Patricia McKillip’s “The book of Atrix Wolfe” was recommended by the r/fantasy community on reddit as a great fae/soft magic read with good prose. I must admit that the book ticked more boxes than I was expecting, with a great setting and overall interesting plot. That said, the prose was overly descriptive, especially when the story revolved around kitchens and food.
The story follows three characters: Atrix, a powerful mage who created a powerful evil when trying to end a conflict; Talis, the prince from the kingdom where the evil creature ravaged the land, and Saro, a fae princess that was bewitched into a shadow of herself due to Atrix’s spell. When Talis finds Atrix’s old book, which contains powerful magic, the evil is awoken and the characters must find a way to destroy it once and for all.
The plot was interesting, though not too original, both character and event-wise. Adding to this, the resolution happened without any negative consequences, which lessened the payoff. Moreover, the story ended sooner than it should have in my opinion, leaving one specific minor subplot inconclusive.
The world that the author set up was very generic, with its powerful wizards who can do mysterious things and the wise and nature-related fae that live in an alternative reality/world. This may bother those who look for very complex and nuanced worlds like those of Dune or The Wheel of Time but it wasn't too much of a problem for me as I was looking for a lighter read.
The characters were also generic, especially Talis. I found Saro very original but boring to follow, which wasn’t the best trade-off. Finally, Atrix had interesting ideas behind him but I felt like the author didn’t want to go as dark as I would have liked.
To sum up, I liked the story for what it was, a light and enjoyable read, but I would have liked more complex characters and a substantially longer story. I'd say this is a story for those looking for something simpler in between reads like, say, your Stormlight, Dresden or First Law.
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