The Magician of Tiger Castle by Louis Sachar

I'm not sure why this is being touted as the author's debut adult novel? Perhaps to make it stand out, and shelve it in a different place, away from his usual children's books. But it didn't read as being particularly adult - there are some sexual jokes, but nothing that stops it from being a story for teens. Perhaps they thought having a middle aged man as the main character would be off-putting for kids? I don't think so. He's interesting, he makes magical potions and falls off things and steps in horse poo and gets into scrapes...

Anyway, children or adult it doesn't really matter. It's an easy to read, and funny fantasy story. I liked Anatole, more than the Princess and her suitor (who annoyed me). I was more interested in Anatole's potions. But the issue I had with the story was, mainly, the resolution. It comes to a funny ending, all of a sudden, and because we have known about present day Anatole the whole way through, there are no surprises or reveals from that point of view. So then you wonder what the point of that aspect was, and if it made an impact on the rest of the story. I'm not sure it did, or not enough to warrant it. I'd thought we'd have some interesting reveal, that Anatole had discovered in present day, that then explained more of the past that we'd just read.
The pace starts to slow once it turns into a journey story, and then it suddenly winds itself up nd you find that there are some threads that are left unresolved (though hinted at). I came away from the book feeling very mixed. Perhaps if you go in knowing it's not really 'adult' fantasy fiction that would help, and there was a lot to like about the story. I just personally would have liked a tidier resolve.
With many thanks to Net Galley and the Publishers for my ARC.