The Teller of Small Fortunes by Julie Leong

Timy reviews The Teller of Small Fortunes, Julie Leong‘s debut cozy fantasy novel.

I received an eARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Possible fit for The Sound of Madness Reading Challenge 2024 prompts:

Joker prompt that goes with anything: Now We Are Free

A wandering fortune teller finds an unexpected family in this warm and wonderful debut fantasy, perfect for readers of Travis Baldree and Sangu Mandanna.

Tao is an immigrant fortune teller, traveling between villages with just her trusty mule for company. She only tells “small” fortunes: whether it will hail next week; which boy the barmaid will kiss; when the cow will calve. She knows from bitter experience that big fortunes come with big consequences…

Even if it’s a lonely life, it’s better than the one she left behind. But a small fortune unexpectedly becomes something more when a (semi) reformed thief and an ex-mercenary recruit her into their desperate search for a lost child. Soon, they’re joined by a baker with a knead for adventure, and—of course—a slightly magical cat.

Tao sets down a new path with companions as big-hearted as her fortunes are small. But as she lowers her walls, the shadows of her past are closing in—and she’ll have to decide whether to risk everything to preserve the family she never thought she could have.

For a while, I was on the fence whether I wanted to request The Teller of Small Fortunes or not. The blurb and the cover seemed intriguing and I do love cozy fantasy, but I wasn’t sure if I would be able to review it in time – and look at me, being a few days late with it. In my defense, I could review it in time, if I didn’t catch a nasty cold that got the better of me for a couple of days, delaying everything I planned – including getting some reading done.

Anyway. The book. I’m going to be upfront with you on the go – I did not like this book and it’s baffling, because everyone seems to be singing its praises. But then, I’m quite used to being in the minority when it comes to opinions about popular books, soooo… 🤷‍♀️ Let’s take a closer look, shall we?

Tao is traveling through Eshtera, telling small fortunes, keeping low – as much as a Shinn woman can in a foreign country with which relationships are rocky. She’s been fine by herself since she ran away from her family, thank you very much. Until, that is, when she meets Mash and Silt, two friends on the trail of a gang of bandits whom they suspect kidnapped Mash’s daughter. Kina, a baker whose pastries are good although they don’t look like it, also joins them as she longs for adventure. Tao slowly warms up to them, and they form a close-knit little group.

On the surface level, this absolutely sounds like my jam. I enjoy reading about found families and close-knit friend groups and on that level, The Teller of Small Fortunes works well enough. And even though we learn about Tao’s past, and about Mash and Silt’s past or about Kina’s dreams, I was never able to connect with them or get invested in their stories. I’m not quite sure why as they are not badly written characters. They have personalities, and their own arcs, and while they are not quite one-dimensional, I never had the feeling that they could walk off the pages.

I admit this book bored me, and that’s partly thanks to the fact that there is a lot of traveling – which we know I’m not very fond of. I know, I know, I was aware of the traveling aspect since I read the blurb, and yet I hoped that at least it would be more interesting. Or that there would be less of it, really. The characters leave way too fast from one place to the next, and I never had the sense of getting the world known. Yes, there are some rivaling countries mentioned, and some political conflicts, but it all remains somewhat surface level. Yes, I know this is a cozy fantasy, small scales and all, and that’s absolutely fine. And I could live with it if it wasn’t just one of many things I was annoyed with.

And here we come to the plot. Things just…seem to happen for no apparent reason. Mash and Silt walk around randomly as they lose track of the bandits so they run into Tao. They decide to go with her because of the small fortune she tells to Mash and he wants to see if she is the real deal before believing her. And even when they get news about the bandits eventually, it’s super underwhelming. There is also the magefinder plot that doesn’t have nearly enough depth to it either.

But it wasn’t until the 60% mark that I started to feel like this story was a bit ridiculous. And also it was also then that I realized why I was struggling – The Teller of Small Fortunes reads like a mix of cozy fantasy and a series of DnD quests within a campaign. And while I’m not an experienced DnD player (only played a handful of times and had fun), I’m not particularly a fan of this type of storytelling. Especially as I couldn’t understand why this group of friends made the decision they did without making a serious effort to understand what was going on, or even try hard enough to get answers. While I understand that they wanted to do anything in order to get help for their main goal, but didn’t they learn not to trust random strangers with offers that seems too good to be true? Because chances are, it is. I’d have expected more from an experienced traveler, a reformed thief, and an ex-soldier.

I don’t know, I’m sure the book gets a decent ending and everything will turn out well, but honestly, I didn’t really feel like picking it back up at this point. It definitely has its moments, though, and I liked to read about how the characters were bonding with each other, and how Tao was telling her fortunes. I liked in Kina’s character that even though she is the most inexperienced among them, and she is a bit nervous, but she never fails to speak her mind and save the day with kindness when it needs saving. She has a steel in her that’s not obvious at first glance.

Seeing all the glowing reviews, I realize I’m in the absolute minority when it comes to The Teller of Small Fortunes, so take my review how you will. Julie Leong‘s debut novel will appeal to those who like small-scale cozy fantasies with DnD elements and some banter. The Teller of Small Fortunes surely will earn quite a fandom for Leong, and that’s good, especially these days. A little more kindness is what we all need. Even if we don’t all click with the same books. I wasn’t meant to be the right audience this time around, but that happens. If this book will get more people to read cozy books, then hey, I’m all for it.