Graphic Novel Review - 'The Baker and the Bard' by Fern Haught

The subtitle of 'The Baker and the Bard' is 'A Cozy Fantasy Adventure', and that is exactly right. To label it as 'action' would be misleading, but it is an adventure tale. A light adventure tale with little to no conflict, and I mean that in the nicest way.

The whole graphic novel feels more like a pilot episode to a TV series than anything else, but that's okay. It's a very quick read to be absorbed into for under half an hour, and it's so sweet and adorable, with plenty of fairy tale, fantasy, farming and horticultural and agricultural elements, that I ended up not caring how short it is. If you like and love 'The Tea Dragon Society' books, 'The Sprite and the Gardener', and 'Legends & Lattes', then you should definitely check out 'The Baker and the Bard'.

It's comfortable, cosy, soft, warm and lovely. The artwork matches its tone and feel wonderfully and beautifully. It is set in a hopeful and optimistic fantasy world, with hardly any humans, and an abundance of fae, and humanoid fantasy creatures, some with pointy ears, and loads of different skin colours, hair colours, and body types. And different genders.

And there are giant caterpillars and butterflies.

Magic, music, farms, nature, grass, trees, plants, silk, gossamer, pink sparkly mushrooms, and bread. 'The Baker and the Bard' is the bees knees.

Simple plot explained in a couple of sentences: Two best friends, Juniper the baker's apprentice, and Hadley the amateur bard, plus Hadley's little pink snake Fern, go on an "exciting quest" to find glowing mushrooms for ingredients for a mysterious customer's pastry order. Love, friendship, tolerance, conservation and cohabitation are founded along the way.

So, for a laugh, and colourful sweetness and a rosy, cosy, feelgood light reading jog for the midafternoon, go give 'The Baker and the Bard' a try. It has great nonbinary rep in more than one character, as well. Hadley is very funny and adorable. It's #ownvoices and it rules.

There are no baddies, no bad people. However, isn't there a small dark presence with glow-in-the-dark eyes inside a log at one point near the end? What is that about? Is it just supposed to be another creature? Will it ever be back and come to anything in the exceedingly slim chance that there will be a sequel? It's a strange, random detail in the art.

Lovely, luscious, twinkly, sugary comfort food. A nice little addition to the cosy fantasy genre.

Final Score: 4/5