Review by Ian Keogh

It’s not many books where the back cover blurb supplies supplemental information about the cast not included in the story itself, but that’s the case for M.F.K. It doesn’t matter, though, as what Nilah Magruder provides is captivating enough without knowing everyone’s motivations or purpose, or indeed name. Never mind the title.

Magruder opens on the small desert community of Little Marigold where a doctor lives with her father and her teenage nephew Jaime. Sandstorms are an occupational hazard, and during one a young woman turns up, exhausted and with a dying Moa, a bird large enough to ride. Magruder has already shown elements of daily life establishing a different society from any on Earth, and Little Marigold is a place so remote it’s regularly targetted by brigands demanding food and money.

Exceptionally attractive cartooning takes M.F.K. a very long way, and is recognised via the hardcover format. The characters are expressive and the background rich, an indication of Magruder’s primary trade being animation. There’s great life to the cast also, particularly late on when some ethical differences are explored. Is Little Marigold a safer place for putting up with the occasional bullying intrusion, or would the town be better off in the long run for arranging some kind of defence?

This is a slow release fantasy, but by the time this opening volume ends the parameters of a world have been defined and it’s ready to be explored. We still have no idea what Abbie’s exact mission is, but most readers are going to want to know more. Sadly, though, as there’s been no continuation since 2017, they’re unlikely to learn.