Customer Reviews

Enchantment Emporium, The

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is like an English trife; covered with rich whipped cream, layered with fresh fruit, thick vanilla pudding, raspberry jam and pound cake soaked generously in sherry and chilled until every flavour blends,yet leaving the textures distinct. It's delicious, a lovely book.
When I read the first thirty pages I was slightly dismayed with multiple characters doing bizarre things without logic or connection... men wearing antlers, multiple couplings, people popping in and out of interdimensional shrubbery, unpleasant aunts and lots and lots of baked goods. I even put it away for a week, but once I picked it up again I could not put it down. All the characters connected, the story revealed itself and then there were dragons and I was hooked. (There is nothing like a sexy dragon to lock me into a story.)
Half way through I started checking to see how much more of the book was left to read; I didn't want it to end. And when it did, I went back and reread those first thirty pages and they all fell into place.
This is not a book with neat endings and tidy resolutions. The author leaves unanswered questions and a certain sadness at the conclusion. Not everyone necessarily lives happily ever after but perhaps they do. Or perhaps they live they way they were meant to after all, and that can be a comfort.
Tanya Huff is such a fine writer and this book is a keeper!

I really enjoyed this book from Tanya, though it's quite a change of pace from her others. What can I say, I love dragon stories - and the dragons in this each seemed like a real person with different personalities and stories of their own, not just as linked to the fully human and not so fully human characters. I loved having a book set in Winnipeg. I loved the very literary setting and feel (this book will appeal to Jasper Fjorde fans even though it is not silly). And I very much prefer stories that end properly and stand on their own, even though there will be more in that world, than stories which just seem like a set-up for books 2 and 3. I'll be buying all future books in this world, and I hope there is one soon.

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