is his next target. And in an embattled city suddenly bereft of wizards, the assassin may be the least of Mona's worries....
©2020 T. Kingfisher (P)2021 Tantor

Review:
Mona enjoys her magical skills to help in her aunt’s bakery. She occasionally entertains customers with dancing gingerbread men and in the basement is a mostly friendly bucket of sourdough starter, “Bob”, that they feed and it shares dough with her. Other than that, Mona isn’t inclined to think about magic.

One early morning. Mona arrives at the bakery to start cooking and she discovers a dead girl on the floor. The authorities take Mona to the Queen to have her sentenced for the murder. However, the Queen is aware that there are other forces at work and she releases Mona because she sees she isn’t the killer.

Coming home Mona meets a young boy in distress over the loss of his sister in the bakery. They realize that the girl, who had magical skills, may have been killed instead of Mona. Soon Mona and other gifted people in the community are leaving or going into hiding to avoid being assassinated or captured by the constables and authorities who are turning against wizards.

Mona and her new young friend, Spindle, eventually sneak into the castle to take their suspicions of a coup attempt to the Queen. With the military wizard out of the area and the local, elderly wizard under attack, the battle lands in the hands of Mona and her baked troops, including a gingerbread on her shoulder and ‘dough Bob’ in angry mode.

I enjoyed the characters of Mona, Spindle, the queen and the unique magical friends that help them. There is good pacing and action in this fun, entertaining, and charming story. I was glad to pick up several more books to try by this author. This story does have killing and battle, but I think it is still suitable for middle graders. I recommend this to fans of light magical challenges.

Audio Notes: Patricia Santomasso does a lovely job with the narration. She provides clear voices with emotions that fit the characters. The narration enhanced my enjoyment, and I would be glad to listen to more stories narrated by Ms. Santomasso.

Source: May 5, 2022 Two for One Deal Credit at Audiobooks.com. This qualifies for 2023TBR and 2023Audiobook goals.