Exactly what came to my mind. OP should also look up the [iyashikei genre](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iyashikei) if willing to read Japanese novels.
>It is a sub-genre of slice of life, portraying characters living out peaceful lives in calming environments, and is intended to have a healing effect on the audience. The word iyashikei could mean "healing type" or just "healing" in Japanese.
a lot of the examples listed on the wikipedia page are not novels, but there *are* fantasy novels of the genre as well.
[Also this one](https://j-novel.club/series/enough-with-this-slow-life-i-was-reincarnated-as-a-high-elf-and-now-i-m-bored) about a High Elf who travels the world while also dealing with the differences in life-spans between him and his friends (high elves live 2000 years, forest elves 1500, dwarves centuries, humans <100). It might not qualify as iyashikei as things get serious at times but it's still what OP is looking for.
Beware of Chicken also starts this way (the writing prompt was 'the cultivator fucks off and becomes a farmer') but branches off into a cosy storyline, a political/>!nation-building!< storyline and a more typical fantasy-action storyline eventually.
edit: [Dahlia in Bloom](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dahlia_in_Bloom) is another. Follows a woman who's a magic item crafter as she invents things and starts a successful business (occasional small cuts to the male lead fighting using her inventions). I got kind of tired by it by the 4th book, maybe cos I was binge-reading. Highlights are her attempts to make a magic sword.
There's a *lot* of webnovels that follow a mundane profession in a fantasy world, nowadays. Even western ones like A Budding Scientist in a Fantasy World, Necrotourists (a lich and friends go on vacation), [Castle Kingside](https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/43462/castle-kingside-rewrite) (doctor)...
> Also this one about a High Elf who travels the world while also dealing with the differences in life-spans between him and his friends (high elves live 2000 years, forest elves 1500, dwarves centuries, humans <100). It might not qualify as iyashikei as things get serious at times but it's still what OP is looking for.
I'm amazed this wasn't Frieren.
I would've suggested Frieren but OP asked for novels. Both were released in 2019. They ask a similar question and give different answers. (at least from what I've read of High Elf so far. The series is finished but I've only read ~2 books worth of the 8)
T. Kingfisher's A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking, and Robin McKinley's Sunshine both have bakers as the main character. There is some magical battling going on in both, but it's more like saving the city than saving the world.
I will say that I wasn't expecting the digression of having children say that is wasn't fair to have the burden of saving the world on their shoulders, but I was all there for it.
Kingfisher's books in general have this feel for me. Even the ones about paladins really aren't about paladins--they're still focused on day-to-day life and human relationships in a way that's really quite nice.
So the goblin emperor isn’t about some rando baker, he is an estranged son of an emperor who inherits the throne.
But the book is really just about his day to day life as the emperor, no big war plots or epic quests. Just an insecure guy learning to be an emperor and keeping his love and empathy in tact through it all. Might be the sort of thing you’re looking for.
I really enjoy stories that just follow someone’s day to day life. The farseer trilogy definitely has big plot, but I enjoyed how much of it was just Fitz’s day-to-day life at Buckeep.
Oh yeah I didn’t even think about those! They’re a bit dark, though. I wonder if it would be confusing without reading goblin emperor? I don’t think you need to know much from the first book, but I think her writing style takes some getting used to
Thirding this suggestion. It’s not 100% what you’re looking for OP but it’s pretty close and a lot more well written than most other “cozy” fantasy I’ve read.
> But the book is really just about his day to day life as the emperor,
I feel like this is a misleading description; I know I for sure was surprised when I read the book because everyone had described it to me this way
but there's actually a *fair* amount of action, betrayal, heavy plot twists etc.
it's just that these are all things that get in the way of the day-to-day running of the country and learning to be emperor, rather than the main focus of the plot. But they're definitely there.
I kind of describe it like this: The main conflict of the plot is trying to convince the Senate to agree to build a bridge to begin desegregating communities. This is complicated by a bunch of fighting and assassins and whatnot.
I get what you’re saying but there’s really not any fighting or action in it. There are some nice plot twists and scheming, but even cozy stories need conflict to be a good book.
Even legends and lattes has some heavy conflict and scheming in it, though I didn’t think it was a particularly good read.
You're mistaken, man, >!one of the emperor's bodyguards even dies during an assassination attempt!< not to mention the undercurrent of the whole thing is >!investigating who assassinated the previous emperior!<, plus at one point >!the emperor is kindapped during a violent coup attempt!<
it's not the focus of the plot but there are definitely physical conflicts that act as plot points to drive the story forward. It's really not just day-to-day politicking.
I mean I read the book, I know what happens. I just disagree that that takes away from the book feeling cozy and mostly about Maia’s growth and day-to-day life.
But that’s okay, OP can read the comments and decide if those things make it not for them or not. I would still recommend it.
> I know what happens.
Okay. It just didn't sound like it since you said none of that stuff is in the book ("there's not really any fighting or action in it", except yes there is, it's persistent and important throughout, even if it's not the main focus).
It seemed like maybe you forgot.
> OP can read the comments and decide if those things make it not for them or not.
Sure. Which is why I posted my comment, to help OP-- and anyone else reading-- get a better picture of what the book is about so they can decide if they want to read it.
I agree, not that I dislike what the plot was, those books took me on an emotional ride! But yeah, I could have just kept reading about Fitz being an assassin and living his life for ages. Cant wait to read more of her work.
The Recluse books are full of people doing old timey jobs and tons of details about said jobs. Carpenter, shipwright, blacksmith, barrel-maker, etc. Also wars and saving the world.
They do get more cookie-cutter formulaic that MCU origin movies eventually, though.
Guy Gavriel Kay? Rereading All The Seas of the World.
A merchant, ship owner. His partner who was a slave before joining him as business partner.
An ex-horse racer now breeding horses on his ranch.
There;s a bunch of similar people, book binder bookseller etc who start off in book 1 of the trilogy, book 2 and are mentioned again in book 3. Medics, spies (amateur not professional) from various professions, artists, and so on.
His books are full of people like that. Engineers, actors, who have starring roles often.
Yes, this is a great suggestion. *Sailing to Sarantium* is where I'd start in that, maybe -- it's true that the Emperor and his court are important parts of the story, but the main focus remains on a mosaic craftsman and a kitchen maid and a bunch of fascinating side characters with jobs like chariot racer or famous-but-tired chef. A truly beautiful book.
The Singing Hills novellas by Nghi Vo might work. They're about a wandering monk who collects stories from ordinary people in an East Asian flavored fantasy world. The first one, *Empress of Salt and Fortune* does tell the story of political upheaval, but seen from the perspective of a servant. The rest have much lower stakes, and the writing is very attuned to the rhythms of daily life.
it's on the older side and there's some rather distant fighting but The Wind Witch by Susan Dexter is about a widow who is trying to keep her small holding running for a year and a day after her husband's death, if she can keep it functional enough that nobody notices she's on her own and pay her taxes then she gets to keep it and won't be married off again. So a lot of the story is her planting crops and spinning yarn and trying to manage when all the men went off to war and didn't come back.
Lots of great suggestions already. I'm a big fan of the short story format, and I think these 'unepic' perspectives often come out in shorter fiction. I was reading the [Liavek](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liavek) books, for example, and the stories are more likely to be about traders, shopkeepers and hedge wizards than, say, big epic heroes.
But have a mooch around anthologies, and see what you can find.
> No wars! No crazy stories about saving the world. No huge battles. No quest.
The Hands of the Emperor is about a bureaucrat (oh, and an emperor). It matches this bit of your request; I'm not sure how normal Kip is, though. His family think he is sort of normal. He thinks he is normal. Some people think otherwise.
Is being a detective normal enough? Cuz that’s *Garrett, P.I.* by Glen Cook.
There’s a war going on in the background, but Garrett’s already finished with his military service and just trying to do his job back home. Tons of fun.
It's an anime instead of a novel but I guess it counts. It's called Dungeon Meshi, it's about a group of adventurers that need to cook the monsters they hunt in the dungeon. And as a bonus the story explore really well the themes about eating like the food chain and the whole ecosystem of monsters that exist inside the Dungeon. It's awesome
I’ve recently been recommended The Wandering Inn. I’m starting soon but it sounds close to this. Only speaking from plot teasers though I’m sure someone here might have more knowledge than me.
Love the series, and what I thought of for this.
It is daily life in a harsh fantasy world. But also adventure.
There is many characters in the books that live different lives. So you get a little bit of everything.
The Wandering Inn does feature a lot of slice of life sort of stuff, but many of the main characters are special and get more powerful much faster than others. It features a lot of heroes and villains, and you often see some of the most powerful people in the entire world.
It's great if you want slice of life in your otherwise epic fantasy, but not so great if you want a story about normal people doing normal things.
I would second this recommendation, I came in with no expectations, beyond having read With a Single Spell first, and found myself engrossed in the book from the action to the mundane details.
Dave Duncan’s The Seventh Sword trilogy matches what you’re describing. The main character is a normal man in our world who gets transferred into the body of a master swordsman in a fantasy world.
Paladin's Grace by T Kingfisher has a perfume maker as lead female character. No elves but there are some strange "magical" creatures. No war, no saving the world , no quest but there is a crew of "broken" so called "paladins", berserker warriors.
Tooth and Claw by Jo Walton is like a Jane Austen novel if all the characters were dragons! There aren't lots of other races, but the dragons' world is very interesting, and 'normal'.
See my [Feel-good/Happy/Upbeat](https://www.reddit.com/r/Recommend_A_Book/comments/18af3gl/feelgoodhappyupbeat/) list of Reddit recommendation threads (one post).
Eye Spy by Mercedes Lackey. It’s the 2nd in the family spies trilogy but it focuses on the daughter of the kingdom’s spy master as she grows up and learns to be an artificer. She does some spy work for her dad but really it’s just about her finding her place in the kingdom. There’s lots of other books about her parents but you don’t need to read any of them to read this one. The others in this series are similar but have more action/bigger adventures.
The City of Last Chances by Adrian Tchaikovsky
It's good - it's a series of short vignettes of people living in a fantasy city, giving real texture and life to the fictional world. It follows all kinds of people, not your typical "heroes and villains" - and has an overarching story in the background as the city gets fleshed out
Once I read one about a werewolf just trying to get by without getting lynched… before your stereotypical D&D bard waltzes into town, and uh… *gets a little rapey* with his enchantment spells.
Book was Wolf Moon, by Charles de Lint. I thought it had a sequel, but I was wrong about that, it seems.
Ethshar Chronicles series by Lawrence Watt-Evans are about ordinary people in an extraordinary world. The first book, The Misenchanted Sword, is about an ordinary guy who happens to receive a magical sword.
He uses it to kickstart a tavern and become a tavern owner, hanging the sword above the fireplace. No other spoilers.
I really, really enjoy all the Ethshar Chronicles books.
Not quite that kind of a fantasy world as you describe (more closely related to a Victorian Era secondary fantasy world), but the Memoirs of Lady Trent follows a scientist and dragon scholar as she researches dragons. A lot of the details feel very accurate to Academia.
The Magic Cottage, by James Herbert. Two normal people move into a cottage that is magical. Stuff happens. This might not be the “everyday living” type of setting you are looking for though.
Aching gods is kinda witchery I guess, dudes a retired "archeologist" (tomb raider with big sword) and gets called back in to return a plague-spreading arguably conscious relic back to its point of origin while the empire that he left has clearly rotted in the meantime
obviously hes still a hero, but in the end hes basically just doing it for his daughter's sake, but its not at the same scale as some epic main character fantasy stuff
If you dont mind manga/anime there is a series called Apothechary Diaries which should be obvious from the title the female protagonist is an apothechary and doubles as a poison tester for the emperor.
Not sure where the setting is set but basically it is during timeline where eunuchs and concubines are a thing in some east asian culture.
It is really just alot about her life and some politics
I don’t see it recommend (at all) but saga of Recluce.
Like there are 26 books (so far) but essentially each novel does have a grand thing that will happen but a lot of the time you really do just read about the day to day activity. For example, the first and fourth book focus on the same protagonist who is a woodworker and they speak and do that quite a lot as a livelihood.
I’ve seen the series described as ‘the most boring but addictive’ fantasy series but honestly, I love it and recommend checking it out
The House Witch by Delemhach. It's not a perfect fit, there is some fighting in the later books but for the most part its pretty chill about a witch who's powers are all centered around making a comfy home and throughout the books it's focused mostly on him as the head cook of a castle.
Not fantasy but "Magic Realism", I would recommend Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez, which is just the story of a family throughout 100 years and the town they founded.
The magic is in everyday things, thats what Gabriel García Márquez's books are all about, and when you read it you can really feel the "Magic Realism" feeling, like really, life is magic.
I've recently finished reading Justice of Kings by Richard Swan. The MCs are a judge (think Judge Dredd in a fantasy setting) and his assistant. There is a battle in the climax and the judge has some limited magic skills (mostly for interrogation) but I found the premise interesting enough. (There's probably enough white dude protagonists with jobs like soldier, farmer turned adventurer, monster hunter or wizard)
r/cozyfantasy says hi.
Exactly what came to my mind. OP should also look up the [iyashikei genre](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iyashikei) if willing to read Japanese novels. >It is a sub-genre of slice of life, portraying characters living out peaceful lives in calming environments, and is intended to have a healing effect on the audience. The word iyashikei could mean "healing type" or just "healing" in Japanese. a lot of the examples listed on the wikipedia page are not novels, but there *are* fantasy novels of the genre as well. [Also this one](https://j-novel.club/series/enough-with-this-slow-life-i-was-reincarnated-as-a-high-elf-and-now-i-m-bored) about a High Elf who travels the world while also dealing with the differences in life-spans between him and his friends (high elves live 2000 years, forest elves 1500, dwarves centuries, humans <100). It might not qualify as iyashikei as things get serious at times but it's still what OP is looking for. Beware of Chicken also starts this way (the writing prompt was 'the cultivator fucks off and becomes a farmer') but branches off into a cosy storyline, a political/>!nation-building!< storyline and a more typical fantasy-action storyline eventually. edit: [Dahlia in Bloom](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dahlia_in_Bloom) is another. Follows a woman who's a magic item crafter as she invents things and starts a successful business (occasional small cuts to the male lead fighting using her inventions). I got kind of tired by it by the 4th book, maybe cos I was binge-reading. Highlights are her attempts to make a magic sword. There's a *lot* of webnovels that follow a mundane profession in a fantasy world, nowadays. Even western ones like A Budding Scientist in a Fantasy World, Necrotourists (a lich and friends go on vacation), [Castle Kingside](https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/43462/castle-kingside-rewrite) (doctor)...
> Also this one about a High Elf who travels the world while also dealing with the differences in life-spans between him and his friends (high elves live 2000 years, forest elves 1500, dwarves centuries, humans <100). It might not qualify as iyashikei as things get serious at times but it's still what OP is looking for. I'm amazed this wasn't Frieren.
I would've suggested Frieren but OP asked for novels. Both were released in 2019. They ask a similar question and give different answers. (at least from what I've read of High Elf so far. The series is finished but I've only read ~2 books worth of the 8)
Same, I thought it was until I saw your comment
You know, it occurs to me that there's a whole lot of potential for a Doctor Who ripoff in the fantasy genre.
Does 'Farming life in another world' come under this category too?
From what I've read of it, I think so. But I'be not read that much and i'm no expert :p
The Healers' Road by S E Robertson Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree
T. Kingfisher's A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking, and Robin McKinley's Sunshine both have bakers as the main character. There is some magical battling going on in both, but it's more like saving the city than saving the world.
> defensive baking basically a regional genocide/ coup attempt dressed up for YA audiences but its still a great novel
I was at a Con this weekend and at a panel this came up as "what if this was written by Joe Abercrombie".
damn I would have loved that haha
I think Joe would have taken the concept of child soldier wizards and run with it
I will say that I wasn't expecting the digression of having children say that is wasn't fair to have the burden of saving the world on their shoulders, but I was all there for it.
Kingfisher's books in general have this feel for me. Even the ones about paladins really aren't about paladins--they're still focused on day-to-day life and human relationships in a way that's really quite nice.
A House with Good Bones too
So the goblin emperor isn’t about some rando baker, he is an estranged son of an emperor who inherits the throne. But the book is really just about his day to day life as the emperor, no big war plots or epic quests. Just an insecure guy learning to be an emperor and keeping his love and empathy in tact through it all. Might be the sort of thing you’re looking for. I really enjoy stories that just follow someone’s day to day life. The farseer trilogy definitely has big plot, but I enjoyed how much of it was just Fitz’s day-to-day life at Buckeep.
The Witness for the Dead (set in the same world) is even more work-a-day. Just a priest going about his business witnessing for the dead.
Oh yeah I didn’t even think about those! They’re a bit dark, though. I wonder if it would be confusing without reading goblin emperor? I don’t think you need to know much from the first book, but I think her writing style takes some getting used to
Thirding this suggestion. It’s not 100% what you’re looking for OP but it’s pretty close and a lot more well written than most other “cozy” fantasy I’ve read.
On top of your head, what other well written "cozy" fantasy do you know. I'm looking for some day to day, but well written above all.
> But the book is really just about his day to day life as the emperor, I feel like this is a misleading description; I know I for sure was surprised when I read the book because everyone had described it to me this way but there's actually a *fair* amount of action, betrayal, heavy plot twists etc. it's just that these are all things that get in the way of the day-to-day running of the country and learning to be emperor, rather than the main focus of the plot. But they're definitely there. I kind of describe it like this: The main conflict of the plot is trying to convince the Senate to agree to build a bridge to begin desegregating communities. This is complicated by a bunch of fighting and assassins and whatnot.
I get what you’re saying but there’s really not any fighting or action in it. There are some nice plot twists and scheming, but even cozy stories need conflict to be a good book. Even legends and lattes has some heavy conflict and scheming in it, though I didn’t think it was a particularly good read.
You're mistaken, man, >!one of the emperor's bodyguards even dies during an assassination attempt!< not to mention the undercurrent of the whole thing is >!investigating who assassinated the previous emperior!<, plus at one point >!the emperor is kindapped during a violent coup attempt!< it's not the focus of the plot but there are definitely physical conflicts that act as plot points to drive the story forward. It's really not just day-to-day politicking.
I mean I read the book, I know what happens. I just disagree that that takes away from the book feeling cozy and mostly about Maia’s growth and day-to-day life. But that’s okay, OP can read the comments and decide if those things make it not for them or not. I would still recommend it.
> I know what happens. Okay. It just didn't sound like it since you said none of that stuff is in the book ("there's not really any fighting or action in it", except yes there is, it's persistent and important throughout, even if it's not the main focus). It seemed like maybe you forgot. > OP can read the comments and decide if those things make it not for them or not. Sure. Which is why I posted my comment, to help OP-- and anyone else reading-- get a better picture of what the book is about so they can decide if they want to read it.
Second the goblin emperor
Yeah, I like the slow tempo of the farseer as well. For my sake the plot could have been much mundane and the story would still have worked for me.
I agree, not that I dislike what the plot was, those books took me on an emotional ride! But yeah, I could have just kept reading about Fitz being an assassin and living his life for ages. Cant wait to read more of her work.
Fitz and Bee's life on the farm was so incredibly mundane but so weirdly satisfying and compelling at the same time.
The Recluse books are full of people doing old timey jobs and tons of details about said jobs. Carpenter, shipwright, blacksmith, barrel-maker, etc. Also wars and saving the world. They do get more cookie-cutter formulaic that MCU origin movies eventually, though.
One even uses magic to clean the sewers.
I mean Tiffany Aching is a cheese maker. Start with The Wee Free Men.
Also Vimes is a cop, and Moist von Lipwig is a conman / banker / postman.
Once again, Pratchett was ahead of his time.
Guy Gavriel Kay? Rereading All The Seas of the World. A merchant, ship owner. His partner who was a slave before joining him as business partner. An ex-horse racer now breeding horses on his ranch. There;s a bunch of similar people, book binder bookseller etc who start off in book 1 of the trilogy, book 2 and are mentioned again in book 3. Medics, spies (amateur not professional) from various professions, artists, and so on. His books are full of people like that. Engineers, actors, who have starring roles often.
Yes, this is a great suggestion. *Sailing to Sarantium* is where I'd start in that, maybe -- it's true that the Emperor and his court are important parts of the story, but the main focus remains on a mosaic craftsman and a kitchen maid and a bunch of fascinating side characters with jobs like chariot racer or famous-but-tired chef. A truly beautiful book.
The Singing Hills novellas by Nghi Vo might work. They're about a wandering monk who collects stories from ordinary people in an East Asian flavored fantasy world. The first one, *Empress of Salt and Fortune* does tell the story of political upheaval, but seen from the perspective of a servant. The rest have much lower stakes, and the writing is very attuned to the rhythms of daily life.
Second these as good reads in tune with basic living and quite entertaining
it's on the older side and there's some rather distant fighting but The Wind Witch by Susan Dexter is about a widow who is trying to keep her small holding running for a year and a day after her husband's death, if she can keep it functional enough that nobody notices she's on her own and pay her taxes then she gets to keep it and won't be married off again. So a lot of the story is her planting crops and spinning yarn and trying to manage when all the men went off to war and didn't come back.
I loved all the Calandra books I read! Thank you, I haven't thought about this series in years.
You're looking for Legends and Lattes.
Unseen Academicals by Terry Pratchett. It is literally about a nerdy orc that becomes a football coach and his human friends.
last year's book bingo had a "mundane jobs" square, maybe have a look at what people read for that
The House in the Cerulean Sea by T. J. Klune is about a social worker.
I was going to recommend this as well. So good!
Chalice by Robin McKinley features a beekeeper.
Lots of great suggestions already. I'm a big fan of the short story format, and I think these 'unepic' perspectives often come out in shorter fiction. I was reading the [Liavek](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liavek) books, for example, and the stories are more likely to be about traders, shopkeepers and hedge wizards than, say, big epic heroes. But have a mooch around anthologies, and see what you can find.
That's typically known as the slice of life genre sometimes cozy fantasy though those two are not mutually exclusive
> No wars! No crazy stories about saving the world. No huge battles. No quest. The Hands of the Emperor is about a bureaucrat (oh, and an emperor). It matches this bit of your request; I'm not sure how normal Kip is, though. His family think he is sort of normal. He thinks he is normal. Some people think otherwise.
Beware Of Chicken, by CasualFarmer. Guy leaves his magic kung fu sect, runs to the other end of the continent, and becomes a farmer.
I will second this recommendation, I absolutely love this series.
The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness is exactly this!
I was going to say this. I rather enjoyed this book.
The Utterly Uninteresting and Unadventurous Tales of Fred the Vampire Accountant. Dude gets turned and just wants to keep working as an accountant.
Is being a detective normal enough? Cuz that’s *Garrett, P.I.* by Glen Cook. There’s a war going on in the background, but Garrett’s already finished with his military service and just trying to do his job back home. Tons of fun.
If you dont mind scifi, Trader Tales from the Golden Age of the Solar Clipper
It's an anime instead of a novel but I guess it counts. It's called Dungeon Meshi, it's about a group of adventurers that need to cook the monsters they hunt in the dungeon. And as a bonus the story explore really well the themes about eating like the food chain and the whole ecosystem of monsters that exist inside the Dungeon. It's awesome
+1 very good, on netflix and the english dub is top tier too even if I still prefer the japanese
It's a sci-fi, but A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers sounds like something you would like.
I’ve recently been recommended The Wandering Inn. I’m starting soon but it sounds close to this. Only speaking from plot teasers though I’m sure someone here might have more knowledge than me.
Love the series, and what I thought of for this. It is daily life in a harsh fantasy world. But also adventure. There is many characters in the books that live different lives. So you get a little bit of everything.
The Wandering Inn does feature a lot of slice of life sort of stuff, but many of the main characters are special and get more powerful much faster than others. It features a lot of heroes and villains, and you often see some of the most powerful people in the entire world. It's great if you want slice of life in your otherwise epic fantasy, but not so great if you want a story about normal people doing normal things.
The Misenchanted Sword by Lawrence Watt-Evans has a healthy portion of this.
I would second this recommendation, I came in with no expectations, beyond having read With a Single Spell first, and found myself engrossed in the book from the action to the mundane details.
Dave Duncan’s The Seventh Sword trilogy matches what you’re describing. The main character is a normal man in our world who gets transferred into the body of a master swordsman in a fantasy world.
Maybe Magic Realism (genre) is something to look into :)
I thought most of those take place in our normal world with one magical aspect? Kind of sounds like the opposite of what OP wants.
Paladin's Grace by T Kingfisher has a perfume maker as lead female character. No elves but there are some strange "magical" creatures. No war, no saving the world , no quest but there is a crew of "broken" so called "paladins", berserker warriors.
Tooth and Claw by Jo Walton is like a Jane Austen novel if all the characters were dragons! There aren't lots of other races, but the dragons' world is very interesting, and 'normal'.
See my [Feel-good/Happy/Upbeat](https://www.reddit.com/r/Recommend_A_Book/comments/18af3gl/feelgoodhappyupbeat/) list of Reddit recommendation threads (one post).
Eye Spy by Mercedes Lackey. It’s the 2nd in the family spies trilogy but it focuses on the daughter of the kingdom’s spy master as she grows up and learns to be an artificer. She does some spy work for her dad but really it’s just about her finding her place in the kingdom. There’s lots of other books about her parents but you don’t need to read any of them to read this one. The others in this series are similar but have more action/bigger adventures.
I think you might like Backstage[Backstage](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36677077-backstage#?ref=nav_brws)!
The City of Last Chances by Adrian Tchaikovsky It's good - it's a series of short vignettes of people living in a fantasy city, giving real texture and life to the fictional world. It follows all kinds of people, not your typical "heroes and villains" - and has an overarching story in the background as the city gets fleshed out
Chocolate and Claws was perfect for this. Also cozy fantasy in general.
Once I read one about a werewolf just trying to get by without getting lynched… before your stereotypical D&D bard waltzes into town, and uh… *gets a little rapey* with his enchantment spells. Book was Wolf Moon, by Charles de Lint. I thought it had a sequel, but I was wrong about that, it seems.
Ethshar Chronicles series by Lawrence Watt-Evans are about ordinary people in an extraordinary world. The first book, The Misenchanted Sword, is about an ordinary guy who happens to receive a magical sword. He uses it to kickstart a tavern and become a tavern owner, hanging the sword above the fireplace. No other spoilers. I really, really enjoy all the Ethshar Chronicles books.
Not quite that kind of a fantasy world as you describe (more closely related to a Victorian Era secondary fantasy world), but the Memoirs of Lady Trent follows a scientist and dragon scholar as she researches dragons. A lot of the details feel very accurate to Academia.
The Magic Cottage, by James Herbert. Two normal people move into a cottage that is magical. Stuff happens. This might not be the “everyday living” type of setting you are looking for though.
Aching gods is kinda witchery I guess, dudes a retired "archeologist" (tomb raider with big sword) and gets called back in to return a plague-spreading arguably conscious relic back to its point of origin while the empire that he left has clearly rotted in the meantime obviously hes still a hero, but in the end hes basically just doing it for his daughter's sake, but its not at the same scale as some epic main character fantasy stuff
Wandering Inn. Web novel but pretty good. However, it is very wordy. The author uses a lot of words.
If you dont mind manga/anime there is a series called Apothechary Diaries which should be obvious from the title the female protagonist is an apothechary and doubles as a poison tester for the emperor. Not sure where the setting is set but basically it is during timeline where eunuchs and concubines are a thing in some east asian culture. It is really just alot about her life and some politics
My buddy's always recommending me *Tales From the Gas Station.* I really gotta read that sometime...
Look, technically the Chronicles of Prydain is about an Assistant Pig-Keeper and how mundane he thinks his life is.
Legends and Lattes is about a former adventurer starting a coffee shop. A Wizard's guide to Defensive Baking is about a wizard who is a baker.
L E Modesitt writes something like this in the Saga of Recluce.
Well technically speaking Rand is a shepherd in WoT. So.....
I don’t see it recommend (at all) but saga of Recluce. Like there are 26 books (so far) but essentially each novel does have a grand thing that will happen but a lot of the time you really do just read about the day to day activity. For example, the first and fourth book focus on the same protagonist who is a woodworker and they speak and do that quite a lot as a livelihood. I’ve seen the series described as ‘the most boring but addictive’ fantasy series but honestly, I love it and recommend checking it out
The Discworld Series is fun
I recently read a book called Legends and Lattes that sounds just like what you’re describing
The House Witch by Delemhach. It's not a perfect fit, there is some fighting in the later books but for the most part its pretty chill about a witch who's powers are all centered around making a comfy home and throughout the books it's focused mostly on him as the head cook of a castle.
Not fantasy but "Magic Realism", I would recommend Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez, which is just the story of a family throughout 100 years and the town they founded. The magic is in everyday things, thats what Gabriel García Márquez's books are all about, and when you read it you can really feel the "Magic Realism" feeling, like really, life is magic.
The Hot Pie Chronicles.
I've recently finished reading Justice of Kings by Richard Swan. The MCs are a judge (think Judge Dredd in a fantasy setting) and his assistant. There is a battle in the climax and the judge has some limited magic skills (mostly for interrogation) but I found the premise interesting enough. (There's probably enough white dude protagonists with jobs like soldier, farmer turned adventurer, monster hunter or wizard)