Russ Allbery: Review: The Teller of Small Fortunes

Review: The Teller of Small Fortunes, by Julie Leong

The Teller of Small Fortunes is a cozy found-family fantasy with a
roughly medieval setting. It was Julie Leong’s first novel.

Tao is a traveling teller of small fortunes. In her wagon, pulled by her
friendly mule Laohu, she wanders the small villages of Eshtera and reads
the trivial fortunes of villagers in the tea leaves. An upcoming injury, a
lost ring, a future kiss, a small business deal… she looks around the
large lines of fate and finds the small threads. After a few days, she
moves on, making her solitary way to another village.

Tao is not originally from Eshtera. She is Shinn, which means she
encounters a bit of suspicion and hostility mixed with the fascination of
the exotic. (Language and culture clues lead me to think Shinara is
intended to be this world’s not-China, but it’s not a direct mapping.) Tao
uses the fascination to help her business; fortune telling is more
believable from someone who seems exotic. The hostility she’s learned to
deflect and ignore. In the worst case, there’s always another village.

If you’ve read any cozy found-family novels, you know roughly what happens
next. Tao encounters people on the road and, for various reasons, they
decide to travel together. The first two are a massive mercenary (Mash)
and a semi-reformed thief (Silt), who join Tao somewhat awkwardly after
Tao gives Mash a fortune that is far more significant than she intended.
One town later, they pick up an apprentice baker best known for her
misshapen pastries. They also collect a stray cat, because of course they
do. It’s that sort of book.

For me, this sort of novel lives or dies by the characters, so it’s good
news that I liked Tao and enjoyed spending time with her. She’s quiet,
resilient, competent, and self-contained, with a difficult past and some
mysteries and emotions the others can draw over time. She’s also
thoughtful and introspective, which means the tight third-person narration
that almost always stays on Tao offers emotional growth to mull over. I
also liked Kina (the baker) and Mash; they’re a bit more obvious and
straightforward, but Kina adds irrepressible energy and Mash is a good
example of the sometimes-gruff soldier with a soft heart. Silt was a bit
more annoying and I never entirely warmed to him, but he’s tolerable and
does get a bit of much-needed (if superficial) character development.

It takes some time for the reader to learn about the primary conflict of
the story (Tao does not give up her secrets quickly), so I won’t spoil it,
but I thought it worked well. I was momentarily afraid the story would
develop a clear villain, but Leong has some satisfying alternate surprises
in store. The ending was well-done, although it is very happily-ever-after
in a way that may strike some readers as too neat. The Teller of
Small Fortunes aims for a quiet and relaxed mood rather than forcing
character development through difficult choices; it’s a fine aim for a
novel, but it won’t match everyone’s mood.

I liked the world-building, although expect small and somewhat
disconnected details rather than an overarching theory of magic. Tao’s
ability gets the most elaboration, for obvious reasons, and I liked how
Leong describes it and explores its consequences. Most of the attention in
the setting is on the friction, wistfulness, and small reminders of coming
from a different culture than everyone around you, but so long ago that
you are not fully a part of either world. This, I thought, was very
well-done and is one of the places where the story is comfortable with
complex feelings and doesn’t try to reach a simplifying conclusion.

There is one bit of the story that felt like it was taken directly out of
a Dungeons & Dragons campaign to a degree that felt jarring, but
that was the only odd world-building note.

This book felt like a warm cup of tea intended to comfort and relax,
without large or complex thoughts about the world. It’s not intended to be
challenging; there are a few plot twists I didn’t anticipate, but nothing
that dramatic, and I doubt anyone will be surprised by the conclusions it
reaches. It’s a pleasant time with some nice people and just enough
tension and mystery to add some motivation to find out what happens next.
If that’s what you’re in the mood for, recommended. If you want a book
that has Things To Say or will put you on the edge of your seat, maybe
save this one for another mood.

All the on-line sources I found for this book call it a standalone, but
The Keeper of Magical Things is set in the same world, so I would
call it a loose series with different protagonists. The Teller of
Small Fortunes is a complete story in one book, though.

Rating: 7 out of 10