Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by professoremdash
The Bookshop Below by Georgia Summers
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
I enjoyed this book! Overall a 4.25 rounded down.
TLDR: a good fantasy novel for fans of Divine Rivals, or similar fantasy-romance books with unique magic systems.
What I enjoyed:
- The magic system was really interesting and the world was well-built. It was familiar enough to understand pretty quickly, but unique enough to keep me interested.
- The characters felt well-developed, especially Cassandra. She felt like a real human with complex emotions throughout her story.
- It was well-written and kept me engaged, especially past the halfway point.
- The relationships between characters were nice, especially with Cassandra's allies.
What I didn't enjoy:
- Though I liked the magic system, I was confused a bit with how some of it worked. I also wish there had been more details for when the "readings" happened; I would have loved more explanation of it.
- The pacing was a bit uneven; I devoured the last 40% of the book, but the first bit took a while to get into, especially with the jumps to other characters POVs. The ending also felt pretty fast.
- The word "detritus" is used a lot. Not a bad word to use, I just started to notice how often I read it.
- I wasn't 100% sold on the ending; it was mostly satisfying, but not quite all the way there.
Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit Books/Redhook for the ARC. All opinions are my own and freely given.
TLDR: a good fantasy novel for fans of Divine Rivals, or similar fantasy-romance books with unique magic systems.
What I enjoyed:
- The magic system was really interesting and the world was well-built. It was familiar enough to understand pretty quickly, but unique enough to keep me interested.
- The characters felt well-developed, especially Cassandra. She felt like a real human with complex emotions throughout her story.
- It was well-written and kept me engaged, especially past the halfway point.
- The relationships between characters were nice, especially with Cassandra's allies.
What I didn't enjoy:
- Though I liked the magic system, I was confused a bit with how some of it worked. I also wish there had been more details for when the "readings" happened; I would have loved more explanation of it.
- The pacing was a bit uneven; I devoured the last 40% of the book, but the first bit took a while to get into, especially with the jumps to other characters POVs. The ending also felt pretty fast.
- The word "detritus" is used a lot. Not a bad word to use, I just started to notice how often I read it.
- I wasn't 100% sold on the ending; it was mostly satisfying, but not quite all the way there.
Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit Books/Redhook for the ARC. All opinions are my own and freely given.