So, yet again here I am reviewing a Garth Nix book - I can't help it he's one of my favourite authors, and I absolutely adored the first in this series (The Left-Handed Booksellers of London), so as soon as I saw it on Netgalley I knew I would have to request it - and I recently got the beautiful physical ARC which I am now in love with too! So, without further rambling, here's the book:
There is often trouble of a mythical sort in Bath. The booksellers who police the Old World keep a careful watch there, particularly on the entity who inhabits the ancient hot spring. Yet this time it is not from Sulis Minerva that trouble starts. It comes from the discovery of a sorcerous map, leading left-handed bookseller Merlin into great danger. A desperate rescue is attempted by his sister the right-handed bookseller Vivien and their friend, art student Susan Arkshaw, who is still struggling to deal with her own recently discovered magical heritage.
The map takes the trio to a place separated from this world, maintained by deadly sorcery performed by an Ancient Sovereign and guarded by monstrous living statues of Purbeck marble. But this is only the beginning, as the booksellers investigate centuries of disappearances and deaths and try to unravel the secrets of the murderous Lady of Stone, a serial killer of awesome powers.
If they do not stop her, she will soon kill again. And this time, her target is not an ordinary mortal.
One thing you have to know about this book is that you really jump right into the action, and it stays action packed the whole way through. I liked this about that as I've read quite a few things lately with slower starts, and I really wanted a fast-paced read which this was. It did however mean I didn't want to put it down, but where's the problem in that? I have been reading less and less recently and a lot slower too but it felt like I breezed through this it was so great.
I will say, it is probably a book you could read without reading the first in the series, but I would highly recommend reading both (just because you get to know the MCs a bit more and you get a bit more backstory, especially of Susan which I think is important). And now I have to mention yet again my love for Merlin in this book, in my previous review for Left-Handed booksellers of London I did say how much I love him - and that love is just brought right back in this book too. He is just one of the most unique MCs and I just can't get over how well written he is.
One thing I think I always say is that Garth Nix is very good at creating creatures and characters in his books - this is repeated in both of his Bookseller titles. This book in particular had some rather terrifying new creations, and I loved trying to picture them all in my mind. On top of that, you got to meet some new Booksellers and hear about other bases that they have, which I hope means that we will get to see even more of this world in the future (fingers crossed).
I've just loved getting to return to the world of the Booksellers and the Ancient Sovereigns, and I give this book: 5 cats!
So, if you liked the first book I can assure you that you will definitely liked the second and I highly recommend buying this when it is out on the 21st March!
