2025 fantasy. The Evil Mage has been killed, and presumably his
minions too. And there's no reason for anyone to link Violet, the
newcomer in town who just wants to open a florist's shop, with the
terrifying Thornwitch.
Yup, we're definitely in cosy fantasy Salvation Through Retail
territory here. But the economics of how a small town with a fuzzy
tech level can support something as specialised as a florist are
pretty much ignored. This is mostly a story of Violet's overcoming her
demons (for most of her life she has been the Evil Plant Mage and
those are the habits of thought and magic that come most easily to
hand), and gradually realising just how abusive her life as a "valued"
minion actually was.
There's also a troubled and grumpy man for her to fall in love with,
and I confess that this limb of the story felt a bit adolescent. This
is pretty much the first man Violet has consciously met who wasn't
either controlling her or trying to do her down, and I'd have
appreciated some acknowledgement of that. But no, he's gorgeous and
brooding and he has his own problems to get through. And of course
Violet can't bring herself to reveal her Big Secret…
There is some external threat as well, but since the whole point of
this thing is "out here, unlike your life in the evil wizard's
stronghold, you can have friends who will help you" I felt as though
the principals ended up doing relatively little to resolve the
situation themselves. Like those fairy tales in which being nice to
the old woman by the side of the road gets you a Q-Branch-esque set of
tools that will exactly resolve the specific situations you encounter.
But that might just be me.
Still, even when this story is at its most dramatic it keeps a note of
the bathetic, and I found myself rather liking that.
Thorns erupted from beneath her skin, and from his fearful
expression, Violet knew exactly how she looked: eyes glowing green,
thorny vines snarling through her hair, skin spiny with armor that
hadn't been there a moment ago. Her clothes would be shredded, and
as the buckets of flowers behind her shriveled and withered away
with the force of her anger, she knew she'd have to regrow all her
commissions before tomorrow.
It's aggressively whimsical and cosy, so calibrate your mood before
starting, but it definitely had its moments.