The Accidental Alchemist

I found out about this series from a Foodies Read post. I'm super vocal about not liking cozy mysteries with amateur detectives/busy bodies inserting themselves in the investigation. But this sounded intriguing and the first book was free with my Audible membership so I gave it a try. I liked the main character of Zoe immediately. She was born in Salem in the 1600s and her affinity for plants got her accused of being a witch. She fled with her younger brother and they were eventually taken in by alchemists. She took to alchemy and accidentally discovered the Elixir of Life. She's just moved to Portland to try to stay in one place for a few years before people start to realize that she isn't aging. Dorian is a gargoyle that was accidentally brought to life in the 1800s. He's turning back into stone and needs Zoe's help to stop this from happening. He's been working as a companion and chef for blind people. He's a gourmet cook and is horrified to find out that Zoe is vegan. One thing I love about this series is that after his initial reaction, he wholeheartedly embraces vegan cooking. He makes all kinds of food that sounds absolutely wonderful. I see in the description above that there are recipes included in the book. There aren't any in the audiobooks. I'm sad because I want to make so many of the things mentioned.

I liked the story in this second installment but it was a bit frustrating as an audiobook. There seemed to be a lot of filler. A lot of Zoe's internal thoughts were repetitive. She'd focus on things that had already been explained in the book so exposition would be repeated several times. It got annoying. I want to continue with the series but I'm going to move to ebooks instead of audio so I can skim past any of this redundancy. Besides, I'm still looking for recipes. I enjoyed the additions to the main story in the series more than the specific crimes in this book. I can see the author setting up possible plot lines for future books. I want to see if I'm right. I'd recommend this series for any urban fantasy lover who doesn't mind some mysteries added to their stories. This review was originally posted on Based On A True Story

Urban Fantasy is an extremely popular genre and one that supports quite a range of styles. With The Accidental Alchemist Gigi Pandian may have come up with an entirely new sub-genre, or at least one I was not previously familiar with. It is part mystery, part recipe book!

I'm exaggerating here, but only slightly. The book is a light-hearted one that certainly belongs in the Urban Fantasy fold, though marking itself apart with an absence of werewolves, vampires or demons. There is a gargoyle though. A French one.

The central and sole viewpoint character for the story is Zoe Faust, an immortal alchemist (the accidental appellation is explained in the story) who has just moved to Portland, Oregon. Moving in to her new home does not go to plan when she discovers a talking Gargoyle in her luggage and her chosen repair man ends up dead on her doorstep. Not surprisingly, she is a suspect.

Most Definitely Not A Detective

Zoe is refreshingly incompetent in her, involuntary, role as solver of the murder mystery. Which makes sense since she basically makes her living selling antique Alchemy artifacts. She is aided in her investigations by the overzealous Gargoyle and by a teenage boy who stumbles in on her secret. It's certainly an odd and distinctive team up.

Throughout the course of the novel her bumbling attempts either to figure out what happened or to at least give the police some help generally serve only to further confuse or complicate the situation. Though admittedly her mixed feelings for the police detective probably also aren't helping here.

Perhaps the height of that bumbling, not a good detective, feel is when they actually host a dinner party in an effort to identify the killer. That should be ridiculous and yet it actually works quite well here, because the preposterousness of the situation is acknowledged.

Wait, About That Gargoyle

Ah yes, Dorian. He is an example of where this book goes wrong. There are so many good ideas and elements set up, that the author just doesn't seem able to capitalize on. Dorian is a Gargoyle who was accidentally brought to life many years ago by the french illusionist Jean Eugène Robert (an example of the book's efforts to tie itself to various historical figures). Despite his physical age, it seems he hasn't matured that far mentally and displays an almost unflappable level of enthusiasm for everything around him.

So far, so good.

Dorian is French. So naturally he just randomly spouts sentences in French while otherwise speaking to people in English. Because, he's French you see. It's certainly believable that he would revert to French, at least when speaking with Zoe who we can assume also speaks it fluently having lived there for years. But if that's the case and Zoe is the viewpoint character we don't need it written in French. It's like giving his speech a bad accent. At most all that was required was to have him stumble over a few words and use the French one in its place. As presented it's clumsy and distracting even though I understand the French sentences that were used.

Dorian also likes cooking and is really good at it because he's French! And he thinks France is the best place in the world, because he's French! Look, the French can be pretty Xenophobic but can we have a little subtlety here?

This sort of over-emphasis is unfortunately present throughout the book and surfaces in various places.

You Mentioned Recipes

Indeed I did. You see Zoe Faust is a vegan. Okay, that actually makes sense for the character as presented. Given her background and her connection with plant alchemy. It's all a little hippy-dippy but it works. However, I didn't need to be told she was a vegan in every single chapter of the book. I don't have the best memory but a handful of times would have made the point.

And if that doesn't make it obvious enough to you, it turns out that Zoe is something of a foodie. She drinks delicious (they're always delicious apparently) vegan shakes every morning. Every meal she has is vegan and is lovingly described in considerable detail. All the meals are delicious too. And even the non-vegans think so.

In the afterword Gigi Pandian acknowledges that this is a personal interest of hers. She is a vegan and believes that the food is every bit as tasty, if not more so, than the alternative. She also wanted to share the recipes. But doing it this way and not giving us a single dissenting voice? It makes it feel at times like I'm reading a pamphlet advertising a lifestyle, instead of a fiction book.

It also, quite frankly, hurts the pacing of the book, because one moment we're going to break into someones house, but we have to pause to mix up a smoothie and talk about the yummy ingredients. Less would definitely have been more.

Small Town Characters In A Big City

Where things go much better for the book is the characters that the author populates the book with. I'm not that familiar with Portland so I really can't say how accurately the city is represented, but for me it doesn't actually matter because it feels believable inside the book. At first it did seem like we were getting a small town vibe from the place with a cast of pretty colorful characters (most of whom like tea apparently). However, that point was effectively addressed by talking about the neighborhood structure of Portland (True? I don't know.)

And the characters did feel quite pleasantly deep and rounded. The had lives before Zoe arrived in town and events going on that didn't involve her. They even had interactions and reactions with each other. This was all good stuff and I would certainly be happy to see those characters explored further.

When The Author Falls In Love With The Research

Another area where the book stumbled in my opinion was spending too much time telling us things. It's the old show, don't tell maxim at work. Clearly the author spent a good amount of time researching alchemy and other things as background for the book. And it is some distinctive stuff. But she liked it so much she felt the need to have Zoe lecture us on these topics. Background should say in the background unless it becomes very relevant to the plot or will highlight something significant to the character. At no point should a character stand around and lecture us on the history of a French illusionist. No matter how interesting his life may be (it was quite interesting) because, again, it makes the actual story grind to a halt.

What's really frustrating to me about this book is that there is so much potential. The idea is pretty original, the characters are interesting, the location is well developed. It just repeatedly stumbles in the execution. Perhaps those of you who are more into food than me will be less irritated by the constant descriptions of it. You may also appreciate the recipes in the back of the book. But while I was absolutely fine with the protagonist being actively, even vocally, vegan the constant drum beating just became annoying.

And while the background material really does deserve exploring further, it shouldn't ever be at the expense of the current story. There's plenty of material there for future books, let it out slowly.