The Teller of Small Fortunes

by Julie Leong

Genres: Fantasy
Pages: 336
Rating:

Synopsis:

Fleeing a troubled past, immigrant fortune teller Tao roams the dusty countryside with only her mule for company, telling small fortunes, for small prices. Big fortunes come with big consequences . . . which she knows from bitter experience.

It's a lonely life, until she encounters an ex-mercenary and a (semi) reformed thief, who 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 her friends break down her walls, the shadows of her past close in. Now, Tao must decide whether to risk everything to save the family she never thought she could have . . .

Julie Leong’s The Teller of Small Fortunes turned out to really hit the spot for me. It’s cosy-ish fantasy, with mostly personal stakes (I won’t say small stakes, because firstly one of the main characters faces a bunch of racism, secondly there’s a child in potential peril who has definitely been lost by her parents, and there’s other family stuff going on which is huge for the person in question). It’s a bit of a found-family/ragtag band type story, as well, because Tao collects a (former) thief, a former soldier, a young baker and a cat, along the road.

I love that Tao’s trying to tell “small” fortunes, as well, but it’s clear that those aren’t always small in impact: we’re shown this early on when she reads Mash’s fortune, and tells him that he’ll give his daughter a kitten. Sure, it’s a small moment, but not for Mash, who has lost his daughter and doesn’t know if he’ll ever see her again.

In the same way, Tao makes an outsize impact on her travelling companions, as they do on her. I don’t want to say too much about the journey, because I enjoyed discovering it myself — the small cosy moments, the moments of peril (because despite the overall cosiness of it, there are some of those), the camaraderie, and the bits of magic. There are some really touching moments, and they work even though I found them somewhat predictable.

I liked that it’s self-contained, as well. Tao and her friends will undoubtedly continue to have small adventures as they travel, but their story is as complete as any stories get.

Rating: 5/5