2026;
294 pages. Book 1 (out of 1, although
that will change shortly) in the “Tales from the
Dragon Diner” series. New Author?
: No. Genres: Cozy Fantasy; Dragons; Humorous Fantasy. Overall Rating: 8½*/10.
It’s good to be back in one’s old stomping
ground, which in Rylana’s case means the city of Tranquility. Actually, she grew up in a mansion across the
lake from Tranquility, but she and her dad are estranged, and mostly she’s here
because she’s broke and needs to find a job.
Rylana was an archer in the
Ore Wars, which are thankfully now over, and she's traveling with a fellow
veteran, the elven assassin Sylin. The
stop in Tranquility is temporary: get a paying short-term job, collect some funds,
and move on, hopefully without running into her father.
Hey look! There’s an eatery called “the Dragon
Diner”. Maybe they’re hiring. Rylana and Sylin fought against the dragons
in the Ore Wars, but hopefully, whatever dragon is running that diner isn’t a
veteran. And even if he is, the odds are
slim that he’d recognize this warrior duo as a pair of former foes.
Yeah, Rylana, about those slim odds…
What’s To Like...
Calculated
Whisk is the opening book in Lindsay Buroker’s latest fantasy series:
Tales of the Dragon Diner. The
Amazon blurb labels it a work of Cozy Fantasy
Fiction, which is very accurate, and is good to keep that in mind when reading it.
Think of it as a “Hallmark Movie, With
Dragons”. The main plot thread
involves the dragon who owns the diner, Jildarin, who is preparing to compete in a
culinary competition held annually in Tranquility called “the Golden Whisk”. The contest consists of three rounds, wherein the contestants are required to invent a new dish consisting of a trio
of random ingredients. They then can add in their personal
selection of herbs and spices, and the final product is tasted by a panel of judges. It is rumored that Jildarin's spice inventory includes some with aphrodisiac qualities.
I liked the fantasy worldbuilding. Tranquility is filled with a wide variety of
creatures, including dragons, elves, goblins, golems, dwarfs, and gnomes, with
an occasional wyvern flying overhead. Dragons
are also shape-shifters, although city statutes require them to maintain their
human forms anywhere outside their abodes.
Also, all magical weapons are tied up with magical bonds by city guards
when anyone enters the city. Tranquility
hates interspecies bloodshed.
As expected in a Lindsay Buroker
novel, witty dialogue abounds. Both
Rylana and Sylin have sharp tongues, even when conversing with each other. See the first excerpt below. Thrills-&-Spills take a back seat to
Intrigue, although there is one epic dragon melee that lets the humans know who’s
boss. And although Rylana suspects
Sylin’s been using her assassin skills to earn some cash, it’s best not to question
her about it.
The ending will make any
Hallmark movie lover smile. It isn’t
particularly twisty, and face it, you already know who’s going to win the Golden Whisk. But there is some skullduggery for Rylana to espy and deal with, and things end at a logical spot.
Ratings…
Amazon: 4.6*/5, based on 769 ratings
and 72 reviews.
Goodreads: 4.48*/5,
based on 529
ratings and 52 reviews.
Excerpts...
“You’re a good friend,” Rylana said as they
walked up the road toward the ferry.
“Even if you don’t consider me one.”
“Assassins can’t allow themselves to get
close to others, lest enemies manipulate them by their emotional attachments.”
“You don’t think we were close when we were
smashed into that closet together? The
hilt of your knife was jabbing into my kidney.”
“Not emotionally close, no. Feelings weren’t involved.”
“Are you sure? My kidney had some feelings.” (pg. 183)
Rylana gave Jildarin an approving gesture,
but the announcer had said they could begin the second dish, and he was with
the other chefs, gathering ingredients from the pantries and iceboxes.
“Isn’t that Jildarin a dragon himself”
someone murmured.
“I didn’t think dragons could cook,”
someone else said.
“They can roast humans without trouble.”
“That wouldn’t be allowed here.”
“Are you sure? They haven’t announced the ingredients for
the last meal yet.” (pg.
273)
Kindle Details…
Calculated
Whisk presently sells for $0.99 at Amazon, which is a great introductory deal.. The sequel, Knead for Speed, is due to come out on June 30th. You can preorder that one for $4.99.
“I’m friendly and
charming and hardly ever roar at people.”
(pg. 77)
As you’d expect, the profanity frequency is low in Calculated Whisk. I counted just five instances in the first 25% of
the book, although two of those were a “6-lettered C-word” that’s rarely encountered. I spotted only one typo: R ylana/Rylana, and I bet that one cropped up during the printing phase.
The subject of mating comes up
a lot, and there’s a hint of romance in the storyline, but it’s not enough to
scare off male fantasy readers. I
chuckled at the made-up word “zerg”.
The past adventures of Rylana
and Sylin, mostly their wartime years, are mentioned frequently. This is my third Lindsay Buroker novel, and I
don’t recall these two protagonists being mentioned in either of those books, but
this author has written a slew of series, and I suspect they’ve both
starred in some other of her tales.
The biggest quibble (is that
an oxymoron?) I can think of is that a whole bunch of secondary plot threads
are left dangling at the end. Will
Rylana and her dad make up? Will romance
bloom in her near future? Why are some elves hunting for Sylin? And several
more. But that’s what sequels are for,
isn’t it?
I’m not a big “cozy reader”,
but Calculated Whisk kept me turning the pages. The pacing is good, the storytelling is
masterful, and the wit abounds. I was
looking for a lighthearted magical read, and that’s exactly what I got.
8½ Stars. One last thing. I don’t remember any person or creature dying in Calculated Whisk, despite one of the protagonists being a skilled assassin. When’s the last time you read a book where that was true?
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