I genuinely do not believe I have laughed so much at a book in a very long time. This was one of the funniest, most adorable books I've read pretty much ever.
Our story starts with our heroine Jaime Edwards being forcibly brought to a different world by an evil and apparently insane witch. The witch is also kind of an idiot as she enhances Jaime's strength, speed, stamina and to top it off puts a spell on her that basically makes her impervious to anything that would cause her harm (if you are getting Isekai vibes that's because it basically is an Isekai). As Jaime is a survivor (and an FBI agent and possibly an Afghanistan war vet, there's some reference to her being in Afghanistan at one point but it's never elaborated on) she puts all of this to good use and kills the witch, who is apparently the world's most badass witch. Jaime then flees the cave the witch had been keeping her captive in arriving at a village where she is then transported to the capital of this new world to receive medical treatment. Where she then makes some friends in very high places which allows her to circumvent most of the countries rules and become a cop, where we meet her new partner Henri a magical examiner (think CSI for magic). The new partners are immediately thrown into a high-stakes case that will put Jaime's very life in jeopardy.
At some point in time, I just decided that Henri was a Hobbit who was is also in some way related to Negima (fantasy harem love comedy anime). And I feel no shame in admitting I fell in love with him almost immediately. Maybe it's because he seems to dislike the human race as much as I do, or because he's a giant smart-ass, but I think it was mostly because he was so freaking cute! And I loved Jaime just as much, as soon as she decided that she was snapping because she was making Wizard of Oz references I decided that Jaime was the type of person I'd want to hang out with in real life. To be honest, though I do not believe there was a character in this book I didn't like.
In terms of story progression, it moved at what I found to be the perfect pace as well and I never felt like there was too much or too little information given. It wasn't overly complicated in terms of Jaime, Henri, and friends coming up with a working theory and then applying a plan of action to catch the criminals in the end. In terms of the book being a solid detective story as well as an imaginative fantasy story, it hit all marks for me.
The only thing that kinda bugged me is that at some point Jaime mentions that she misses cats as this world doesn't have them. After describing what a cat is to Henri he has a vague recollection of seeing something similar, nothing much really goes into this until the end of the book when he presents Jaime with a magical construct another wizard created that just happens to be a cat. Even down to a cat's personality. It is purple but this thing is clearly recognizable as a cat on a planet that doesn't have cats. Now maybe in a later book, we'll find out that Jaime isn't the only person on the planet that comes from Earth with a love of cats, but this bugged me a bit. Probably more so because at the beginning of the book Jaime mentions she's wearing sweats and tennis shoes (things not invented on this planet yet) which drove me nuts until the author addresses it again where Jaime admits to having some made for her. This was such a tiny thing so for the author to make sure it was addressed but to not get a good explanation for that cat was kind of annoying. And I suppose even annoying is a strong word because like I said maybe it's a bit of foreshadowing.
All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and if you are a fan of Isekai this book would be right up your alley. I honestly found myself comparing this more to Isekai mangas/anime than any other genre while reading it other than the whole Henri is a Hobbit thing. And I really cannot stress enough that Henri is freaking adorable.
Oh shoot and I almost forgot: Weredonkeys. I did not know I needed weredonkeys in my life, now I know I did. Do they figure largely into the story? No, but are there still Weredonkeys in the story, yes and that's all that matters.
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