REVIEW; A Witch’s Guide To Magical Innkeeping

Title: A Witch’s Guide To Magical Innkeeping
Author: Sangu Mandanna
Genre: Adult, (cosy) fantasy
Type: Paperback
Publisher: Berkley

Sera Swan was once one of the most powerful witches in Britain. Then she resurrected her great-aunt Jasmine from the (very recently) dead, lost most of her magic, befriended a semi-villainous talking fox, and was exiled from her magical Guild. Now she (slightly reluctantly and just a bit grumpily) helps Aunt Jasmine run an inn in Lancashire, where she deals with her quirky guests’ shenanigans, tries to keep the talking fox in check, and longs for the magical future she lost.

When she learns about an old spellbook that holds the secret to restoring her power, she turns to Luke Larsen, a gorgeous historian who might just be able to help her unlock the book’s mysteries. Luke, who has his own reasons for staying at the inn, never planned on getting involved in the madcap goings-on around him and definitely had no intention of letting certain grumpy innkeepers past his icy walls, so no one is more surprised than he is when he not only agrees to help, but also finds himself thawing.

Running an inn, reclaiming lost magic, and staying one step ahead of the watchful Guild is a lot for anyone, but Sera is about to discover that she doesn’t have to do it alone… and that the weird, wonderful family she’s made might be the best magic of all.

Another one that is comforting, warm, magical. Found family to the max – every character in this is so different and I adore it. Sera, my beloved, trying so hard to be prickly and thorny but unable to hide just how much and how hard she loves. So fierce in her defense of the people she cares about, so beautiful in the way she builds herself back up again, she just needs to be shown how she looks from a different angle.

And Luke whose armour is as rigid as Sera’s is thorny, who tried to turn himself to tin (not literally) to make himself palatable to people who were never going to accept him anyway. They are so well-matched, both so fiercely protective and so fiercely loving. They both come from an Outsider position to the British magical guild and it gives them a unique perspective on each other and on magic itself that informs their relationships and characters so much.

There is so much I love about this book, so many individual scenes that struck me so deeply – the diaspora in this is very felt for all that it is not such a major plotpoint. It influences the characters, informs the story, but not in a heavy handed manner. There’s just like, a sprinkling of desi-ness throughout that made me pause and go yes. One scene in particular that struck me was at the beginning of the story when Albert Grey (very smugly, in my opinion, all my homies hate the guy) throws her out of the guild and Sera thinks that he might come from an unbroken line of seemingly prestigious magical users but she comes from a line of resistance. The way her Indian-ness is referenced is peppered in like that and it just made me very happy to see, especially because this throughline of coming from a line of pushing back against oppression and tyranny is followed through with.

The story is very well-written. There’s something very conversational and immersive about the storytelling that drags me into Sera’s world. And I know I said it already, but the found family of it all is so beautiful. I really hope Sangu continues to write stories like this.

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