Ink Blood Sister Scribe
Emma Törzs
In this spellbinding debut novel, two estranged half-sisters tasked with guarding their family's library of magical books must work together to unravel a deadly secret at the heart of their collection--a tale of familial loyalty and betrayal, and the pursuit of magic and power. For generations, the Kalotay family has guarded a collection of ancient and rare books. Books that let a person walk through walls or manipulate the elements--books of magic that half-sisters Joanna and Esther have been raised to revere and protect. All magic comes with a price, though, and for years the sisters have been separated. Esther has fled to a remote base in Antarctica to escape the fate that killed her own mother, and Joanna's isolated herself in their family home in Vermont, devoting her life to the study of these cherished volumes. But after their father dies suddenly while reading a book Joanna has never seen before, the sisters must reunite to preserve their family legacy. In the process, they'll uncover a world of magic far bigger and more dangerous than they ever imagined, and all the secrets their parents kept hidden; secrets that span centuries, continents, and even other libraries . . .
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This was very good and I’m glad I own a copy. Although this book really deserves to be very fancily bound and not just a standard hardcover.
0First and foremost, this book was so thoughtfully written. It felt like so many little details were considered and researched and incorporated that made everything feel so much more realistic. I deeply appreciated all of the small details added into things like cutting your hand or rubbing your eyes or tearing a certain material or even mentioning employee paperwork that weren't critical to the plot but made everything so much more vivid. The intention behind everything allowed me to relax into the book without any sloppy remarks snapping me out. Beyond just little details, the same thoughtfulness rang true at a higher level in the plot. There's a reveal about 80% of the way through that was just SO good, unexpected but immediately clicked, and then there was still a significant portion of the book left to allow the reader to see it fully play out, rather than being a last minute ta-da to tie up a loose end.
I also just liked the plot and magic system, since it was urban fantasy it was pretty straightforward to get into. I also liked most of the characters and their various motivations and unpacking their backstories, I'd say this category is the only one that in a couple places fell a smidge short; Joanna was a little too naive/slow on the uptake in a way that didn't really fit with the rest of her character and sort of made her more of a background character for a large chunk of the book which is a shame, and Nicholas' introduction felt pretty unexpected and was also slow to start over his first few chapters so for a while I found myself just wishing we could get back to Esther.
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