The Left-Handed Booksellers of London

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It creates too much distance between the characters and the reader - give me first person POV and I'm happy so this is definitely a preference thing. There are no tortured pasts or (reformed) bad boy love interests or mean girls despising the heroine who’s not like the other girls. The worldbuilding is exquisite--the broad, immersive world and the specific rules for types of booksellers maintain a sense of discovery, and Susan and Merlin, the heroic protagonists, have vibrant, entertaining personalities (and a realistic romantic storyline).

I have to admit that for some time I thought that this was not really a book for me, that I was not the intended audience and that it was meant for younger readers.

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. I think that for me if this one had a smoother start I would have been pulled in quicker but instead once the story flowed at a better rate I was just kind of so-so on the characters and adventure making this one just an ok read. Unfortunately, there are other forces out to find Susan, and so to the rescue come the mysterious and sexy Merlin, his badass sister Vivian, and the rest of their strange, wonderful clan of warrior booksellers! I suppose I wasn't the intended audience for the story, but I believe a great book entertains all ages.

My favorites were the ones with the Grandmother(s), the wolf, and the undine, where the writing started to remind me of Charles deLint. Also the book is set in 1983 but it could have been set at any time other than a few specific items.I enjoyed this very much finding myself caught up in the story of Susan Arkshaw and her quest to locate her father in a slightly alternative 1983 London. 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.

Aunque Susan era una buena protagonista, mi favorito fue la hermana de Merlín, empaticé mucho con ella. Nix's complex system of angelic magic, and the toll it takes, is fascinating, and he weaves an exciting adventure full of intrigue and action while portraying women in power in a refreshingly casual way.And also uniquely British foods — Branston pickle sandwiches were a revelation, and I don’t think I’ll soon recover from checking out pictures of stargazy pie. The story took off with lots of fantastical action right from the first chapter when she met Merlin St.

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. The world was interesting - set in an alternate 1983 in London - the booksellers, both left and right handed are the ones that protect humans from the old world creatures. But at the half-way point, there’s a dramatic turn in the plot, and the rest of the book kept me turning pages late into the night. fulfilling my 2020 goal to read (at least) one book each month that was given to me as a present that i haven't yet gotten around to reading because i am an ungrateful dick. The only change that would have raised that, in my opinion, was if author Garth Nix had made them librarians.A character-driven fantasy that still stays true its adventure roots [with] thoughtful, complex world building. 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. Nix has a lot of fun with gender throughout the book which will bring a smile to anyone old enough to have watched the TV shows of the day (for example Denise Waterman in The Sweeney).