I’m really burnt out on grimdark fantasy where everyone dies and the world is ending.
I'm trying to find that "Howl’s Moving Castle" or "Kiki's Delivery Service" energy: lots of descriptions of nature, cooking, magic being used for random things. I'm okay with romance, too.
So basically, I want to read about a witch baking bread in a forest and less of war generals if that makes sense. Does this genre exist for adults?
by daisyytoess
14 Comments
Does The Wandering Inn count? It kind of has both.
Check out r/cozyfantasy
Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree is about an orc quitting being a mercenary to open a coffee shop. Not a lot of nature to it but the food descriptions left me wanting to make some with each food brought into the menu.
A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher is a perfect fit and has the same cozy, whimsical feel as Ghibli movies. About a wizard who specializes in dough magic.
I’m guessing you’ve already read this but Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones is technically YA, but the main character is sort of an old woman, and the secondary main character is like late 20s
also check out Discworld. the Witches series is nice, although the witches don’t really use magic for random things, that’s against the point of Discworld style witchcraft
*Howl’s Moving Castle* was a book first, by Diana Wynne Jones, and it’s not quite like the movie but it already had that Ghibli vibe.
*Legends and Lattes* by Travis Baldree is basically this. More personal discovery and dealing with feelings, a little bit of personal peril but not epic world-changing stuff. There’s a prequel and a sequel but from what I’ve heard both of them are more high-stakes.
T. Kingfisher writes a lot of this, though I haven’t read enough of her stuff to have specific recs.
If you’re willing to branch out to some murder mysteries, a LOT of the Brother Cadfael mysteries have this exact vibe. Someone dies to kick off the plot, and the rest of the book is a silly middle-aged/elderly monk running around re-uniting star-crossed lovers and mixing medicines.
If you’re open to very long books, I highly recommend [The Hands of the Emperor](https://share.google/ID8EUnwDjqkoB35LB) by Victoria Goddard. It’s a beautifully written, slice of life book about the personal secretary to the emperor of the world, with a heavy focus on platonic relationships.
I really loved “Girl Who Drank the Moon”
I feel like you’d LOVE “The Spellshop” it’s about a librarian witch(?) that makes jam and sells spells to help the locals. Really cute and there are some stacks because story, but I never felt super stressed reading.
*A Psalm for the Wild-Built* by Becky Chambers is technically scifi but feels very fantasey. A monk goes to chill in the woods and finds a robot.
Or *The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches* by Sangu Mandanna, maybe? Magic in modern Britain, but very cozy witchy vibes, for sure.
Some T. Kingfisher’s books like *Nettle & Bone* feel ghibli-like to me, though I wouldn’t exactly say they’re low stakes, as such.
The House in the Cerulean Sea
The Last Unicorn.
Frogkisser by Garth Nix
1) The MC lives in a castle with its own clan of intelligent golden retrievers.
2) The McGuffin is a magical version of the Magna Carta.
3) Magic carpets take you from place to place by flying around _very fast_ with you rolled up inside them.
4) A _whole lot_ of frogs need to be kissed.