Rapunzel of the Magic Item Shop
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Average rating4
15
Ratings1
Average rating4
What Secrets Does The Magic Item Shop Hold? In a kingdom where magic is strictly outlawed, a young sorcerer named Lille finds herself imprisoned in a tower for no reason other than simply existing. After ten years of being locked up, a huge, mythical bird suddenly appears on her windowsill to whisk her away. The bird—a familiar called Ark—takes her to a quaint little house, where he introduces her to his master, a sorcerer named Charles. Charles decides to take Lille on as his apprentice, alongside another young sorcerer named Leo. As her new life begins, Lille discovers what it means to have a family, and even what it means to fall in love. Through her shop-keeping duties at Charles’ Magic Item Shop, she gradually adjusts to life in the outside world. The more she learns, however, the more she finds herself wrapped up in Charles and Leo’s secrets…
Reviews with the most likes.
Oh, this is a really cute read.
Despite the title, it's not a retelling of Rapunzel and the only similarity Lille has with Rapunzel is that she was trapped in a tower for ten years. Lille is then rescued and moves in with the sorcerer Charles, his apprentice Leo, and Ark the bird familiar—her new family. Charles owns a magic item shop with barely any customers, and business only starts improving after Lille decides to help. That being said, there are actually not many scenes involving the magic items or the customers either. The main focus lies on the theme of family, and then shifts to romance. For that reason, the book reads more like a shoujo story with magical elements.
This story is actually one of the cases in which it could've benefited from more books. The plot is well-thought, but due to the length of the book, sometimes it feels like things are moving too fast. Including the romance. The story does a nice job at covering Leo's and Charles' past, but the romance actually developed before it even gets to that point. It starts really early, though to be fair, it is love at the first sight so in the end I don't mind it that much. Aside from this pacing issue, I enjoyed the book a lot. It's cute and wholesome, the characters are so warm, and it also ends nicely with a happy ending. I do have to say, though... if you're not into teacher-student romance, then it might not be for you because Charles is technically Lille's magic teacher.
I also took a peek at the web novel version, and Kurisu Hiyoko described this as a story where Lille experiences all sorts of things for the first time. Each sub-chapter's title also starts with the word “first”, such as “first guest”, “first cooking”, and of course “first love”. It sums up the story pretty well. I like the writing style a lot, actually. I hope they'll pick up more of Kurisu's works, preferably the ones that are centered around food.
