annieb123's Review of The Left-Handed Booksellers of London (The Left-Handed Booksellers of London, #1)

by Garth Nix

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 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, 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.

Garth Nix sets the standard for Fantasy (Leigh Bardugo)

Garth Nix is one of the best world-builders in fantasy (BRANDON SANDERSON)
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 (Veronica Roth, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Divergent series, Carve the Mark series, The End and Other Beginnings, and Chosen Ones)
This is my favorite kind of tale, one where the magic and the real nest together like pages in a book. A delightful read (V.E. Schwab, #1 New York Times Bestselling author of the Shades of Magic series and the Monsters of Verity series)

Originally published on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

The Left-Handed Booksellers of London is a new urban fantasy/crossworlds mashup by Garth Nix. Due out 22nd Sept 2020 from HarperCollins Children's imprint, it's 416 pages (hardcover) and will be available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.
Probably 80% of what I read and review is speculative fiction and murder mysteries. Of the SF/fantasy, urban fantasy is my favorite. Give me hobgoblins in Edinburgh, talking rats in the subway, genii locorum (yes, I had 7 years of formal Latin, sorry), or semi-mythical librarians/booksellers/archivists, and it's like catnip. This is that...lots and lots of that. I started reading and was delighted, quickly enraptured, and then spellbound. I stayed up way too late reading.

The plotting and nuts-and-bolts construction are well engineered and all the moving parts work. The dialogue is well done and doesn't devolve into pure annoying sarcastic snark at any point. There's a fair bit of violence and gore, but it's not egregious or overly graphic. I would put it around the PG-13 level. The language is somewhat rough (again, used in context). There is no sexual content.

There will absolutely be comparisons to Miéville's Un Lun Dun, and Aaronvitch's Rivers of London, and Gaiman's Neverwhere, but while I can say that fans of those esteemed worthies will find a lot to love here, Nix brings his own (inimitable) distinct narrative and it's original and enjoyable and fresh. It's not explicitly foreshadowed, but I hope this will be a long and very prolific series. I'm looking forward to seeing what comes next.

I really really enjoyed this one. Four stars, a strong series (I hope) start.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

The Left-Handed Booksellers of London (The Left-Handed Booksellers of London, #1)

by Garth Nix

Reviewed by annieb123 on Sep 21, 2020

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