Title: The Left-Handed Booksellers of London
Author: Garth Nix
Pages: 416
Publisher: Gollancz
Release Date: 24th September 2020
Blurb from Goodreads:
A girl's quest to find her father leads her to an extended family
of magical fighting booksellers who police the mythical Old World of
England when it intrudes on the modern world. From the bestselling
master of fantasy, Garth Nix.
In a slightly alternate
London in 1983, Susan Arkshaw is looking for her father, a man she
has never met. Crime boss Frank Thringley might be able to help her,
but Susan doesn't get time to ask Frank any questions before he is
turned to dust by the prick of a silver hatpin in the hands of the
outrageously attractive Merlin.
Merlin is a young
left-handed bookseller (one of the fighting ones), who with the
right-handed booksellers (the intellectual ones), are an extended
family of magical beings who police the mythic and legendary Old
World when it intrudes on the modern world, in addition to running
several bookshops.
Susan's search for her father begins
with her mother's possibly misremembered or misspelt surnames, a
reading room ticket, and a silver cigarette case engraved with
something that might be a coat of arms.
Merlin has a quest
of his own, to find the Old World entity who used ordinary criminals
to kill his mother. As he and his sister, the right-handed bookseller
Vivien, tread in the path of a botched or covered-up police
investigation from years past, they find this quest strangely
overlaps with Susan's. Who or what was her father? Susan, Merlin, and
Vivien must find out, as the Old World erupts dangerously into the
New.
Goodreads | Amazon UK | Amazon US | Bookshop
My Review:
*I received an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thanks to Orion Publishing Group and NetGalley*
-DNF @38%-
Susan Arkshaw is in London trying to find out the identity of her father. She has only a handful of clues as to who he could be and one opportunity is taken away when Susan's 'uncle' Frank is literally turned to dust by a silver hat-pin.
The wielder of the hat-pin is a bookseller called Merlin, who is a left-handed bookseller - someone who polices the creatures of the Old World, alongside the right-handed booksellers (the left-handed booksellers being the fighting ones and the right-handed booksellers being more intellectual). Merlin has been attempting to uncover who killed his mother after a failed investigation by the police.
Could Susan and Merlin's quests be linked?
Who is Susan's father?
I've grown up loving Garth Nix's books and I'm always intrigued to see what he will release next. However, unfortunately, I haven't enjoyed his most recent releases as much.
Susan and Merlin were okay characters but I didn't particularly connect to either of them or any of the other characters.
The plot gets going straight away, and while there were moments that piqued my interest, overall I really struggled to get into what was happening.
The writing style didn't work for me on this occasion and it was a forced effort to continue reading. It got to the point where I'd put the book down and then couldn't bring myself to pick it back up.
I absolutely loved the premise for this book and expected to enjoy it, but it ended up being a book that just wasn't for me. I might try giving this another go at some point in the future, but for now I've decided to stop reading.
Overall, this wasn't for me, unfortunately.
No comments :
Post a Comment