Author: Shawn Wyatt
Blurb: What do you do when you're the lone alchemist in a dungeon town and you accidentally burn down your old shop?
You get a loan, move into a new shop, and get to work.
Hawke Moonsnow found himself in exactly this situation after a completely-accidental-fire-that-totally-wasn't-an-experiment-gone-wrong burned down his previous shop. The Adventurer's Guild paid for the new shop, under the conditions he repay the loan and sell potions at a discounted rate to newbie adventuring parties. That's not a problem. You know what is a problem? Catching the eye of the waitress at the local tavern while trying to generate enough income to expand a too-small shop and upgrade archaic alchemy tools. Welcome to the daily life of a prodigious alchemist that many people think is more like a Golden Retriever than a scientist.
Link: Royal Road
My Rating: 4/5
If you’re looking for a cozy, calm, and relaxing fantasy novel, this is for you! The general idea is pretty quick to summarize (and really, you should just go read the blurb, because it says all it needs, but just in case, here we go…). Hawke destroyed his old shop. He got a new one but is in serious debt. Romance. Some daily “grind”. Some fun, some quirky… and lots of potions and crafting.
Style:
(I swear this is the only time I’ll be negative, only a little, but I’m just going in the order of categories that I usually do…) The style is mostly pretty decent, but I definitely found a couple moments that read as awkward, and the author’s use of “the alchemist” in place of Hawke’s name was starting to get to me after a few chapters. There were a few overused words and phrases now and again, too, like “grin”. However, I didn’t find that this detracted from the story much.
Story:
As for the story, this has got to be the best part! Yes, it’s a slice of life style cozy, comfortable story, but that doesn’t mean nothing happens. The events and progression are all enough to keep me clicking to the next chapter. And the events are great! They feel like they were written by someone who clearly knows things about being an adult. An adult character that actually feels and acts like an adult, all while being a slightly eccentric alchemist (who, again, feels acts like you’d expect an alchemist in his place to act). But maybe that’s going a bit into characters…
Grammar:
The grammar is solid. I didn’t notice any mistakes.
Characters:
Hawke is an incredibly likeable protagonist, which makes him easy to follow and side with. And as I stated before, he feels like a real person. The side characters all pull their weight, too.
Conclusion:
All in all, if you want a story to just relax with, give this one a try!