I really enjoyed this book, but it’s hard to say why it’s not a five star for me. It started really slow because we got to know all the characters, and while I enjoyed that, it felt like the plot on the back cover revealed the plot 50% in to the book so it took a while to learn new things about the plot. I loved all of these characters and the book/blood magic and found it all fascinating. I would love to read more about this magic world and these characters but the book tied things together nicely. The plot and plot devices felt a little YA I think even in this adult book.

This was such an unexpected gem. Came for the magical library, stayed for the characters and plot twists. 

Aggressively good. Saskia Maarleveld has incredible taste in books. If she's narrating it, i know it will be a banger. And she's amazing at what she does!
I really, really enjoyed this story. The plot twists made complete sense and I felt proud of myself whenever I managed to see one coming, the characters are lovable, (I want to give all our protagonists a hug) and the descriptions of sensations were vivid and visceral. I loved every moment. 
It was also a stunning portrayal of how people deal with trauma, especially trauma inflicted by one's primary caregivers. Excellent work!

My one critique would be that they struggled a bit with writing the 4-person conversation between Ester, Johanna, Nicholas and Collins where the 're trying to decide what to do with the wards. It felt forced and repetitive, and constantly reminded me of the fact that this is a story written by a person, and not just me being a fly on the wall for a real life conversation. I didn't notice this with any other conversation.

This book was so great to read! The world comes to life and every aspect of the lore is explained beautifully within the story itself. An adventurous, dark story about sisters, this story grabs onto you and hangs on as the story twists and unearths the unexpected. 

Sometimes, there is nothing better than a book about books!

The setup: The novel follows two sisters, Esther and Joanna, born and raised in a magical family - those who can read magic from books and cast certain spells. While Joanna can produce this magic when reading it, Ester seems untouched by the magic. When she reads the books, nothing happens. More perplexing, magic seems to have no impact on her. Esther and Joanna's family is complicated, and we are met with many fascinating tales about mothers, fathers, stepmothers, and overall familial ties.

In addition, we also travel alongside the tale of someone named Nicholas and his bodyguard, Collins. We know little about Nicholas and his ties to Esther and Joanna's story, but he lives in The Library, a heavily guarded magical library in London. Nicholas is a Scribe, meaning that he writes magical books.

Throughout the novel, we learn of the characters, the magic, and their connection through many ups and downs.

What I liked: I found this novel quite innovative and original. The theme of magical books has no doubt been done before, particularly in witchy settings, but I just thought this one was unique. Additionally, the writing style and prose were just lovely. I found it atmospheric but still grounded in modern times, which was an interesting touch. To me, this seemed to sway to the side of magical realism versus fantasy, but it is about magical books and spells, so I can see why it wouldn't necessarily be too close to real life. Either way, I just thought it worked so well. There were also a couple of twists and turns throughout this novel that I didn't see coming, which I always LOVE!

What didn't hit the mark: The beginning was slow, and while I loved the character development, once the connection was there between plots, I felt some things were a little rushed. That said, I gave this 4.5 stars, so it didn't impact my overall reading experience and love for the book.

I recommend this as a nice in between of magical realism, contemporary literature, and fantasy. It was super readable, yet poetic at times, and I loved the plot. I look forward to checking out this author's other works in the future!

There were some twists I should have seen coming but didn’t. It was really nice to let my brain just be consumed with the read rather than figuring out the angles. I definitely recommend going in with an escapist mindset and letting the fun and horror wash over you. 

𝘔𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘙𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘮 • 𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴 𝘈𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴 ⁣⁣⁣
3 𝘗𝘖𝘝 • 𝘍𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘴𝘺 • 𝘓𝘎𝘉𝘛𝘘⁣

Give me a book about books and a well constructed magical system to sink my teeth into and I'm content. This book did both 🙌🏽

It kicks off with a mystery/thriller vibe as the two FMCs try to figure out how their father was killed by his magical books. There is a third POV, another magical book collector and scribe, and it takes a good half of the book before their storylines cross. 

I kept waiting for the romance to kick in. While there is a hint of a romance, it's not enough to make this a romantasy.

There are major witchy vibes due to the spells, herbs, and casting, although no one in the book is actually a witch. Also, for a book without vampires, they certainly spilled a lot of blood and the MMC spends the entirety of the book anemic. This is not the book for you if you dislike needles and blood. So file that as a trigger warning.

This was a very strong debut novel and by the end I was vibing hard. It was the perfect reading for fall season. I'll definitely be happy to read more from Emma Törzs in the future!

TW: parental death and death in general, needles, blood, violence, assault, gore (mild).

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