• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
FanFiAddict

FanFiAddict

A gaggle of nerds talking about Fantasy, Science Fiction, and everything in-between. They also occasionally write reviews about said books. 2x Stabby Award-Nominated and home to the Stabby Award-Winning TBRCon.

  • Home
  • About
    • Reviewers
    • Review Policy
    • Stance on AI
    • Contact
    • Friends of FFA
  • Blog
    • Reviews
      • Children’s / Middle Grade Books
      • Comics / Graphic Novels
      • Fantasy
        • Alt History
        • Epic Fantasy
        • Fairy Tales
        • Grimdark
        • Heroic Fantasy
        • LitRPG
        • Paranormal Fantasy
        • Romantic Fantasy
        • Steampunk
        • Superheroes
        • Sword and Sorcery
        • Urban Fantasy
      • Fear For All
        • Demons
        • Ghosts
        • Gothic
        • Lovecraftian
        • Monsters
        • Occult
        • Psychological
        • Slasher
        • Vampires
        • Werewolves
        • Witches
        • Zombies
      • Fiction
      • Science Fiction
        • Aliens
        • Artificial Intelligence
        • Alt History
        • Cyberpunk
        • Dystopian
        • Hard SciFi
        • Mechs/Robots
        • Military SF
        • Space Opera
        • Steampunk
        • Time Travel
      • Thriller
    • Neurodivergence in Fiction
    • Interviews
      • Book Tube
      • Authorly Writing Advice
  • SFF Addicts
    • SFF Addicts Clips
    • SFF Addicts (Episode Archive)
  • TBRCon
    • TBRCon2025
    • TBRCon2024
    • TBRCon2023
    • TBRCon2022
  • FFA Book Club
  • FFA TBR Toppers
    • Advertise Your Book on FFA!
  • Writer Resources
    • Artists
    • Cartographers
    • Editing/Formatting/Proofing

Book Review: The Bartender Between Worlds by Herman Steuernagel

August 1, 2024 by Andy Peloquin Leave a Comment

Rating: 7.25/10

TL;DR Review: A dimension-hopping exploration of friendship, love, and the magic of a well-mixed cocktail.

Synopsis:

Low-stakes magic, crafting cocktails, and discovering the power of who we truly are.

Emma grew up as a Hunter of the Cursed—those charged with eradicating monsters and magic from the Kingdom. She’s revered as one of the King’s most skilled hunters. At least she was—until she discovered she possessed magic herself.

Before anyone else can discover her secret, Emma abandons her post and flees to the far edge of the Kingdom, where she hopes she can settle down and live a quiet life as a bartender, out of the Hunters’ watchful eye.

Fate, however, won’t allow us to run away from who we are so easily.

When Emma is confronted by an exiled fairy and a man who claims to be a scientist (though Emma is convinced he’s a sorcerer), she must evaluate what she believes and the confines of who she’s been allowed to be.

Pulled on a journey that takes her further than she’d ever imagined possible, Emma is led on an adventure to discover where her fate lies and must confront her own biases, hopefully learning a drink recipe or two along the way.

A low-stakes cozy fantasy about cocktails, magic, portals, and finding where we truly belong.

If you enjoyed the themes of leaving it all behind in books like Legends & Lattes, and the fun and low-stakes magic in The Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking, then this is the book for you.

Full Review:

The Bartender Between Worlds strikes an interesting balance between a cozy slice-of-life story and a darker fantasy adventure.

In it, we follow Emma, a witchhunter who discovers that she is cursed with the same magic she has spent her whole life trying to eradicate from her world. On the run from her order, she falls into the company of a mad scientist and his fairy companion.

At first, Emma believes they’re absolutely nuts, but when her own magical ability opens the portal from her world to another, she is swept along on an adventure hopping from one reality to another—an adventure that will lead her to discovering the truth about her magic and herself.

I found this book very easy to read, with immensely likable characters that were instantly easy to root for. There’s not a whole lot of complexity—what you see is largely what you get—but none was necessary to make this low-stakes adventure engaging.

Emma’s power was fascinating: she could sense alcohol and feel its desire to BE something else. Whether turning spoiled wine good, adjusting the flavors of an ale, or knowing exactly what cocktail ingredients to mix for the perfect drink, her magic works with all forms of alcohol (and even other liquids like water). It was definitely one of the most original magic types I’ve encountered, and perfect for this cozy story.

The dimension-hopping feels random at first, but it all leads Emma (and her companions) down the emotional journeys they’re meant to go on, and brings them to the right place at the right time with all the right realizations to wrap the story up neatly.

All in all, a very easy-reading, enjoyable cozy-yet-adventurous tale.  

Filed Under: Adventure Fantasy, Cozy Fantasy, Slice of Life Fantasy Tagged With: Book Review, Books, Epic Fantasy, Fantasy, Fantasy Books, Self Published

About Andy Peloquin

I am, first and foremost, a storyteller and an artist--words are my palette. Fantasy and science fiction are my genres of choice, and I love to explore the darker side of human nature through the filter of heroes, villains, and everything in between. I'm also a freelance writer, a book lover, and a guy who just loves to meet new people and spend hours talking about my fascination for the worlds I encounter in the pages of fantasy and sci-fi novels.
Speculative fiction provides us with an escape, a way to forget about our mundane problems and step into worlds where anything is possible. It transcends age, gender, religion, race, or lifestyle--it is our way of believing what cannot be, delving into the unknowable, and discovering hidden truths about ourselves and our world in a brand-new way. Fiction at its very best!

Other Reviews You Might Like

Review: Wraith and the Revolution by A.J. Calvin

Review: Veil by Jonathan Janz

Book Review: Death on the Caldera by Emily Paxman

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Sponsored By

Use Discount Code FANFI For 5% Off!

FFA Newsletter!

Sign up for updates and get FREE stories from Michael R. Fletcher and Richard Ford!

What Would You Like To See?(Required)
Please select the type of content you want to receive from FanFi Addict. You can even mix and match if you want!

FFA Author Hub

Read A.J. Calvin
Read Andy Peloquin
Read C.J. Daily
Read C.M. Caplan
Read D.A. Smith
Read DB Rook
Read Francisca Liliana
Read Frasier Armitage
Read Josh Hanson
Read Krystle Matar
Read M.J. Kuhn

Recent Reviews

Recent Comments

  1. Mark Matthews on COVER REVEAL: To Those Willing to Drown by Mark MatthewsJanuary 7, 2025
  2. Basra Myeba on Worth reading Jack Reacher books by Lee Child?January 5, 2025
  3. Ali on Review: Sleeping Worlds Have No Memory by Yaroslav BarsukovJanuary 5, 2025
  4. Carter on So you want to start reading Warhammer 40,000? Here’s where to start!January 4, 2025
  5. M. Zaugg on Bender’s Best LitRPG reads of 2024January 3, 2025

Archive

Copyright © 2025 · Powered by ModFarm Sites · Log In