A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking
#2684.05 of 664 ranked universes · full ranking
Books 1 book Status Complete 2020 Reading commitment Low T. Kingfisher Last reviewed 2026-08-15
Overview
A 2020 standalone YA fantasy: fourteen-year-old Mona's magic only works on bread, which seems like a fairly useless gift until she finds a corpse in her aunt's bakery one morning and an assassin targeting the city's magic-users turns out to have her in his sights next. With an animate gingerbread army, a sourdough-starter familiar named Bob, and a deadpan sense of humor, she has to out-think a killer nobody else believes is real.
Comic fantasy · For YA
Core Canon: Reading Order (1 work) counts toward ranking
A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking T. Kingfisher
| Work | Year | Canon | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking | 2020 | core | 4.05 (73,762 ratings) |
One continuous standalone novel; no sequel has been published.
Quick answers
- How many books are in A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking? A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking's Core Canon is 1 book.
- Is A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking finished? Complete (2020).
- How much reading does A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking take? Low reading commitment (estimated from 1 Core Canon book · ~306 pages).
- How is A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking ranked? #268 of 664 ranked universes on this site, based on 73,762 reader ratings across 1 Core Canon book. See the full ranking for how this is calculated.
Why is it ranked #268?
Ranked #268 of 664 ranked universes.
- Average reader rating of 4.05 across 1 core book.
- A smaller readership (73,762 ratings), so the score carries less weight of numbers.
- Less than 0.01 behind #267, The Library at Mount Char (a finer tie-break level decides the order).
- Below the top-10 average of 4.45.
- A single standalone novel: ranked on that one book alone.
Why explore this universe?
Well rated · 1 book · Complete · 74k ratings · Ranks #268 overall
Good choice if you want a quick, low-commitment comic fantasy universe that's already finished, so there's no wait for the next book.
Reading order
A single Core Canon work: no sequencing question to resolve.
Awards (verified)
- Andre Norton Award, 2020: won: A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking; SFWA's Andre Norton Nebula Award for Middle Grade and Young Adult Fiction; confirmed directly via nebulas.sfwa.org's own nominated-work page ('Winner, Andre Norton Nebula Award for Middle Grade and Young Adult Fiction in 2020').
- Lodestar Award (Best Young Adult Book), 2021: won: A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking; Confirmed directly via thehugoawards.org's own 2021 results page.
- Locus Award (Best Young Adult Book), 2021: won: A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking; Confirmed directly via locusmag.com's own 2021 winners announcement.
- Mythopoeic Award (Children's Literature), 2021: won: A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking; Confirmed directly via mythsoc.org's own award-winners page.
Related universes
- Same author The Saint of Steel: Both by T. Kingfisher (Ursula Vernon), confirmed separate continuities -- no shared characters, setting, or continuity across her admitted standalone/series universes.
- Same author Nettle & Bone: Both by T. Kingfisher (Ursula Vernon), confirmed separate continuities -- no shared characters, setting, or continuity across her admitted standalone/series universes.
- Same author Thornhedge: Both by T. Kingfisher (Ursula Vernon), confirmed separate continuities -- no shared characters, setting, or continuity across her admitted standalone/series universes.
- Same author A Sorceress Comes to Call: Both by T. Kingfisher (Ursula Vernon), confirmed separate continuities -- no shared characters, setting, or continuity across her admitted standalone/series universes.
- Same author Hemlock & Silver: Both by T. Kingfisher (Ursula Vernon), confirmed separate continuities -- no shared characters, setting, or continuity across her admitted standalone/series universes.
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Suggestions computed from what A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking and each of these worlds have in common on record (subgenre, audience, shape, reading commitment and score), not a documented narrative connection.
- The Enchanted Forest Chronicles Comic fantasy · Complete · Low commitment · 4.17
- The Derkholm Series Comic fantasy · Complete · Low commitment · 4.11
- The Bartimaeus Sequence Urban fantasy / Comic fantasy · Complete · Medium commitment · 4.14
- The Scapegracers Urban fantasy / Comic fantasy · Complete · Medium commitment · 4.07
Official resources
- Wikipedia: A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking
- The Nebula Awards: nominated-work page
- T. Kingfisher official site
Research details
Ranking metrics: weighted average 4.05 across 73,762 ratings on 1 Core Canon book. See Why is it ranked here? above for the full breakdown, or the full ranking.
How do we know this?
Admission: A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking admitted; single-work Core Canon accepted 2026-08-15
Sources: (see source tier definitions)
- Wikipedia: A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking Tier 2
- Rating-platform listing: A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking Tier 1
- Nebula Awards: A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking (nominated work page) Tier 1
- The Hugo Award: 2021 (Lodestar Award result) Tier 1
- Mythopoeic Society, Awards Winners Tier 1
- Locus: 2021 Locus Awards Winners Tier 1
Related universes: see the Related universes section above.
Last reviewed: 2026-08-15
Rule: Rule: single-work: a genuinely one-off novel, registered per this canon's Once and Future King/LOTR-analogy precedent; no sequel has been published. Confirmed separate continuity from T. Kingfisher's other admitted universes; no shared characters or setting.