Celebrate Small Business Month with our most popular business-only savings Shop Savings Guide>
Kindle Unlimited
Unlimited reading. Over 4 million titles. Learn more
Read for Free
OR
$4.99

Promotions apply when you purchase

These promotions will be applied to this item:

Some promotions may be combined; others are not eligible to be combined with other offers. For details, please see the Terms & Conditions associated with these promotions.

Sold by Amazon.com Services LLC.
Read with our free app
You've subscribed to ! We will preorder your items within 24 hours of when they become available. When new books are released, we'll charge your default payment method for the lowest price available during the pre-order period.
Update your device or payment method, cancel individual pre-orders or your subscription at
Your Memberships & Subscriptions
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the author

Aaron Sofaer
Follow
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

Quill and Still Kindle Edition

by Aaron Sofaer (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.5 out of 5 stars 97 ratings
Sophie Nadash once yearned to understand life and chemistry. Now a disillusioned scientist approaching middle age, she yearns to set aside pipettes and polymerase forever.

A chance encounter with the Goddess Artemis sets her on the path to becoming the Alchemist for the rural Shemmai village of Kibosh, where the rat race gives way to peace and the quiet life. Freed from the hustle of Earth, she can relax, make friends, and rediscover her love for chemistry through its mystical precursor... and come to grips with the Jewish faith she left behind as a child.

Quill and Still weaves together chemistry, mythology, magic, and an off-the-path Judaism to form a slice-of-queer-life, which reviewers described as “like opening up a pulp fiction novel and getting Milton's paradise lost”. It's perfect for lovers of cozy, slice-of-life fiction in the vein of Becky Chambers’s “Records of a Spaceborn Few” or Jo Walton’s “Lifelode”.

Aaron crafts an interesting, vibrant world to explore. A slow life fantasy about civics, science, and a city above a dungeon. - Casualfarmer, author of Beware of Chicken

This is the story I never knew I’d always wanted to read, in a world I never knew I’d always wanted to inhabit. Among high-concept fantasy conceits, ‘what if a society was built to maximize decency’ sounds almost banal to describe, until you see it actually executed well and realize just how subversive that idea is. You deserve to read Quill & Still. - D. D. Webb, author of The Gods are Bastards
Read more
Previous slide of product details
  1. Print length
    378 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Accessibility
    Learn more
  4. Publication date
    December 1, 2023
  5. File size
    2.3 MB
  6. Page Flip
    Enabled
  7. Word Wise
    Enabled
  8. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
Next slide of product details
Unwell Hydration from Alex Cooper
Hydrate & focus with every sip Shop now

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0CNCG2WQS
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Riverfolk Books
  • Accessibility ‏ : ‎ Learn more
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ December 1, 2023
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 2.3 MB
  • Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 378 pages
  • Page Flip ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 out of 5 stars 97 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Aaron Sofaer

Aaron Sofaer

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Aaron lives in California, working as a software developer while muttering enviously about the superiority of walkable communities and countries with vastly better support for raising children.

Having had the Path of the Writer unlocked by the mid-life acquisition of an awesome rainbow hat, Aaron is now trying to inflict thirty years of arguing about civics and public policy at the Shabbat table onto readers seeking fantasy novels. Rumors that the devastating smirk masks a series of deep, dark secrets are entirely unsubstantiated—all such secrets are all-too-shallow and prone to being shared at the drop of a pin.

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
97 global ratings

Review this product

Share your thoughts with other customers
Write a customer review

Top reviews from the United States

  • Matthew Husar
    5.0 out of 5 stars A verbose, eloquent, and deep tale of how a world might be.
    Reviewed in the United States on January 22, 2024
    Verified Purchase
    If you don't like 50 cent words embellishing your prose or if you agree with Hemingway that big feelings don't come from big words, the style of Quill and Still will put you off. I assure you that underneath its flowery vocabulary dwells a tale of a magical world, with systems divine, bureaucratic, and scholarly which are at once products of an alien history and have their own flaws and struggles. For those of us who have a taste for the verbose and struggle with our woundedness, the book is quite a treat: it is an imagining of person falling into a better world.

    An Isekai: with Olympians, Apotheosis, and frequent dwelling on an alien cuisine you'll wish you could sample.

    I do recommend it.
    4 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • A. Bonnema
    5.0 out of 5 stars Thoughtful worldbuilding lets sunlight fall on real-world experiences
    Reviewed in the United States on December 10, 2023
    Verified Purchase
    Which is more or less exactly what I want from a cozy isekai. Sofaer does not hold the reader's hand; this is a read for fantasy-lovers who want to work things out for themselves. I learned something new every chapter, whether it was a vocab word, a recipe, or a revelation about who Sophie is or the operating principles of the "other world" she's been transported to -- and, in reflection, about how things work in the real world, and viewpoints I haven't before considered.
    In a story that touches on sensitive topics - not for cheap thrills but because they're deeply entwined in the protagonist's self - this is a story where, even when things are going badly for the characters, I can trust the author with my heart.
    2 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • Molly
    4.0 out of 5 stars Cozy
    Reviewed in the United States on May 12, 2025
    This book is a fun escape from the real world. Literally. After Sophie has a chance encounter with the goddess Artemis, she is sent off to a new world where she wanders around meeting people and leisurely trying new things. If you’re looking for a plot-heavy book, this isn’t it, but relax and enjoy the slice of life with litRPG vibes it has to offer.
    Helpful
     Report
  • Eljay
    5.0 out of 5 stars *Very tempted to wander the countryside, just in case*
    Reviewed in the United States on December 20, 2023
    Verified Purchase
    Thank you!! I read so many of the reviews and so many people had perfect descriptions of how this book was written. I just wanted to say "I enjoyed it, and would give this time back to reread". Now when is the next book ( sequel or not) coming out?
    Helpful
     Report
  • Reviewer
    3.0 out of 5 stars It's fine
    Reviewed in the United States on March 26, 2024
    Verified Purchase
    Reading the description, I didn't realize that it's an isekai story. I happen to really hate isekai stories. The whole video game style of writing, where spells are listed out in bold every time they happen (y'know, *Biological Impactment!*), is really jarring in my opinion and not cozy at all. While I adore fantasy video games, if I wanted to experience elements of fantasy video games, I would... play one. I'm giving it a three because if you like isekai and books that incorporate tech elements into the text, you might like this one, but I wish the description had made it clear it was an isekai... Or I wish I'd read the reviews first haha.

    I thought this was going to be about a medieval scientist who visits another culture on the calling of a foreign god... not a modern day scientist stumbles upon Artemis naked in a pond and magics her to a video game world. That scene could have had a laugh track.

    But take everything I say with a grain of salt. I really do hate isekai stories.
    Helpful
     Report
  • C Miller
    5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing job!
    Reviewed in the United States on December 5, 2023
    Verified Purchase
    An isekai but more thought was put in for the whole idea. No easy mode, no instant mastery of a mystical technique. I appreciate the world building that just swamps you in the setting.

    Overall I can't wait for the next one!
    One person found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • SamReadsManyBooks
    5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful!
    Reviewed in the United States on December 14, 2023
    Verified Purchase
    Not quite what I was expecting. More introspective and philosophical. How could our society be better structured? What flawed assumptions do we accept without thought? I look forward to the next book.
    Helpful
     Report
  • Sydney
    4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting slice of life LitRPG
    Reviewed in the United States on March 1, 2025
    I did enjoy this book quite a bit. I liked the slice of life approach to a LitRPG. I also like that Sophie is basically a normal person and therefore really shouldn't be into the dungeon delving that a lot of similar books push. There is so much depth to the world we encounter. The majority of the book would qualify as worldbuilding. Not a lot actually takes place in the three days we're with Sophie, but we are bombarded with information. This is hopefully just the foundation for the continuing series, because if all the books are this information dense with such little actually happening it will be supremely disappointing. I do look forward to book two when it comes out. Hopefully with more time passing and Sophie figuring things out with either Kelly or Ketka. (Fingers crossed for Ketka.)

    But it was a bit odd and there were several things that were off to me. Nearly any time there was a sudden change in the conversation because someone gave offense or something...I could not for the life of me figure out what had set everyone off, but the author treated it like it was plain as day without really explaining it. Which as much as they wax poetic about everything else is just rude. I feel like a lot of the story got buried in the minutia of details that weren't actually that important to moving the story along. I did not need the full rundown of the steps of safety taken to create a dangerous potion, while skipping the actual creation of said potion. The author gets caught up in very tiny details that anyone else would skip over and move the story along faster. Things that probably should have been skipped over. I don't agree with some of the other reviews that the author's use of language was exaggerated or difficult. Honestly how else are we expected to expand our vocabulary and knowledge if we aren't exposed to new words and definitions?

    Lastly, based on other works online this author has published as well as some of the comments made by Sophie, I feel like Sophie is supposed to be trans. But, like any other kind of representation, if it is not explicitly stated it is easily glossed over and doesn't really count as representation. I hope the author clears that up moving forward in a definitive fashion.
    Helpful
     Report

Top reviews from other countries

  • Kindle Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars Still excited for more
    Reviewed in Australia on July 22, 2024
    Verified Purchase
    I was hard to contain my excitement every time gods show up. Such lovely characters and backstory and a vision of a not awful world
    Report
  • PanopolyImp
    5.0 out of 5 stars Dont be thrown off by the title or Sophie's proffession, this is a book about civic philosophy~
    Reviewed in Canada on December 8, 2023
    Verified Purchase
    And it's a very good one at that.

    Written originally as a serial and then tightened up for publication, this book truly shines with the writer's growth. Public service structure, economic stability, and pro-social governance philosophies are at core in this novel about a fantastical land with deitic communion, multicentury life expectancy, and how to say sorry when your Skills cause a massive faceplant.

    -

    The Duchy of Shemmai is a facisnating place with a deeply pro-social civic structure, and its where Sophie ends up after an unfortunate meeting lacking hospitality. This first book is an introduction to the Shemmai way of life, told through the lens of Sopie's sarcastic, ascerbic, and sharp insights. Shes also incredibly distractable and curious to a fault, so dont expect clear answers or immediate follow-through on world information.

    This is a world where the gods are real, and complicated. If you like greek myths - which Sophie has a close relation to - you'll find place to sink your teeth in. And that's even before you get to the people who are d20 style powergaming their way to apotheosis~

    But, this is a about a quiet life - as quiet as one can get with a highly driven, curious, voracious person as Sophie - and figuring out your place in a new society that is deeply invested in doing its best to help you achieve that.
    Kelly and Sophie are an incredibly dynamic pairing, and the bouncing they do between the powerful figures of the comunity, necessary paperwork, and some incredibly dangerous alchemy (always remember to go through your safety checklist, twice) is great fun and so very sharply written, you could get a papercut while filing your Adaptation and Integration forms.

    A small end note, this world's toilets will make you deeply envious, even while you're wondering if Sofaer really needed to describe with such distinction why they are needed. Travel vaccines have nothing on transmigration medical necessity.

    This book covers three days of incredibly dense social exploration, that'll have you realising just how much is implied and going on in the background during a re-read. Have fun out there, eat your oatmeal, and trust your First Friend Aaron Sofaer to show you around~
    Report
  • Kindle Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars Incredibly beautiful story about a woman finding her love for things she lost it for again
    Reviewed in Germany on November 30, 2023
    Verified Purchase
    A wonderful piece about a world where people care about each other and how a new arrival can heal in such an environment (with lots of civics), can't recommend it enough.
    Report
  • Kindle Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars Cover art is amazing! Can't wait to gift it.
    Reviewed in Australia on December 6, 2023
    Verified Purchase
    Purchased as a gift for christmas, I can't wait to give it.
    Report
  • curtismchale
    5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent slow life fantasy
    Reviewed in Canada on February 23, 2024
    Verified Purchase
    Unlike many books in this genre when the main character gets transported to a new world they don't find out they are the chosen one that is supposed to end some great evil. They find a society that takes care of anyone that lives there and is willing to give them the room to become a productive member of society. They find a place that allows anyone to be the best person they can be.

    Many times I could feel the deep overwhelm as the main character realized that their worth wasn't entirely predicated on the work they could do. They were worth being around just because they existed.
    Report

Report an issue


Does this item contain inappropriate content?
Report
Do you believe that this item violates a copyright?
Report
Does this item contain quality or formatting issues?
Report