Benjamin X. Wretlind reached out to me to ask if I would read and review his book Beans of Anafi.  In sending me this email, he included a tidbit of information that there was a God of Beans, and this book centered around that god.  Did I say yes to reading this book? Immediately I did, yes. 

This book was an interesting, fun, and witty book that I honestly almost did not finish.  The first 30% – 40% of this book is quite simply setting up the background of our main character Alexandros, and most of it was not needed.  I picked up on the fact that Alexandros wanted a different life fairly quickly, and it was easy to see why.  While the author did have wonderful descriptions, and the opening scene with the donkey was the best part of the entire book (I will fight anyone on this) a lot of what was included was not needed.

And if I had not finished this book I would have been missing out on a wonderful story that somehow was incredibly circular in how it was told.   I absolutely loved the lore that people’s souls can be reincarnated into beans to be planted in the field.  It is somehow so sweet and so tragic at the same time, and it made me so happy when Alexandros wanted to continue his father’s legacy. 

What made me sad was that Alexandros’s father had a legacy to pass on that he was so closed mouthed about that had Alexandros not heard the story of beans from someone else, he never would have realized what was happening.  I wish that the relationship between father and son had not been as strained and as difficult, and I wish that Alexandros having his freedom had not led to the decline of his family home. 

Overall – I love the journey Alexandros went on where he got exactly what he needed out of life, but not necessarily exactly what he wanted.  However, this was not an incredibly long book and I feel like the start of this book was much longer than it needed to be.  We did not need to follow a donkey around the island for what felt like 10% of the book. 

Plot – 6/10

Characters – 5/10

Originality –  9/10

General Joy of Reading – 5/10

Overall Score – 25/40

Beans of Anafi – Benjamin X. Wretlind

Cost* – eBook is $3.99, paperback is $15.99.  This book is included on Kindle Unlimited.

*Cost is based upon what the book cost when book review is published