The Left-Handed Booksellers of London

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But quite often they discover the key to raise some ancient myth, or release something that should have stayed imprisoned, and they share that knowledge via their writing. At any rate, despite being visited by strange water-mud-creatures in her dreams, when she finally encounters real magic watching Merlin skirmishing with Uncle Frank, she’s surprised by it.

With their complementary personalities and easy affection, the four friends are an endearing, sibling-like group; Liliath makes a fascinating antagonist. The two sides of the family (a very extended family) wear gloves on whatever hand is their dominant one, and they reminded me so much of the Clayr librarians that I kinda squeed and just kept on squeeing, because I LOVE Lirael. Der Showdown konnte mich irgendwie nicht so ganz überzeugen, zum Beispiel blieb für mich die Frage offen, warum die "bösen" Personen so gehandelt haben.In addition to its fantastical elements, Nix's setting is characterized by wel-come gender equality, orientation inclusivity, and racial diversity. And here, in this shocking expose, we see Susan Arkshaw, a young woman who has come to London to try and find the father she has never met.

When she visits her "uncle", he turns to dust and mystical creatures come after her and the assassin, Merlin. I do not recommend reading this one and I’m tempted to not read anymore of Garth Nix’s books because I’m terrified that’s what they will all be like. It's plot forward, not a lot of characterization or world building beyond the series of dangers the characters face, often in a row like a gauntlet. It’s a classic framing device for a reason, as it allows the reader to learn about the world along with Susan. I received a physical ARC of THE LEFT-HANDED BOOKSELLERS OF LONDON through a giveaway hosted by BookCon.After her first lead goes way south, she stumbles into Merlin, a left-handed bookseller who topples her head-first into the world of magic, monsters and nefarious plots to gain power.

Come to think of it, Nix always have had great worldbuilding ideas as evident in the Old Kingdom series (I'm still impressed with the originality and depth of its magic system), and even in Angel Mage although the latter wasn't executed half as well in my opinion. I knew before I began listening that I was not the intended audience for this fantasy novel and it is definitely meant for younger readers/listeners. This brief interaction sets the tone of the entire book: it follows fantasy convention in the general absence of supervising adults (adults can be present, but from a distance), bills (rent?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. After reading the absolutely abysmally plotted and paced Angel Mage, I was walking into this one with some trepidation. The only change that would have raised that, in my opinion, was if author Garth Nix had made them librarians. Most seem to tread along the same lines: Great Mysterious Evil is about to arise, a teen (or group of teens) race to stop it. I found the concept of the booksellers fascinating and am always drawn to this kind of urban fantasy that proposes a hidden world existing alongside the everyday one.