The story follows Tao, a Shinn immigrant roaming the countryside of Eshtera in a caravan pulled by her faithful companion and only friend, a donkey named Laohu. Tao specializes in telling small fortunes for villagers she encounters along the dusty roads of her adopted homeland, as she’s learned from bitter experience that tugging on the more serious threads of fate most often end in heartbreak.
Her solitary life is upended when she comes across an ex-mercenary and his quick-fingered friend who enlist her in their search for the ex-mercenary’s missing daughter. Their little band is soon joined by a cheerful Baker looking for adventure on the road and a cantankerous cat with a bottomless stomach.
This book has everything you could want in a fantasy: a rag-tag bunch of companions who discover that friendship can be a balm for old wounds, a world seeped in magic and political intrigue, and of course a dungeon crawl! This book has truly set a new high bar for cozy fantasy.