Fantasy sety 
I will begin with a very unusual book: The Oddfits by Tiffany Tsao. The word “quirky” keeps coming to mind. I read this for free through the Kindle First program, so that’s a pretty swell way to get read as a new writer.
How can I describe this story? Think of the very first chapter where we met Harry Potter, living in a closet with his hideous Muggle cousin, aunt and uncle. Now, think about that chapter as an entire book, a journey where the hero, Murgatroyd, moves from his hateful everyday world to the realization that he is something special, and has a special destiny. Imagine the family as, oh, twenty times worse than Harry’s family ever was. And imagine a setting in Singapore.
But awkward, damaged, sweet, exasperating Murgatroyd is no magician or wizard. He’s an Oddfit, out of place in our everyday world. His destiny, he finally learns, is to explore the More Known World…a vast and unseen place out of reach for normal humans. He’s offered a chance to fulfill his destiny…if his hateful parents, his vicious boss, and his selfish best “friend” don’t sabotage him first.
To enjoy this story, one has to have patience with its many digressions about the supporting characters. (The chapter about the insane owner of “The Abattoir,” the restaurant where Murgatroyd works, is particularly funny.) I found the story a bit hard to read at times, because his parents are so AWFUL and the many frustrations that keep piling in his way to his destiny are agonizing.
I enjoyed the setting of Singapore: its culture, its food, its speech, and the lives of expats (like Murgatroyd’s parents). I’ve actually always wanted to go to Singapore and several sections feature drool-worthy food porn of the highest order.
The fantasy element is actually one of the smallest elements in the book…we only catch a few glimpses of the mysterious More Known World, Murgatroyd’s destination. It’s probably a good decision to keep it elusive…I have a feeling that knowing more about the More Known World might diminish its power. I’m interested to see how she handles it in the sequel.
Murgatroyd’s parents may be the most unbelievable element—a lovely expat couple who hate their son and spend their time finding new and cruel ways to ruin his life: sending him to school with terrible haircuts, dangling him over hyenas at the school, making him sleep on the floor. Yet Murgatroyd’s love in the face of this abuse is heartbreaking …isn’t that what abuse does to children? At the end of the story, we see that the explanation may lie in Murgatroyd’s “Oddfittingness” making things more and more difficult in the normal world.
I find this story works as a fantasy novel, but mostly as a fable. I recommend it for anyone wanting a change of pace, something different: a charming, funny, light fable set in an unusual location, but with moments of magic, heartbreak, and real feeling.