From the adorable cover and title (and the fact our main protagonist is fourteen years old), I thought this was an MG story. It opens with her finding a dead body as she's opening up the bakery. So then I thought YA? It sort of swings between MG, YA, and adult - much too dark for the younger categories in places, but much too cutesy to be "cosy adult" in the vein of Legends & Lattes? However, I was surprised to hear it read in UK English, by an American narrator. The narration, and Mona, are read in a rather cut-glass RP (received pronunciation) that, to be fair, the narrator holds well, but to my UK-English ears it sounded a bit carefully over-annunciated. Others characters came from all over, a bit of Irish, a bit of Australian, a bit of generic-rustic-yokel (think Sam Gamgee in the LotR films), and sometimes it was all a bit of a blend. I didn’t get why Mona, raised from a young age by her aunt and uncle, spoke so differently to them, and far more like the ruling classes. Mona is a baker, an ordinary girl, and no one else from her family, or the others we meet that she knows, speak that way. I thought I’ d get used to it, but I didn’t, and it nagged at me all the way through. A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking toes the line of upper middle grade and young adult, with a younger protagonist placed in a somewhat darker plot. The elements of innocence mixed with the hard truths — such as, sometimes people (even the good ones) die, and even adults in positions of power are fallible — are what makes this coming of age story so poignant, uplifting, and empowering. Mona’s wry and often disgusted commentary on what’s happening around her and just how far the situation has been left to go awry reads like both Sixteen Ways and the Discworld. Mona sees that things are going wrong, and comments about it to herself. A lot. There may be a certain amount of gallows in her humor, but then the situation does require it. stars. After even more time thinking about it, I still LOVE this book, but I'm not sure if it'll be as rereadable as the other books on the 7 stars list. Rereadability is an important factor.

The Carex began as this — they were originally mercenaries from a distant land hired to fight in a local war. Once the war ended, they decided they liked the area so much better than their old home that they never left, instead settling in and periodically pillaging nearby settlements ever since. Extremely sweet. I'd likely have been more impressed if I hadn't read Minor Mage first, but if you liked that, this is a similar concept and I think often funnier. Oh, and, for the record, I don't actually hate YA as a whole that much. (Okay, it may say so on my profile but it just a cunning scheme to deceive my enemies and stuff.) What I do hate quite very much indeed—and with a murderous vengeance—is crap stuff like this, crap stuff like this and crap stuff like this. You’re welcome. Where Harry Potter comes in, of course, is that Mona is just 14 and she’s expected to save the city. Which is ridiculous and insane and she’s very aware of the fact that there are lots of adults who weren’t adulting very well at all. It’s up to her and it just plain shouldn’t be. But it still is. Because even if she CAN manage to get better adults it’s not going to happen in time to save the city. So it’s all up to her, no matter how much she downright KNOWS that she is in over her head.Currently in Riverbraid, wizards are missing or becoming dead. There's a powerful assassin that's killing wizards and the magical community is leaving the city or going into hiding. If you have ever prepared for a siege in two days, then you know what the next few days were like. If you haven’t, then you probably don’t. Well…a big formal wedding is about the same (and because we do cakes, I’ve been on the periphery of a few), except that if things go wrong in a siege you’ll all die horribly, and in formal weddings, the stakes are much higher.” Then one morning she finds a dead body downstairs. Before the end of the day she’s been hauled before a tribunal for murder and becomes the target of a campaign against magic-users. Before the end of the month she finds herself the Head Wizard of Riverbraid, responsible for defending the town against an invading army. Fourteen-year-old Mona isn’t powerfully gifted like the wizards charged with defending the city. In fact, her magic is quite insignificant, because it only works on bread. Her familiar is a sourdough starter, and she amuses the customers at her aunt’s bakery by making gingerbread men dance. Suffice to say that it was utterly charming, perfectly plotted, and ageless -- I think anyone from 9 through adulthood could enjoy this. I’ve seen other reviewers complain that Mona is too passive and quiet, but I found her to be very resourceful, and I greatly enjoyed her voice and outlook.

Ursula Vernon Awards". Science Fiction Awards Database. Locus Science Fiction Foundation. Archived from the original on July 2, 2021 . Retrieved August 4, 2021. But Mona’s comfortable life is suddenly overturned when she discovers a dead body on the bakery floor one morning. An assassin stalks the streets of the city, hunting down the magic folk, and it appears he’s set his sights on Mona.

Nebula Award Winners Announced". Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. June 6, 2015 . Retrieved June 8, 2015. It all starts when Mona discovers a dead body in their bakery. Mona is a wizard that works with bread. Yep, bread. That's it - just bread. And although this is considered minor magic, she still gets accused of the murder solely because she is a wizard. It doesn't take long before she learns there is a growing threat that magicas like her are facing in the city-state and while most magical individuals leave (or are killed), Mona soon finds herself in the unenviable position of having to stand-up and fight against the enemy. When you're different, even just a little different, even in a way that people can't see, you like to know that people in power won't judge you for it. It felt like Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City because to a certain extent Mona and Orhan are in the same position. Their city has been betrayed from within – although not for the same reasons. Both of them are woefully underqualified for the role of city savior. Orhan because he’s a despised non-native of the city and Mona because she’s a despised – or at least feared – magic user. And she’s only 14.

You expect heroes to survive terrible things. If you give them a medal, then you don’t ever have to ask why the terrible thing happened in the first place. Or try to fix it. In 2023, Vernon announced she had been diagnosed with breast cancer. [9] Works [ edit ] Books for younger audiences [ edit ]

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Shortly after discovering the dead body, Mona ends up in the middle of a growing plot against wizards in the city, and all that entails. There are thrilling chases through the city, crawling up a toilet, and creating a crazed gingerbread army. When you're different, even just a little different, even in a way that people can't see, you like to know that people in power won't judge you for it.” Before becoming a published children's book author Vernon was primarily a freelance artist and illustrator, and she still regularly produces new works of art. Her work includes the creation of digital art as well as the use of more traditional mediums such as watercolour and acrylics, with much of her more recent work being mixed media. Most of her art work is available as prints. Vernon has also taken commercial commissions such as book covers and game art.