The Enchantment Emporium

First, I found this to be one of the most enjoyable books of the year. I've re-read it several times. However -- Huff decided not to make it easy. Unless a person comes to it with some sense of Celtic mythology (the horned god; the power of young woman/mother/crone, the leprechaun, the water spirit, etc.), making sense of the May Day family reunion scene into which the reader is immediately dropped would not be an easy adjustment. There's no actual description of "ritual," but plenty of implications as to what it involves. Additionally, and I believe deliberately, she didn't make a lot of anthropology-style or sociology-style infodumps in regard to the world-building. In one way, it takes place in modern Canada, partly in the family's "traditional" territory and partly in Calgary. In another way, the Gale extended family, while mostly human, is not quite so, not entirely so, and its members exist in accordance with their own prerequisites, which are not identical with the conventions of the ordinary society around them (though some reviewers would have benefited from reading more carefully before fretting about the level of inbreeding). The Gales go to college; Alysha has a fine arts degree and was working at the Royal Ontario Museum cataloging artifacts before the grant money that paid her ran out; her cousin Roland is a lawyer. It's a world that the protagonist, Alysha Catherine Gale, knows well, and sees no need to explain at length. She just needs to figure out how to function in the changed circumstances caused by her possibly but not necessarily deceased grandmother's rather unusual bequest. At the same time, the world of the Gales borders on others, with the result that there are dragon princes in their Calgary. There are sorcerers; ritual requires power and the "Gale girls" are attracted to power -- although, as Alysha points out, power can be variably defined and her father is a high school history teacher.

Many thanks to Tanya Huff for one of the best fantasy novels I have read in years. Echoes of Charles deLint's work are ever present in this delightful story of a young woman who leaves her strangely-empowered family, ruled by a circle of "Aunties," to take charge of her deceased grandmother's antique shop and perhaps also discover what happened to Grannie. Leprechauns, sorcerers, dragons -- oh, oops, those are actually dragon-LORDS -- old and new love interests, and rafts of cousins all contribute to an exciting plot in which every new revelation leads to more questions and intricacies. Sexual relationships of all types abound, but they are more implied than described; much heavy breathing, not so much actual coitus. And all is handled with just enough humor so that the reader can sympathize with the characters while still laughing hysterically at the dialog. And the best part? No icky info-dumps, those paragraphs of rules and regs for the alternative universe to which SF & F novels are all too prone. Huff respects her reader's intelligence. One need only pay attention and pick up the hints as they are dropped.

This story is just too much fun. I hope she had half the fun writing it as I had reading it, but probably not. Thanks, Tanya. Great story. The Gales are a wonderful addition to Canadian literature.

As there are already some good summaries of the plot, I'll skip this and come right to the point. "The Enchantment Emporium" is not "The Keepers Cronicles" or any other Huff book recycled. It's a great new novel with an original plot and an interesting cast of characters. Of course, if you've read a lot of Tanya Huff's books, you'll meet old aquaintances: her trademark sense of humour, her habbit of having characters quoting from popular culture to make a point (and the reader laugh), the fact that she enjoys writing about strong, independend women and makes fun of men. So what? That's normal for every author. It's called a writing style. About the things that don't get explained: I admit it, as a reader, you get hit over the head with the plot in the first sentence of the novel. A lot of things don't get explained explicitly. You have to figure them out yourself in the course of the narrative. I think it's fun, keeps the plot moving and helps the reader to get deeper into what's happening because you have to begin to think like the characters if you want to understand what they are, what their motivations are and why things happen. It's not the 'normal' approach to writing a fantasy novel, but in my opinion, it works and provides an exciting new perspective. "The Enchantment Emporium" is a funny, suspenseful book with loveable characters and wonderful descriptions (I just love the dragons!). There's humour, violence, sex, mythological creatures, yoyos, music and lots of baking. Highly recommended!

The Gale brood can be called witches, but actually are something much more. Their magic spells come in the form of charms and are so powerful they can change future events. The Aunties run the family, but the Cousins allow them their belief but not the control. After Alysha Gale loses her research grant, she is at loose ends while wishing to escape from her Aunties who demand control of her life. When her Gran writes her informing her she is dead and that she bequeathed her junk store The Enchantment Emporium, Alysha travels to Calgary to look at the shop. The first person she meets in the store is Joe the Leprechaun. She soon is stalked by an assassin who is blood bonded to a sorcerer (evil witch). Alysha concludes the shop services the local fey community. When Alysha learns just how much trouble is brewing in Calgary, even calling in the family to help may not be enough to save the day. Graham the assassin is assigned to keep Alysha out of his master's business, but his feelings for her are that of man towards the woman he cherishes. She feels the same way about her him. However he has a task to kill whatever crosses through the portal and Aly stops him from completing his mission. She must deal with the sorcerer while he must deal with what his love for Aly will do to him. Tanya Huff has written a fantastic urban fantasy reminiscent of her Keeper's Chronicles. The support cast is great; one of the best in recent memory, as they are quirky yet deadly and determined to save the world. There are plenty of surprising spins in THE ENCHANTMENT EMPORIUM that explain why witches and sorceresses fight to the death when they meet. The lead couple holds all this together as they struggle with a forbidden love at a time of pandemic crisis. Ms. Huff is at the top of her game with this thrilling winner. Harriet Klausner