Garth Nix has worked as a bookseller, book sales representative, publicist, editor, marketing consultant and literary agent. It creates too much distance between the characters and the reader - give me first person POV and I'm happy so this is definitely a preference thing. Once again, Nix sets the standard for fantasy, bringing us a tale full of old friends and new enemies, gruesome monsters, and heroines of wit, will, and imagination.

The left-handed booksellers are the physical fighters while the right-handed ones are more intellectual and wields magic. 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. I really liked the idea of the Booksellers as a group secretly protecting England, and how there is a Left-Handed and Right-Handed path for its members. You would think that with all of these unnecessary details that at least we would have a clue as to what is going on but sadly this is not the case. This brief interaction sets the tone of the entire book: it follows fantasy convention in the general absence of supervising adults (adults can be present, but from a distance), bills (rent?Swords and goblins and helicopters and guns and mythical giant wolves are fine, but it’s the dusty book covers and trashy paperbacks and maze-like book aisles is what one wants from a book about booksellers. While I enjoyed Sabriel and the following two books in the Old Kingdom series, I had a much less encouraging response to his last book, Angel Mage, which felt more like an attempt towards adult fantasy than his usual. Although her mother could certainly provide details, she’s inexplicably vague (there’s a hand-wavy “drugs in the 60s” line, which is a surprising line to find).

I also loved the characters, especially the right-handed Vivien, and I really do hope this will turn into a series. In a slightly alternate London in 1983, Susan Arkshaw is looking for her father, a man she has never met. But at the half-way point, there’s a dramatic turn in the plot, and the rest of the book kept me turning pages late into the night.

Y, aunque tiene una historia enganchante con una trama intrigante, personajes bien construidos y una atmósfera muy envolvente. It comes from the discovery of a sorcerous map, leading left-handed bookseller Merlin into great danger. To unravel the secrets of a murderous Ancient Sovereign, the booksellers must investigate centuries of disappearances and deaths. But on reread, at a slower pace, it's definitely an enjoyable book - just likely not everyone's storytelling cup of tea. Ici Nous suivons Susan, une jeune femme de la campagne qui se rend à Londres afin, de trouver une piste sur son père qu’elle n’a jamais connu.

I received a physical ARC of THE LEFT-HANDED BOOKSELLERS OF LONDON through a giveaway hosted by BookCon. I enjoyed this very much finding myself caught up in the story of Susan Arkshaw and her quest to locate her father in a slightly alternative 1983 London. I found the concept of the booksellers fascinating and am always drawn to this kind of urban fantasy that proposes a hidden world existing alongside the everyday one. Here is a world with the same solidity and four dimensional authority as our own, created with invention, clarity, and intelligence. But there are… entities… who can help unravel the past or look toward the future, give clues to help work out what went on.He is also determined to look into the murder of his mother and protect Susan from the range of powerful forces lined up against her. Fans will cheer this latest volumetightly paced with a satisfying resolution, capable and relatable female characters, plenty of action, and reappearances by beloved characters-and fervently hope for more to come. I'm not gonna lie, there were some spoilers there, but if you've read a Garth Nix book recently, then you have. I found the Left Handed Booksellers to be a good story which moved quickly and kept my interest throughout.

I couldn't help thinking of him as Merlin the magician from the King Arthur legends and that didn't help as in this book he's supposed to be young and good looking (my mental picture is an old man with a long white beard :/ ).Nix wastes no time getting to the action, throwing readers headlong into the splendid new world alongside the bewildered but determined heroine. Merlin has a quest of his own, to find the Old World entity who used ordinary criminals to kill his mother. It certainly reads young, but without those conventional Young Adult staples that I sadly encounter so often when picking up a younger audience fantasy read. I read ‘The Left-Handed Booksellers of London’ in advance of the publication of its sequel later this month. The only change that would have raised that, in my opinion, was if author Garth Nix had made them librarians.