A witch that is only good to prepare things in the household? A friendgroup of the king's staff that he enjoys full support of? A greater threat to the kingdom and another layer od witches being hunted not too long ago? All this makes up a great story, however: I almost was put down by a glaring repetition on the first few pages. The chapters feel very short, the progression almost too slow. The pages feel cramped with the small font size and the ending could have been much better. Nontheless it is almost a cozy book and worth a look. The cat perspective was in my opinion absolutely irrelevant, for the context of the story as well as the style it is written in. A james bond reference isnt something this book needs. It is almost like it is the very first story of the author that was never meant to end end just endlessly spun forward until someday penguin books said "we need to cut it somewhere" and chose a poor ending. It is a weird quality issue but at the same time the wording works great for the Zeitgeist of kings and staff with witches and mages.

I actually wheezed with tears running down my face reading some parts of this book. It was super funny and enthralling–a real charm. Each character was fleshed out and real, and I'm rooting for each one of them. And, excuse me: kitchen knights?! Just epic. Loved it and defo getting part 2