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A review by ella026
The Absolute Book by Elizabeth Knox
5.0
A truly magical and enchanting book with such a wide scope and I can barely find the words to describe it. To me, this is a book where it’s best to go in blind to discover the winding paths of a story that feels like it should never end. But this I find is always the case when it comes to portal fantasies.
We start following Taryn, a woman broken with grief over the murder of her sister and a successful author of a book about all the things that threaten libraries. But her book attracts all the wrong attention and finds her in the company of daemons, fae, talking ravens and even Odin. Taryn teams up with a strange fae man who can never be seen clearly and holds the key to other worlds. Their quest is for the Firestarter, a scroll that has survived many library fires and one she mentioned in her book. This is a case of a book in a book that I so desperately want to read, and Taryn’s many impassioned defences of public libraries only spur it.
This odd book certainly meanders at times given its length as we go from fae lands, purgatory, and Arthurian legend. It does also feel like there was a lot that I missed on the first read and this wasn’t helped by the fact that I listened to the audiobook. At some point, I want to pick up a physical copy to read and pick up all that I didn’t catch the first time around.
The narration was incredible, and I loved every second of Ann-Marie Duff’s performance. Her accents for the fae characters were dreamy and she perfectly encapsulates each character’s voice. It got to the point that when I was reading other books, I was doing it in her voice because I could not get enough. I look forward to more of Duff’s work.
This certainly isn’t a book for everyone but it’s one that I fell in love with over its long course. A dreamy and at some points nightmarish journey that like The Starless Sea, reveres the power of storytelling. A book of tragedy that will slowly lure you in.
Thanks to Penguin Random House for giving me a free copy in exchange for an honest review.
We start following Taryn, a woman broken with grief over the murder of her sister and a successful author of a book about all the things that threaten libraries. But her book attracts all the wrong attention and finds her in the company of daemons, fae, talking ravens and even Odin. Taryn teams up with a strange fae man who can never be seen clearly and holds the key to other worlds. Their quest is for the Firestarter, a scroll that has survived many library fires and one she mentioned in her book. This is a case of a book in a book that I so desperately want to read, and Taryn’s many impassioned defences of public libraries only spur it.
This odd book certainly meanders at times given its length as we go from fae lands, purgatory, and Arthurian legend. It does also feel like there was a lot that I missed on the first read and this wasn’t helped by the fact that I listened to the audiobook. At some point, I want to pick up a physical copy to read and pick up all that I didn’t catch the first time around.
The narration was incredible, and I loved every second of Ann-Marie Duff’s performance. Her accents for the fae characters were dreamy and she perfectly encapsulates each character’s voice. It got to the point that when I was reading other books, I was doing it in her voice because I could not get enough. I look forward to more of Duff’s work.
This certainly isn’t a book for everyone but it’s one that I fell in love with over its long course. A dreamy and at some points nightmarish journey that like The Starless Sea, reveres the power of storytelling. A book of tragedy that will slowly lure you in.
Thanks to Penguin Random House for giving me a free copy in exchange for an honest review.