The Fellowship of Puzzlemakers

Genre: Fiction
Pub date: April 9
Narration: Third person past tense, dual timeline & POV
Diversity: gay main character
Rating: 3.7 ⭐

This is such a perfect book for book lovers. The story is about a fellowship of puzzlemakers (duh), and actually it has a few puzzles (like cryptograms and mazes) for you to solve along with the characters.

This was a very heartwarming story of found family, sense of community, going after what you want in life, and PUZZLES. All the characters are loveable and quite flawed. The book covers two timelines and perspectives, one, Pippa covering the forming of the fellowship up to the baby on the doorstep, and the other, after Pippa, who's been the abandoned baby's mother figure for 25 years passes away.

I really enjoyed reading this book but it is a bit slow. I think the main reason for it is that the premise of the book didn't fully start until about halfway through. And soon enough it was obvious what the “solution” to the mystery was gonna be, so that plotline never felt gripping, though I enjoyed the journey.

I really enjoyed the non-mystery aspects of the book. I loved reading about the forming and then the tribulations of the fellowship. I loved the romance plotline. I feel like I would have enjoyed the book more if it was just about those relatively mundane things. Though I did appreciate that the mystery forced the main character to get out of their shell and go on a small adventure, open their door to possibilities.

I loved the focus on different kinds of love, and their importance to our lives, like friendship, self-love, familial love...

It was also really enjoyable to read a book about a group of people who are so clearly passionate about their hobbies, and find a community within that. It really made me wish this was a real place I could visit, and real people I could meet.

If you liked books like Remarkably Bright Creatures and The Lost Ticket, and want a slower paced book with puzzles, this is the book for you!

Thank you Vintage Anchor, Doubleday and NetGalley for the eARC!

I was originally drawn to this book by the description, which reminding me a little of A Series of Unfortunate Events. A story about a young person trying to uncover the secrets kept by the people who raised them, with ties to a mysterious organization. I was not disappointed.

I liked the structure of the two different narratives, one past and one present, running parallel and alternating each chapter and eventually coming together in the end. I liked the puzzles included throughout the book for the reader to try to solve on their own before the story provided the answers, although occasionally the way the answers were worked in felt a bit heavy-handed. Also, I liked how the mystery of Clayton's parentage wasn't so obvious that one would guess it immediately, but also the answer didn't come out of nowhere either. Overall an enjoyable book and one that I will recommend to friends.

Thank you to NetGalley and Vintage Anchor, Doubleday for the advance reader copy!