Reviews

The Sinister Booksellers of Bath by Garth Nix

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lauranotlauren's review

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adventurous funny mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

sternkind's review against another edition

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3.0

Electronic ARC provided by publisher in exchange for my honest review.

I love the lore set up by Nix in the bookseller series, but this second volume suffers from pacing. There is at times too much extraneous description of mundane things like clothing and weapons, and in turn not enough character development. The end is satisfying but feels rushed.

The story itself is great, the world created is interesting and the problems they have are worth following to the end. But the characters themselves are a little flat.
Susan continues her one note refrain of wanting to be “normal” throughout the book, and none of the secondary characters really get anything in the way of development.

I was left wanting more, but I’d love to see the next volume flesh out some of the funky otherworldly creatures, and deepen the complexity of the main characters. Nix is a great writer and I would love to see more of this series with some better pacing and depth to the cast.

j45rpm's review against another edition

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5.0

I utterly loved this book (as well as the first book in the series, the Left-Handed Booksellers of London). Garth Nix’s worldbuilding is SO well done. The vibe of the series hits all of my happy reading places—reminiscent (but not in any way plagaristic) of Neil Gaiman; Susan Cooper’s Dark is Rising series; Lloyd Alexander’s The Chronicles of Prydain; etc.—while maintaining its unique concepts and feel and the earlier-mentioned excellent worldbuilding. Highly recommended, and I deeply hope Nix continues writing new works in this series.

crownoflaurel's review

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adventurous tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

Content Warnings

corig93's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

jonathanpalfrey's review against another edition

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3.0

This second book in the series is perhaps slightly better than the first, although characterization remains weak. I have a vague sense of the personalities of Susan, Merlin, and perhaps Vivien; but the other characters remain names with little or no personality attached.