Flintelf (Exili’s Excellent Elucidation Services, #1) by Victoria Bastedo
A Fantasy/Cozy Mystery novel published by Amazon Digital Services (10/13/2020)
Summary:
“What made the pure elves in the past great, or their bloodline desirable, if it wasn’t the quality of their souls, and their actions?”
Exili has started his own business of elucidation. His clients are also victims. Potential victims, if he can convince them to pay him to prevent their murder, that is. Exili’s next potential client happens to also be a previous school mate. Exili and Goodall hadn’t spoken since school when they had a falling out. Exili doesn’t want his client to die, but he’s also annoyed that he’s got to convince Goodall to hire him. Why couldn’t it be someone else stalked by a murderer?
Keywords:
Caste, Elves, Mystery, Murder, Murder Prevention, Entrepreneur, Friendship, Bad Blood, Pure, High Born, Feet
My Review:
Quirky Fantasy. Fantasy with a foot focus…
I don’t often read fantasy so I was delighted that this book was part fantasy, part cozy mystery, part supernatural. I also really liked that I couldn’t guess the ending until the end and that the mystery the main character Exili has to solve is part of a larger plot that is revealed slowly over time.
I loved the quirky fantasy element that the author creates with her idea of ‘elucidation.’ I especially enjoyed the fact that Exili elucidates… with his feet! He must actually touch items with his feet to elucidate as accurately as possible and the scene where he must touch a bunch of things with his feet was particularly hilarious.
I’m not sure how I feel about the caste system and the various people groups’ placement in society based on ‘true blood’ that Bastedo describes in this world. This would be a great discussion for a book club, especially the fact that features and skin color were ascribed to certain people groups. I liked the term ‘people groups’ as well. There are humans (as I call myself) as a people group. There are the Flintelfs and the Farris people groups.
Like other Bastedo books, this one features a feel-good message and a happy ending.
This novel was published by Amazon Digital Services 10/13/2020 and is available on Amazon here.
TLDR Star Rating: 4.00
Links for more information:
Rachel Author Barnard 