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 teen 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.
The Left Handed Booksellers of London is a young adult fantasy by author Garth Nix. This is the first book I have read from Garth but it will not be my last because The Left Handed Booksellers of London was so much fun. I am really hoping that this is going to turn into a series because I loved the characters, I loved the magic and I really loved the world and all of the creatures that Garth Nix has crafted.
In this novel, we meet our three main characters, Susan who is thrust into this new world of secret agent booksellers fighting mythical creatures. Merlin- who is a left-handed bookseller, which means he is a fighter in the battle against these creatures, and finally his sister Vivian who is a right-handed bookseller, which means she is the intellectual brains behind the plotting and plans against all of the creatures. Susan is trying to find her father and instead stumbles upon Merlin and his sister.Together our characters set off on an adventure to save the world. I really enjoyed this fun adventure.
I did find it a little unbelievable that Susan witnessed this foreign magical world and just accepted it all at face value. That is a bit of a book pet peeve of mine, but once I got past that I was easily swept up in the fun adventure. There are plenty of secrets to uncover as we are kicking butt along side our main characters. I was a little lost while reading a few times because this is very much a book that reveals tidbits of information as we go, so you don’t have a full picture until you are pretty far into the story, but it is all really well done. Garth Nix does a great job at giving you enough information to keep the reader entertained, but withholding some secrets to keep everything interesting.
Bottom line: I think it is perfect for fantasy readers of all ages because there story is mostly lighthearted and it doesn’t venture into anything too, too dark. I would love to journey back to this London and have more adventures with Merlin, Susan and Vivian.
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