Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore

by Robin Sloan

[tellemonstar]

Mr Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore is a book for book lovers and lovers of the history of type. It’s well written and takes the reader on an incredible journey filled with an epic quest, a conspiracy and secrets to unravel.

I really enjoyed this book. There were a few times when it was a little slow going, which is why I’m giving it a 4-star review, not a 5-star, but it’s a very well-written entertaining story. I really liked how Robin Sloan kept the content of the story current to the modern day world by including things like Google (a big part of the plot is based at Google’s San Francisco headquarters) and computer animation, but managed to keep the older parts such as the books and the original type-face relevant as well.

This is a hard book to review without giving away the secrets of the plot, but suffice to say that our main character Clay must help to unravel a centuries old secret, and by doing so could change the course of history as we know it – or just change the course of history for a select group.There are several mysteries to solve, and to glean information from as Clay’s journey – from becoming Mr Penumbra’s employee to the final pages of the story – takes you on a interesting and well-researched ride.

If you enjoy contemporary fiction, or enjoyed the storytelling of the Night Circus but could do without the magic, I think you’d enjoy this. Even if you are just a book lover I would suggest giving this a try. It’s not going to be everybody’s piece of cake, but those that do enjoy this style will really enjoy Mr Penumbra’s 24-hour Bookstore.

See full review here