The Keeper of Magical Things is a gently engaging and enjoyable cozy fantasy standalone by Julie Leong. Released 14th Oct 2025 by Penguin Random House/Berkley on their Ace imprint, it's 368 pages and is available in library binding, paperback, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links.
This is a beautifully written story, full of unlikely heroes, found-family, humor, small adventures, a cat-dragon, and a magical quest. It's pure comfort reading and escapist fantasy (and sorely needed right now with everything going on in the world). It felt like wrapping up in a warm duvet with a pot of tea.
It's not derivative at all, but fans of Travis Baldree, Sarah Beth Durst, and Rebecca Thorne will enjoy this one as well. It's full of secondary characters with their own intricate, well rendered stories, and the whole is a nice patchwork of small adventure vignettes. Warm and escapist enjoyment.
The unabridged audiobook version has a run time of 10 hours 56 minutes and is capably read by Natalie Naudus. She has a warm and well modulated voice. Sound and production quality are very high throughout the read.
The first book in the same world (but not precisely a prequel, there are different central characters, apparently), was released in Nov 2024 by the same publisher.
Four and a half stars. A beautiful and enjoyable read.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
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