a preponderance of punctuation marks (reedrover) wrote,
a preponderance of punctuation marks
reedrover

Book review: The Enchantment Emporium by Tanya Huff

This was a fun romp, and definitely one of Huff's more frivolous pastries. The story is lightly set in Calgary, and we get to visit Banff along with some of the parks and interesting buildings around town. More importantly, Huff uses that wide open feeling to work the much older magic of what happens when someone smothered by too much family gets a chance to get away and claim some space of her own with the family she chooses to keep. The dragons aren't so typical as to be ho-hum, and the running gags actually got funnier at times. For example, the magic mirror in the hallway was quite cute, in an attitudinal kind of way.

The Enchantment Emporium is currently a stand-alone book, and had only one obvious "borrow" from Huff's previous work (a line about waxy buildup). Even though it was well done - fun, cute, sweet, funny - I'm kind of sorry that sexual attraction was the pivot point around which much of the plot (and a great deal of the banter) rotated. I must be in a prude mood with my reading these days. But never mind me. Go out and enjoy it. This is perfect summer reading for someone with adult understanding and fairytale humor. Everyone gets their guy (or fey, or dragon, or...) in the end, just like s/he is supposed to, and even the final draw-the-line stand is just the right salt and sugar mix.
Tags: books
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