Magic Bitter, Magic Sweet

I liked this book but I enjoy her other books even more. Read the Paper Magician and the rest of the series. Charlie is a great author and I have read many of her books. Enjoy.

I liked this book. I really hated the violence. It triggered memories that I chose to put aside. But I loved hiw a creator could be a Baker in her mortal being. I create such happiness with cookies.

I enjoyed visiting a different and complex world. The journey never gave away the ending. As a Woman I could sympathize with Maire. Lesson learned.

This story was like a fantasy mystery. The main character, Maire, can't remember her past, but she wields some kind of magical ability when she bakes. She doesn't understand how it works, but she thinks about certain emotions and characteristics and bakes those things into her confections to help people. Her life changes abruptly and she experiences various hardships, though this also helps her start to discover little bits of her memory. It's almost frustrating to experience this with her because the whole time I was dying to know what was going on as well! We would get just tiny little hints, but never anything that fit together, so it was really hard to even guess what could have happened to her before. So my only option was to do nothing else but read until the very end so I could find out what was really going on!Something I liked is that Charlie Holmberg used a whole palette of unusual colors to describe and name things in this world. Ochre, carmine, sienna, chartreuse. Color played a large part in the story, and I found myself looking up the more obscure ones so I could properly visualize them as I read. I think this had to do with the main character's true nature and identity and her appreciation for the variety of creation. Thanks for reminding that there are more colors in the world than can be named!The narrative was unique. Most novels are written in 3rd person past tense (an all-knowing narrator telling someone else's story), or at least 1st person past tense (the character telling their own story, after the fact). But this was 1st person present tense, Maire telling her story as it was happening. Not many are written this way, so it can be hard to get into the right rhythm with an unfamiliar format. It made the narrative take on a more simple feel, assisting the setting of a simpler time and lifestyle. Still a little unfamiliar for me though.One thing I found a bit annoying was the chapter headings. Eventually I figured out who was supposed to be saying them and what they meant, but I was also sort of expecting an explanation or a recap of all of them together to explain these cryptic messages throughout the book, but it never came. And after Maire finally remembers and recaps what happened leading up to her memory loss, it would have been a good opportunity to fill in a few more gaps of how Allemas eventually found her. That is unclear as well.I wish there would have been a bit more to the ending. How did they get there and why? Will they ever remember and eventually become their true selves again, or decide to remain in their new lives, content with the way things worked out? I know Charlie Holmberg likes to end her stories with a bit still hanging, as if to say, "It all works out in the end, but I'm not just going to give it to you. Feel free to fill in the gaps with your own ideas of 'happliy ever after.'" I can see how she makes that work for her, but some of these almost-cliffhanger endings are killing me! I guess she'll just have to write another book for each story to make it up to us, eh? ;)

I simply couldn't stop listening! The narrator was excellent and the storyline was riveting. I loved it and I highly recommend this book!

Ms. Holmberg baked into her story intriguing characters, even the least lovable among them evokes some empathy (despite some serious nastiness). Her world is rich with smells, sound and myth come alive. Her story arcs in sometimes surprising ways and enters dark corners but never artificially or without purpose. I devoured this delectable treat in a couple of days and wish to immediately jump back into Raea. I cannot recommend it enough.Imagine taking a Greek tragedy (and the related pantheon of gods), merge into it the story of the Fall and Original Sin and twirl in a mixture of fairy tales; never mind being able to “bake in inspiration”. That’s Magic Bitter, Magic Sweet. It’s one thing to have a brilliant premise, it’s another to execute that well. Ms. Holmberg delivers in spades. She takes us along Maire’s painful journey of discovery of her own story. It’s a challenging world into which she has fallen, much like medieval Europe, full of might-makes-right and enslavement, as well as love, hope, and friendship. Maire’s “owner” is clearly not quite right. Not only is he devoid of a moral compass, he’s even devoid of common sense. So, he looks to the world around him to give him some clue of how to be in it. Given that sends him mixed messages, he’s not quite sure what that to do. As abusive and disgusting as he can be, he’s also an intriguing character of conflicting and foreign makeup. He is not only not normal, but he is “other”. He is not of this world. So even while you despise him, there is some empathy towards his plight. It’s a little like despising a snake that bites you. He cannot be other than he is. He cannot reflect and grow into something more even as he does learn to “fake it” better. He is limited by his very nature in an even more profound way than humans are.Maire’s antagonist is also a bit of an entrepreneur; his business deals bring us into the world of fairy tales. Charlie Holmberg weaves these tales within the overall story in clever ways with just enough of a twist to make them new. While this is a fun sideline from the main thrust of the narrative, it’s integrated well and certainly adds to the overall enjoyment of the story. While no individual element of this world is completely new, Charlie Holmberg combines them in intriguing and innovative ways.The characters are well developed; these are primarily Maire and Allemas, but also Arrice, Franc and Fyel. The relationships are complicated. Arrice and Franc essentially adopt Maire even though she’s appears to be a young woman when they meet her. Fyel is the ultimate tightlipped mystery man who appears to be connected with Maire and on her side, but for some reason doesn’t directly help her. Maire and Allemas have an often bizarre, disturbing and ever-changing relationship. At times, Allemas seems to treat her as property while at others he evinces a more intimate connection.In terms of her writing style, I love how the dialogue matches the characters so well, especially for Allemas. Even his speech patterns are bizarre. Because Fyel feels he must hold his cards close to the vest, his halting attempts to communicate with Maire are a study in frustration. Arrice’s speech brings forth her loving and nurturing nature as Cleric Tuck’s conveys his competence and care. In other words, there’s a great fit between the manner of communicating and the characters themselves.Like most journeys, the path on which Magic bitter, Magic Sweet takes you has many unknowns and a number of surprises; the journey takes you along in a different manner than you might think and leaves you at a slightly different place than you anticipated. I think the magic of this story is how she melds these disparate elements of myth, magic, and misdeed. While it’s a time of worn phrase, this is a novel where the whole is greater than its parts. At least for me, this journey is well worth the effort; it is enlightening and full of points that inspire reflection. I highly encourage you to take the journey as well.

A good read if you want some light hearted escapism. I enjoyed the dark fairy tale elements: the building of the gingerbread house that we recognise as the witch’s cottage in Hansel and Gretel, size altering cakes like in Alice in Wonderland. The world of Raea itself was fairly simple but the world building becomes more impressive when you realise that Raea is just one of many worlds, and that there are beings who can live between worlds. The mystery of Maire’s heritage kept my interest, though the conclusion is, of course, far fetched. More shocking was the discovery of who Allemas is; suddenly all of his odd speech and behaviour makes sense. He was actually my favourite character, as he was the most complex; neither good or bad, not kind to Maire but didn’t seem to take pleasure in cruelty either, controlling but uncertain and vulnerable. By the end I really wanted him to have a happy ending. The main character, Maire, was slightly bland and reminded me of a lot of other heroines of post-apocalyptic novels. A fun read but I think the Paper Magician series is much better.

I picked up magic bitter magic sweet because I enjoyed Holmberg's Paper Magician trilogy, although I did not find it as enjoyable as that series the book was still good.The magic system in this book was interesting with the use of making baked goods to give people different personality traits, however Maire's murky past was more confusing than interesting at times. Maire is a likeable character as she would do anything to help people no matter what the consequence would be for her.The opening and first half of the book was interesting, however I feel that the second half and ending leaves me wanting. The ending feels rushed and is quite confusing.

Having read The Paper Magician trilogy, I was really looking forward to reading this book, especially as it described the main character as baking cakes with magic in them. Well really the story couldn't be more different to what I was expecting. A really grim story and quite confusing I found. We are not given much background to begin with and are left in the dark throughout most of the story, wondering what is going on, who these people are and what is the purpose of it all? Only right at the very end is it all explained and you feel you need to go back and read it again with that knowledge.

This is my favourite of Charlie's books so far. Magic Bitter, Magic Sweet is the story of Maire, a baker with no memory of who she is or why she has the power to bake emotions into cakes and sweets. The story of her journey back to herself is gripping, evocative, and highly imaginative. I really enjoyed this book; the world-building was rich, the characters were finely drawn, and I felt every breath of Maire's emotions. It's difficult to talk about the finer points without involving spoilers, but I loved the fantastical elements, and one character in particular just tugged at my heartstrings so much. It's been weeks since I finished this book, but I'm still thinking about it.

Absolutely enchanting story. Maire is a baker but also a mystery. She has gifts that even the great Mary Berry cannot emulate. She can infuse emotion into everything she makes. She doesn't know how she can do this or even who she really is. Then her life changes as she is abducted and sold as a 'slave'This is a totally different take on magic, alternative lives and lots of other aspects.Charlie Holmberg is a very talented writer who seems to come up with new ideas and scenarios