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A review by jessicareadsit
The Book Binder's Daughter by Jessica Thorne
4.0
Who doesn't love a good book about books?
The Bookbinder's Daughter is a whimsical tale of one woman's journey of self-discovery and her yearning for a place to call home. I have always considered libraries to be places of wonder, where one can escape to a multitude of realities with just the turn of the page and, I believe the author perfectly encapsulated this ideology.
In The Bookbinder's Daughter, Sophie returns home, to the Ayrendale library, the place where she tragically lost her mother in a mysterious incident that has plagued her since childhood. As the library begins whispering to Sophie and secrets buried within the past start unraveling, Sophie begins learning the truth of her origins and is faced with the startling reality that everything is not as it seems.
My inner book lover rejoiced at the author's ability to bring the library alive. The worldbuilding, specifically as it relates to books stemming from a tree of knowledge that slowly trickles into the world to spur creativity and innovation was utterly brilliant. The author has a very lush and descriptive writing style that complimented the wonder of the storyline. This was further enhanced by the versatile and daresay quite posh voice of the narrator, Charlie Norfolk. There was a very welcoming and calming quality about the voice that enhanced the story for me.
While I enjoyed the narrative, I believe the secondary characters (Will, Tia, Sophie's uncle, the keepers, even the cat) deserved to be developed further as these backstories could have enriched the story that much more and added some context to the inner workings of the library. The writing also felt slightly monotone and repetitive in certain areas. I believe the first 60% of the book could have been compressed to make way for more expansion in the second half of the book where the real action starts unfolding. The last 5% of the book flew by and it was slightly confusing with all the ideologies and explanations being crammed into this short space.
I believe in the essence of this book and adore the concept and truly believe that with some adjustments to the execution, this story could be fantastic.
Thank you to Bookouture and NetGalley for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review.
The Bookbinder's Daughter is a whimsical tale of one woman's journey of self-discovery and her yearning for a place to call home. I have always considered libraries to be places of wonder, where one can escape to a multitude of realities with just the turn of the page and, I believe the author perfectly encapsulated this ideology.
In The Bookbinder's Daughter, Sophie returns home, to the Ayrendale library, the place where she tragically lost her mother in a mysterious incident that has plagued her since childhood. As the library begins whispering to Sophie and secrets buried within the past start unraveling, Sophie begins learning the truth of her origins and is faced with the startling reality that everything is not as it seems.
My inner book lover rejoiced at the author's ability to bring the library alive. The worldbuilding, specifically as it relates to books stemming from a tree of knowledge that slowly trickles into the world to spur creativity and innovation was utterly brilliant. The author has a very lush and descriptive writing style that complimented the wonder of the storyline. This was further enhanced by the versatile and daresay quite posh voice of the narrator, Charlie Norfolk. There was a very welcoming and calming quality about the voice that enhanced the story for me.
While I enjoyed the narrative, I believe the secondary characters (Will, Tia, Sophie's uncle, the keepers, even the cat) deserved to be developed further as these backstories could have enriched the story that much more and added some context to the inner workings of the library. The writing also felt slightly monotone and repetitive in certain areas. I believe the first 60% of the book could have been compressed to make way for more expansion in the second half of the book where the real action starts unfolding. The last 5% of the book flew by and it was slightly confusing with all the ideologies and explanations being crammed into this short space.
I believe in the essence of this book and adore the concept and truly believe that with some adjustments to the execution, this story could be fantastic.
Thank you to Bookouture and NetGalley for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review.