A review by digimoe
The Bookshop and the Barbarian by Morgan Stang

Did not finish book. Stopped at 48%.

0.0

This book tried to be a lot of things. A little bit of Sir Terry Pratchett, a little bit of Douglas Adams, but it fell flat in a very icky way. The writing itself is juddery and far from fluid reading; the dialogue is janky, the descriptions are less than ideal, and there are so many grammatical errors that it reads like a fanfic.

But the worst offense this book commits is its awful problematic topics, including blatant anti-semitism. Even if you aren't aware that goblins are directly based on propaganda around Jewish peoples, their treatment in this writing is attrocious.

There is so much gross fantasy racism, stereotypes (all the while the reader is chastised by the narrator for their prejudices), ableism, etc.

I expected a fun quick cosy read and ended up having to put the book down half way through because I just felt gross. I couldn't recommend this book to anyone honestly, and now I have no idea what to do with my physical copy because I can't in good conscience give it away.
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