The Left-Handed Booksellers of London

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Less so for Merlin, though a lot of his character is quirk - he does get a chance to show a little more substance towards the end, which helped. On top of that the main character, Susan, is treated like a 5-year-old who needs to be led around by the hand without being told anything. 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).

la base c’est un autre livre de l’auteur qui me tentait et puis la magie d’internet m’a suggéré cette histoire-ci. Based on the premise I should have loved this book, but it's a lot like The Starless Sea- really wonderful idea but terrible execution. Goldenhand reaffirms why Nix is a master of the genre: his exquisitely detailed world-building is unparalleled, and his characters are so tremendously alive and compelling that. I also loved the characters, especially the right-handed Vivien, and I really do hope this will turn into a series. That said, there were enough tropes to still make it a bit formulaic, although not in an irritating way.

It doesn't have a lot of depth, but it's a delightful romp through British legend and folklore and I enjoyed it as a light but occasionally surprisingly violent and suspenseful adventure story.

Garth's books have appeared on the bestseller lists of The New York Times, Publishers Weekly (US), The Bookseller(UK), The Australian and The Sunday Times (UK). More than six million copies of his books have been sold around the world and his work has been translated into forty-two languages.

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. Action, light romance and otherworldly machinations keep the tension flowing as Nix reveals a warm-hearted and clever fantasy. A very different type of fantasy (more of a British urban fantasy) from Garth Nix than the last one of his that I read, Angel Mage. At once an allegory regarding war and peace and a testament to friendship, this is thought-provoking fantasy.

To unravel the secrets of a murderous Ancient Sovereign, the booksellers must investigate centuries of disappearances and deaths. I almost DNF'd before getting to chapter one, because I just did not give a fuck and the writing was clunky and painful. All that potential just feels a bit untapped in favor of narrow focus on Susan and her “outsider” perspective. The left-handed booksellers are the physical fighters while the right-handed ones are more intellectual and wields magic.The nature of the booksellers and their abilities is original and appealing, though some of the earlier ideas touched on (shapeshifting and immortality, mostly) don't come into play later on as they perhaps could have.

I received a physical ARC of THE LEFT-HANDED BOOKSELLERS OF LONDON through a giveaway hosted by BookCon.Nonetheless, I didn't find it particularly irksome in this case because I found Merlin to be quite a charming character without being a Gary Stu. An exciting adventure full of intrigue and action while portraying women in power in a refreshingly casual way. The characters became more engaging, and I began to root for Merlin, Vivian and Susan as they face betrayal and more than one enemy intent on killing Susan.