Immediately after finishing this book, I went and purchased two more copies to give as gifts to people in my life: one for my friend who’s a professional baker, and one for my 11-year-old nephew.

This book has such unexpected depth, despite its absolutely silly premise and youthful first-person narrator. When I first started it, I initially wasn’t sure about reading an entire book from the perspective of such a young main character (14!) who does sound and act her age. I also couldn’t tell if the book’s tone was for me - it’s irreverent, a little dark, and a bit casual about things like murder, whereas I’m more into lighter, cozy, wholesome sort of books. Still, the entertaining narration from our girl Mona and the engaging opening to the book really pulled me in, and I just couldn’t stop reading. And I’m so glad I kept with it!

Kingfisher is such a skilled storyteller, and this story unfolds into a compelling exploration of how hostility against minority groups becomes stoked and normalized, and how we often use the crowning of heroes to distract from the failures of governments, institutions, and people in power. This is all told through the eyes of our young protagonist and somehow maintains a relatively light and humorous tone throughout the book despite the weighty subject matter — not an easy task! Simultaneously full of cozy baking scenes, kiddish hijinks, and a fun magic system, this book somehow exists both as a distinctly political commentary and a whimsical YA fantasy. And surprisingly, it works!

I am really looking forward to gifting this to my kid nephew who I think will be very tickled by the magical gingerbread men and the silly poop scenes and such, but also be gently introduced to some of the deeper themes being subtly explored here around discrimination, the influence of state propaganda, and looking beyond the individual heroes tasked with saving the world to instead interrogate the systems in place that allowed for such problems to transpire in the first place.

Lastly, someone else said this in their review and I completely agree: In this novel kids are kids, and I love that. I think this type of portrayal of young protagonists is important in a genre that often asks children to take up the mantle of being a hero without ever interrogating how that experience might actually impact a child in real life. The author addresses this nuance well, and in that way there’s a lot of food for thought for adult readers of this book as well.

This was my first T. Kingfisher book but definitely won’t be my last. 4.5/5 stars.