The plot was interesting and a little dark.  The book felt slow.   I liked Nicholas and Collins the best. 

I was skeptical at first but this book sucked me in and was a brilliant and fun story. 
Also, very happy to see that this book didn’t suffer from the “North American writer who gets the language wrong when writing books set in / featuring characters from other English-speaking countries” problem I’ve come across so often recently. Thank you, Emma Törzs (and editors) for allowing me to maintain my sense of immersion in this particular and important way.

Not ready to write much about this yet! But I really loved this book. Extremely fun.

I stumbled across this book because it was a Book of the Month pick for June 2023.
"Ink Blood Sister Scribe" is a magical debut fantasy story that explores the love of half-sisters and the love of books. The Kalotay family has been tasked with guarding a library full of magical books for generations. These books allow for people to do everything from walk through walls to more nefarious activities. Half-sisters Joanna and Esther grew up doing as their father asked of them and learning how they can contribute to protecting this library. Unfortunately, Esther must flee to Antartica to try to prevent herself from having the same ill-fated end as her mother. Only after their father turns up dead because of a book do Esther and Joanna finally decide it best to reunite and uncover a generation old secret that can help them tackle the villainous intentions of someone with close access to these books.
I did not have terribly high expectations from this book, as I never do with fantasy, but I was truly blown away by this story. The high-stakes adventure kicks off almost immediately and the reader is thrown into the world just as quickly. The magic system is easy to understand and follow and the world building is not sacrificed with the immediate introduction to the challenges the characters must face. I also really enjoyed that there are three different perspectives: Esther, Joanna, and Nicholas, a scribe. I think the jumping between perspectives allows for the reader to get into the story more quickly.
As much as I enjoyed Nicholas as a character, and I see the value of having a scribe's perspective to help the story move along quickly, his chapters were not my favorite. He came across as a very meek character and I did not feel like he had the tenacity to fight alongside the sisters to take down this medieval magic. I do think the story could have benefitted if his chapters were lessened and the reader would have gotten more from Esther and Joanna. Personally, I wanted more of Esther's and Peral's story. I do not think it would have enhanced the main story at all, but I just really enjoyed them together.
I think this is a great book for those who want an introduction to the fantasy genre or those who do not enjoy super high-level fantasy. This story reads more like a contemporary, with a lot of violence, and hints of magic, which is why I personally enjoyed it.
I will definitely be keeping Emma Torzs on my radar in the future!

Thank you to the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Now, I think this mayhaps have been a "right book, right time" kind of thing, but wow I fell in love with this. I found myself absorbed in this book's pages and struggling to pull myself away even to sleep or eat. And upon closing the book, I found myself disappointed to leave the world behind. That certainly is not an occurrence with everything I read. Lately, reading has felt like meandering through a thick forest, trudging along different paths, but Ink Blood Sister Scribe felt like finally finding the perfect little spot to settle down in, like Celia in the forest of Arden: "I like this place and willingly could waste my time in it."

In a magical world not unlike our own, we follow three characters:

Joanna, a young woman protecting and caring for her late father's personal library of magical books. Though in her attempt to protect the books from the outside world, she's holed herself in. And despite her expertise on her own collection, she can't seem to figure out where these books come from. Especially the book that killed her father.

Esther, Joanna's older sister who has been on the run for 10 years, after her father commanded her to move to a new location every November. Estranged from her family, and in a constant state of motion, she has no ties. But in Antarctica, she's decided to stay another season. She's happy and comfortable and has a girlfriend she's really starting to feel something for. What could possibly go wrong?

Nicholas, who is absolutely sick of his life. He's been giving his blood, sweat, and tears (quite literally) to the Library since he was a child, creating new magical books. But as the world's last and only Scribe, he's resigned to his fate. At least his uncle–the head of the Library–and his girlfriend care about him, and at least he lives in a mansion out of a fairytale. At least he's safe.

But when all three of these characters discover the secrets that define their lives, they're thrown together on an unexpected and emotional journey.

Emma Törzs has crafted a brilliant little sandbox. This story was filled with the type of magic often reserved for children. One of mystery and whimsy and one that feels graspable and close to the heart. This feels like a world I could dream in, and it made me want to play pretend again. Any fellow fantasy-loving adults wanna meet up and play Magical Library with me? We can pull up weeds and mix them together as the herbs for spells and use Kool-Aid and leaves as we pretend to write magical books with our blood. And we could even set up a little frame and pretend it's a magic mirror.

It's incredible that any fantasy book, especially an adult anti-colonialist fabulism tale, could make me filled with such childhood joy and imagination. This is a huge testament to the author's accomplishments.

This book's Jewishness also took me by surprise. In fact, I had no idea it had any Jewish characters, and was so pleasantly surprised to see the casual representation for most of the story, but even more so to see the characters' connection to Judaism emotionally move the story in a moment of need. It meant a whole lot to me. In general, I was really a fan of this book's diversity. Two of the three main characters were queer (likely bisexual), and one of the characters was half-Mexican, and another was disabled, using a prosthetic eye.

I must say, this is not a story of twists and turns, but one of nooks and crannies. Rather than dramatic surprises and mind-blowing reveals, it felt more as though the plot of this story was a picture slowly coming into focus. All of the "twists" were less shocking and more like a puzzle piece clicking into place. Some of them were easily spotted, but never felt predictable in a way that dragged. And I've always said that I'd rather read a well-laid and obvious twist than a shocking one that feels out of nowhere. I don't need to be caught off guard, I just need to be caught up in a story. And I was certainly swept off my feet by this one.

(Though a note for the editor: there's no airport in Brattleboro, and NYC is a 3.5-5.5 hour drive from Vermont, not 8 hours.)

I'm so grateful to have found this story at this point in my life, when I needed to be convinced that just a sprinkle of imagination reveals so much magic in the mundane. I can't wait to dive back into these pages someday, and I can't wait to see what Törzs does next.

CW: violence, gun violence, blood, self-harm (for magic), dead body, death of parents (past), grief, alcohol consumption, fire, emesis, abusive guardian, character death, kidnapping (past, recounted), torture (past, recounted), hospitalization (past, recounted), antisemitism (brief mention)

I really enjoyed the concept here; magical books will always be a buzzword for me and I think they were done really interestingly here. I liked the plot as well, for the most part I liked the plot twists and figuring things out with the characters, although the final reveal felt a little info-dumpy. I think there was something just a little off about the pacing, with the beginning feeling a bit slow. The first 100 pages or so spent a lot of time on flashbacks and explanations, but it did make the book less confusing. There were definitely characters I liked better than others; I really enjoyed Nicholas and Esther but think Joanna’s character could have been developed a bit more. I also wanted to see a bit more out of the sister relationship. I did really like the vibes and atmosphere of this book though, and it was a lot of fun. The writing was also well done, especially for a debut. There was just something stopping me from being 100% attached or feeling that typical ‘on the edge of your seat’ feeling, but I’m not sure what. Still, I definitely enjoyed this, and am looking forward to seeing more from this author.

It took me until the 20% mark for this to pick up- and I beg you to stick with it! There’s a shift at that 20% with a new character and truly everything gets better. This definitely could have been two books but I sort of appreciate that the arc was one book because fantasy/magic books are so rarily one offs. The door was left open slightly for a return which would be really fun.