Format: Hardcover, 368 pages
Release Date: March 21, 2023
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Source: Publisher
Genre: Young Adult / Fantasy / Epic
The Sinister Booksellers of Bath, by author Garth Nix, is the second installment in the authors Left-Handed Booksellers of London series and picks up a few months after the events of the first book. Once again, this series takes place in an alternative reality 1980's environment where there are both Left and Right Booksellers who protect the world from those who might try to harm the humans who inhabit the world. The main core of characters are Merlin St. Jacques, Vivien St. Jacques, and Susan Arkshaw who was pulled into this world after discovering that her father was an Ancient Sovereign.
This story actually beings in Bath, 1977, where a boy named Travis finds himself in deep trouble after encountering an Ancient, as well as Sulis Minerva who is the Roman Entity of the Roman Baths. She tends to grand boons to people who are seeking revenge or retribution. Whereas the previous story mostly took place in and around London, this story takes place mostly around Bath. Vivien St. Jacques is a Right-Handed Bookseller who has some magic of her own. The booksellers who police the Old World keep a careful watch what is happening in Bath, particularly on the entity that inhabits the ancient hot spring.
This time trouble comes from the discovery of a sorcerous map, leading left-handed bookseller Merlin into great danger, requiring a desperate rescue attempt from his sister, the right-handed bookseller Vivien, and art student Susan Arkshaw, who is still struggling to deal with her own recently discovered magical heritage of being is a demi-human; her father being the Old Man of Coniston. Susan has cooled on the magical world, wanting to be just a human studying art. Her use of her magic pulls her closer to her father, the Old Man of Coniston, and her power, and the machinations of Old World beings.
The map takes the trio to a place
separated from this world, maintained by deadly sorcery and guarded by
monstrous living statues, and an ancient who may have been killing since the early 1800's. To unravel the
secrets of a murderous Ancient Sovereign, the booksellers must
investigate centuries of disappearances and deaths. If they do not stop
her, she will soon kill again. And this time, her target is not an
ordinary mortal. Her her target is Susan whose last name just happens to begin with A which leads them to believe the entity is back to killing innocents again.
Master of fantasy Garth Nix delivers another perfectly blended blockbuster-style book with secret underground worlds, cults, hilarious banter, gory action, and terrifying monsters. In this book, Susan’s knowledge of art and sculpture is tested when they must face off against a villain who uses evil maps, living statues, and other crafted goons to fight. Being a Demi-Human gives her the power to commune with stone and metal: useful traits in dealing with the serial killer entity from the Old World, the Lady of Stone.
She has to accept that she is no longer able to just stand outside of the world and not understand that there are dangerous things in the world. The one negative about this book, again, is Merlin. I'm not a huge fan of the crossdressing aspect of him, but that could have just been the way it was presented. Still he is a character with a costume for just about any occasion. The book ends in a curious manner which makes me hope that Nix has plans for a third novel. If not, this, like the first one, wraps things up fairly nicely.
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