The Library of the Dead Review
Hi friends! I hope you’ve been having a good week so far. Today I’m sharing my The Library of the Dead Review! This book was a wild ride and I enjoyed it. Let’s get into it!
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Title: The Library of the Dead
Author: T.L. Huchu
Rating: 3 Stars
Genre: Urban Fantasy/Dystopian
Content Warnings: Death, Murder, Suicide, Child Abuse
Format: eARC
Publisher: Tor.com
Date Published: February 4th 2021
Goodreads Description: Ropa dropped out of school to become a ghostalker – and she now speaks to Edinburgh’s dead, carrying messages to the living. A girl’s gotta earn a living, and it seems harmless enough. Until, that is, the dead whisper that someone’s bewitching children – leaving them husks, empty of joy and life. It’s on Ropa’s patch, so she feels honour bound to investigate. But what she learns will change her world.
She’ll dice with death (not part of her life plan . . .) as she calls on Zimbabwean magic and Scottish pragmatism to hunt down clues. For Edinburgh hides a wealth of secrets. And in the process, she discovers an occult library and some unexpected allies. Yet as shadows lengthen, will the hunter become the hunted?
I received a review copy from . All opinions are my own.
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The Library of the Dead Review
Characters – 6/10
My first thought when reading this book was “why is Ropa 14?”. As far as I could tell, this book is not intended to be YA, so the age of the protagonist really bugged me. It might just be personal preference, but I think Ropa could have been 18 and the plot wouldn’t have changed. She’s clearly super smart, she likes science podcasts and she’s a quick learner. However, it takes her forever to figure the plot out? She didn’t actively think about what was happening enough, which makes her seem a little oblivious to what’s happening around her.
The Library of the Dead has many amazing side characters and I’m hoping we get to see more of them in future instalments.
Atmosphere – 5/10
We spend a lot of time in Ropa’s head. I’ve never been to Scotland (sadly) so I could have used some more descriptions of the city. The Library of the Dead takes place in a dystopian world, and I would have loved some more description of what happened to the world.
We also spend shockingly little time in the Library. The title had me believe the Library would play a bigger role. I’m hoping for more in the future.
Writing – 8/10
The writing and the slang took some getting used to, but once I was in it I really enjoyed it. The writing style is different, but fun to read. Huchu also has a way of explaining difficult concepts really well. That was something I really enjoyed, and I learned a lot from this book.
(Seriously, I studied thermodynamics because the book had me hooked on the science).
Plot – 5/10
After finishing The Library of the Dead I had to collect my thoughts, especially on the plot. It did not feel like a plot was happening, but it was? This book obviously does a lot of setup for the future books (I think four more are planned). I hope it pays off.
The Library of the Dead Review
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Intrigue – 7/10
I really enjoyed reading this story, despite some of the gripes I had. I enjoyed piecing the story together and I love a good paranormal story. Hopefully, we’ll dive deeper into the lore and the conflict in the next book.
Logic – 7/10
The science in this book was so much fun. One of the best thing about The Library of the Dead was the science-based magic system. I had so much fun watching videos and learning more about the science mentioned in the book. I love a book that makes me think and learn.
Enjoyment – 7/10
This book was a wild ride. I can’t tell yet if it was a good setup for the series, but I’m eager to find out.
CAWPILE = 6.4/10
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I appreciate your honest reviews – this one is a pass for me
I hope that such a build up makes the next books in the series more plot rich.I
have to admit that with few exceptions, I prefer the books I read to have characters that are at least in their late teens.
I’ve looked at this book for a while but noticed it had very mixed reviews. Great review.
loved the cover and the title; but since i normally don’t read books of this genre, i will skip this one.. but the science-magic part did intrigue 🙂
The cover of this really appealed to me and your review does have me considering adding this to my TBR.