The younger end of YA

I enjoy YA stories, provided they're dynamic, engaging and the characters are not dumbed down for a specific audience. Take the initial Abhorsen trilogy as an example. _Excellent_ story with real life issues a child, tween, teen and young adult has to deal with through the course of the adventure. The stories never felt hobbled or the characters thoughts and feelings restricted. It's very engaging throughout and relatable to all readers, no matter their age.

Unfortunately The Left-Handed Booksellers of London falls short of that kind of storytelling. It has many interesting and fascinating premises, but its main characters are neutered. And dumbed down. (Bummer.) It started out strong, then quickly lost color and vividness, till I felt like I was listening to an after school special. Which is a pity. I would have loved another adventure along the lines of Sabriel.

The story could have been made more dynamic if it had an excellent narrator to spice things up, but unfortunately Marisa Calin's narration is fair at best. Her male voices are not believable and her voices for the two main female characters sounded the same. But! Many of her supporting characters are crisp, distinct and enjoyable to listen to, making me wish her performance had been more consistent throughout.

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Loved it!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Nothing I read has been able to retain my interest lately until this one.

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absolutely delightful

This was delightful and zipped along at a breakneck pace from beginning to end, which is how I ended up listening to an audiobook in just 3 days.

From the first, I adored everything about this novel. The entire concept of the Left-Handed Booksellers, both selling books and keeping the Old World and its entities (benign and malevolent) in check. Merlin, in particular, a charming gender-fluid Left-Handed Bookseller and rogue who gives off definite Doctor Who vibes. The Tenth Doctor, maybe, or Captain Jack. His and Susan's mutual simmering attraction gets hints and nods and stolen moments here and there - my absolute favorite sort of love story.

I hated to stop listening. I'm so glad I decided to stick with the audiobook, even though I wasn't keen on the narrator at first. She grew on me. This is one I'll definitely be listening to again, and perhaps I'll even go back and finish/reread the Sabriel books.

2 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Very clever title

Take the concept of a lost princess searching for her father and give it a twist: make her of post-secondary age. Add a fey police force and a character like Ghibli's Wizard Howl. The characters blame children's fantasy writers like Lewis, Tolkien, Nesbit etc for making life more difficult for them. I blame Percy Jackson, Nick Gautier, and Artemis Fowl (and Holly) for giving this story a familiar feel. If the aforementioned names are unfamiliar to you, this book will seem like a clever enjoyable read instead of just being enjoyable.

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An odd blend of various fairy-tales and RPOne

An odd blend of varied fairy-tales, Thor, Harry Potter and Ready Player One. Overall, Bizarre.

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A clever new take on London

I quite liked this book. It was a clever new take on urban fantasy/alternate history of England. Definitely influenced by Suzanne Cooper and maybe a little bit of The Librarian. It was well written with compelling scenery and descriptions. I hope that this author will do a sequel.

1 personne a trouvé cela utile

exciting engrossing imaginative story

I loved this story the performance was excellent. You were drawn into each of the characters a treat. This is Garth Nix at his best.

Not for me

To say this was a disappointing read is an understatement 😑
According to the blurb this should have been everything I search for in a book. I thought I'll have the best of times, I couldn't have been more wrong. 🤦🏻‍♀️
It's kind of my fault, I should've DNFed it, but I pushed through till 20% where I lost all interest and started harboring an actual grudge towards this book. I hated it with such an intensity that should've been reserved for more serious real life related matters. It was giving me a slump and I was procrastinating and avoiding it every single day this past month.
The story was weird, not good weird, but boring weird. I didn't connect with the characters, all of them, the writing style was not to my liking and I'm so sorry for my cruel words but this literally stucked the light out of my days.

A Fun Caper- if a little too well performed

In the vein of Sabriel, Garth Nix returns to old favorites: a young innocent heroine, thrust into a fantastical otherworld, where she must discover and harness her own inner power— oh and don’t forget the mysterious absent father. If not novel, the story is entertaining and enjoyable. Granted, I tend to be a sucker for magical beings inhabiting old London (Neverwhere being a favorite). With appropriate expectations, this story delivers what it promises. My only real complaint was with one aspect of the narration. Often the characters are described as being quite loud, singing out of key, or otherwise making annoying sounds. The narrator performed these sections a little too well. In particular, I didn’t relish 30 minutes of one character singing his dialogue off key, while another shouted her response, and a third droned on monotonously. If the author had written the book for audible, I think he might have subjected us to a bit less of this. The effect was a little too bracing when performed so accurately. Otherwise, a competent narrator and a fun listen.

Wonderful

Great audible.
Great story.
Don’t let the description deter you. It’s way better than it sounds. I had to spend a credit and knew Garth Nix is always a good choice so I chose this one. It was great!