“A bewitching gem...I absolutely loved every moment of this story.” —Stephanie Garber, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Caraval series “If you loved the Hogwarts Library…you’ll be right at home at Summershall.” —Katherine Arden, New York Times bestselling author of The Bear and the Nightingale
From the New York Times bestselling author of An Enchantment of Ravens comes an “enthralling adventure” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) about an apprentice at a magical library who must battle a powerful sorcerer to save her kingdom.
All sorcerers are evil. Elisabeth has known that as long as she has known anything. Raised as a foundling in one of Austermeer’s Great Libraries, Elisabeth has grown up among the tools of sorcery—magical grimoires that whisper on shelves and rattle beneath iron chains. If provoked, they transform into grotesque monsters of ink and leather.
Then an act of sabotage releases the library’s most dangerous grimoire, and Elisabeth is implicated in the crime. With no one to turn to but her sworn enemy, the sorcerer Nathaniel Thorn, and his mysterious demonic servant, she finds herself entangled in a centuries-old conspiracy. Not only could the Great Libraries go up in flames, but the world along with them.
As her alliance with Nathaniel grows stronger, Elisabeth starts to question everything she’s been taught—about sorcerers, about the libraries she loves, even about herself. For Elisabeth has a power she has never guessed, and a future she could never have imagined.
I really expected more from this book. I enjoyed it a lot, but it has so many flaws... What are these characters? Elisabeth, our main character, was so bland and so naïve. She had simply no real reason why she wanted to be a warden, she had no single reason to trust the physician that her enemy sent to her, and how dare she just be like 'I live here now, that's it'. She did not even thank Nathaniel for letting her stay in his place for... I don't even know how much time has passed in this novel. Also, Nathaniel had an interesting history, but that's all. He did not really have a personality. Every character lacked personality, so that was not surprising.
One of my biggest issues with the book is the fact that everything is told to you instead of shown to the reader. At a sudden point it was just 'in the meantime this whole storyline happened okay bye'. Yeah... that didn't work for me. Also, we did not get an explanation of why Nathaniel could suddenly have so much strength when he was put to bedrest just a few hours earlier until the last few pages of the book. Why not sooner? It felt as if the author suddenly remembered that she still had to explain that and just pushed it in there. My main issue is that this book is leaning too heavily on the younger YA tropes such as character development is not necessary, tell instead of show, and consequences don't exist.
Still, I really enjoyed this book. Would I recommend it? From the library definitely! Just try it. To buy? Not really.
