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 teen 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, … 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.
more
A warm, whimsical delight — The Left-Handed Booksellers of London is a witty, clever adventure in an exquisitely detailed world you will love escaping into.
If you like Susan Cooper and Diana Wynne Jones, this is a good pick. UK set fantasy with UK mythology and cool world building. I mean, who doesn’t want magical booksellers (booksellers are kind of magic anyway). I hope there’s going to be another one!
LOTS of characters, good story line, a bit thought-provoking, enjoyable read.
This was a lovely, mostly light urban fantasy romantic suspense story. The magic system and inventive situations were enjoyable and fun.
Excellent modern day fantasy novel with lots of action. I particularly enjoyed the way Nix arranged the world, with left handed and right handed ‘booksellers’. I will leave it to the reader to discover what that means.
Relatively entertaining but far too convoluted; way too much explaining; far too little doing. I felt as if Nix’s editors had simply sent it out, assuming they would make money no matter how good or bad the book was.
This is the most entertaining book I’ve read this year. The premise is that all those old myths are real, just under the surface in 1980s London, and if you don’t watch it they will wake up. Since books are (in our version of reality) ways to enter into magic kingdoms, it’s appropriate that the people who deal with keeping the mythic powers in their place are an extended (and very long-lived) family of booksellers. One of them, named Merlin, is a somewhat gender-bending teenager with surprising skills. He and Susan, an ordinary seeming girl looking for her father, get introduced when they both save each others’ lives, and we’re off!
Lots of action, lots of sly humor and eccentric characters, very imaginative. It’s not nearly as dark as Nix’s “Abhornsen” books, and it is (theoretically) set in our world rather than the Old Kingdom. But anyone who liked “Sabriel” and its successors should like this one. A lot.
This was fun! I liked the setting and the characters, they were very unique. The world building was a little bit lax sometimes, but the fantastical nature of it all made up for it! The ending was a little too easy, I’m hoping for a sequel that will explore more of these fun characters and their futures.
The Left-Handed Booksellers of London has a lot going for it. Unfortunately, it just failed to keep this reader’s attention.
Distracting Dialogue
The most significant things that did not work for me was the dialogue. The most distracting thing any author can do is use ellipses far too often. That is what happens here.
The dialogue is distracting and slows the pacing down drastically. It would be different if it happened here or there, given the circumstances of the plot, but it happens almost all the time when the characters are talking. After a time, it becomes distracting and tiresome.
Perhaps it just is a pet peeve of mine, but after a time, it made me lose track of what these characters were even discussing. This made it hard to connect to the characters and their dynamics in the long run.
Storytelling
There is no disputing Nix’s imagination here. It was a good story, and the overall storytelling was engaging. It follows Susan as she embarks on a journey to find her father only to get swept up in the fantasy that hides underneath London.
It has the old-world feel and delves into the fantasy that is kept in check by booksellers. It has a strong foundation to it and builds up at a proper momentum; if only the dialogue did not slow down the pacing of the story so drastically, I would have loved this novel.
Nevertheless, it is an imaginative story that gives the reader something worthwhile. It has the fantasy to keep the reader intrigued.
Characterization
However, the characterization faltered a bit. I wish I could say I loved the characters, but I did not. They have great style, Susan dressing like a punk rocker with her Doc Marten’s and Merlin with his gender-fluid attire seem like they would be incredibly interesting. However, it was, once again, their dialogue and dynamics that drove me to boredom.
When Merlin was not stuttering and stammering about, he was impressive, especially when it came to his flamboyant attire. However, Nix could have done much more with this gender-fluid character. Given the name Merlin, I expected more.
Merlin is the only memorable character. However, Nix does give Susan the right amount of growth, but she still is not as memorable outside of her Doc Martens.
Final Thoughts
I honestly thought I would love The Left-Handed Bookseller of London, but it ultimately fell flat with the overuse of ellipses and overall lackluster characters.
What a great title and dense, convoluted story.
I haven’t read any Nix recently and I was delighted by this book.
The characters are intriguing.
The plot wonderfully confusing (but easy to follow).
Trying to figure it out seemed too hard, so I just sat back and happily followed the story where it led.
Susan Arkshaw is an intelligent, well-educated artist who is about to enter a prestigious art school in the fall. She moves to London during the summer with the intent of finding her father, who has been non-existent in her life. She only has a few nebulous clues to go on because her mother is not interested in Susan finding her father. When she goes to visit her “uncle” to see if he knows anything something goes terribly wrong and her uncle is reduced to dust and his killer is trying to rescue Susan from someone, or something, she knows nothing about. Her rescuer is is Merlin, a handsome gender-fluid left-handed (fighting) bookseller, who also saves her life on more than one occasion. Merlin is from a family of booksellers who police the current world from the intrusions from the more mystical old world. From there, it is one adventure after another as this book speeds toward the ending.
One of the best things Nix did in this book was to ease Susan into the alternative world she knows nothing about. Susan and Merlin are both developed over the course of the book until they are more fully fleshed out. Also present is Merlin’s sister Vivian one of the right-handed (intellectual) booksellers. The siblings are also on a quest—to find the man who had their mother murdered. There are several minor characters who are delightful, but not nearly as well developed as Merlin, Susan, and Vivian.
The story line is delightful and full of twists and turns, most of which are unexpected or presented with a new twist to them. The story is well told and you will undoubtedly be engrossed in the story from page one. You’ll certainly find yourself reading into the early morning hours.
If you like a mixture of fantasy and history, books and art, and science mixed together in a neatly coherent package, you’ll love this book. If you’re not a huge fan of fantasy, you’ll love this book too because the fantasy doesn’t overwhelm the story.
My thanks to Harper and Edelweiss for an eARC.