In this second book of the series, Susan, Merlin, and Vivian unite with other booksellers to determine what the ancient sovereign known as the Old Lady of Stone (The Crone) has planned. Whatever it is, she seems determined to capture Susan and possibly kill her as part of a ritual that is tied to the Winter Solstice. As Susan comes more and more into her powers, she is learning how she can defend herself as well as to bind a more powerful magical being. The tension builds as the Booksellers team up with the local and national police who provide additional security. And amidst it all, we get to see how Susan and Merlin's relationship is changing. Fantastical, creative world building! The Epilogue ends on a rather odd note, leading me to believe that there will be a third book in this series. Looking forward to reading it!

Sinister Booksellers is Nix's best work yet. I was enamored by Left Handed Booksellers due to the interesting characters and fascinating folklore, but must admit I found fault in the pacing and cohesion. Sinister Booksellers has all the great elements of the first book and none of the flaws. The central conflict is immediately clear and the story never strays from it. The reader knows the world now, which spares us from the need for too much explanation, but that doesn't mean we can't have fun new worldbuilding introduced to us through dialogue and Susan's learning about the world.
Susan's arc this book stands out among even the other excellent elements. Her internal conflict melds with and guides the story. I also like how the story always felt hers. Moments outside of Susan's direct involvement in the plot were summarized, and I didn't feel like I was left out of the action because it was Susan's story, and if she didn't have to be there on page then neither did I.
Overall, Nix did a brilliant job building on the wonderful world he built in Left Handed Booksellers, and this book benefitted greatly from its closer focus on Susan and the fact that the world was already established.

Another fun trip around 1980s England with Susan, Merlin, and Vivian! Centered around Bath this story is full of all the fun things… magic, legend, ancient beings, a little bit of murder, mystery and heroics.

After Merlin is accidentally transported to a realm outside of space and time, Vivian gets Susan to help get him back. During their escape back to 1980s England they discover the unknown being who has created this space outside of time has been kidnapping and murdering humans. They set out to discover who this being is and why they are kidnapping and killings humans.

Such a fun read, I really adore these characters!

4.5/5

So the title caused a little self-satisfied chortle when I first saw it. “Sinister” can mean “left,” you know? Hilarious sequel title.

Somehow this has a different vibe than the first book, but the writing remains both excellent and clever.

I love Merlin’s approach to gender. (Basically looking at the options and think Yes, befitting choosing the checkbox for “all of the above”)

And I’m always a sucker for a portal fantasy

This is a solid 4 star follow-up to the Left-Handed Booksellers of London. I was excited to get an early copy in exchange for an honest review (thank you, NetGalley/HarperCollins!) This book starts with action and keeps going throughout the book. I liked this sequel slightly more than the first book and I really enjoyed that one. While Susan and Merlin's relationship falls flat for me, I don't think it took away from everything that was going on in their world. I recommend this book for those who liked Left-Handed Sellers and want to follow the characters.

This book was so unremarkable and poorly written. I felt completely disconnected from the storyline and never truly invested in any character. I DNFd after about 40%.

Thank you to NetGalley, which provided this early review version. I really enjoyed this sequel to the "Left-handed Booksellers", which rejoined our characters back in a world of arcane and esoteric magicians trying to protect the mundane humans from any magical funny business. Maybe this novel wasn't quite as sarcastic and wild as it's fellow in this series, but it was quite enjoyable! Highly recommended.

I absolutely Loved this book!! The characters were very interesting and relatable. I really loved how the author kept the story moving without it slowing down and getting boring. I will be recommending this book to all of my friends and family.

This is such a fun and interesting concept and I loved being back in the world of the booksellers. I hope that Nix will write more about the Booksellers in the future.

To start Garth Nix has always been an author I love to read. He can make these worlds that have elements that are so believable in our world yet also open the door to a new and unexplored fantasy world that our characters get to thrive in! This follow up book to the left handed book sellers of London does just that! We start this story anxiously waiting to find out what was next for our characters, in my case I was super excited to learn more of Susan! I read through those first few pages in a flash trying to get to a character I knew! I was beyond excited! I love when a book give us that kind of magic, the stay up late reading because you simply can’t put it down magic! This story catches us up with Vivien and Merlin and of course Susan. Quite quickly and then we get instantly wrapped up in a new dilemma that literally fell into their laps. I won’t give away the plot but this is a new adventure that is definitely worth reading especially if you enjoyed the first! This book does everything good the first did and more. With the world building and characters that you fall in love with, that you actually want to succeed. Or with magic and mystery the whole way through from statues that come alive or maps you can fall into! On top of that this one lets us dive deeper into this magical world Nix has created, we get to learn more about our booksellers and about Susan and her new found connection with her father. . We get the mix of history and myths thrown into their reality, I adore learning about what our booksellers are reading throughout as a nuce connection to the real world and learning new facts about London through the old ones lore that I may have not know before. Nix has a way to make you interested in his story but also intrigued in other things like books mentioned or myths. This story had me hanging on the edge the whole time! This was a worthy read and I can’t wait for the continuation of the story! Let’s grab Merlin and his tye-dyed yak haired shoulder bag and get this adventure goin!!

I will not be reviewing this title in solidarity with the striking HaperCollins workers. No bargain no reviews.

I'd like to think of this as Shadowhunters meets The Kingsman but with booksellers instead of tailors. I absolutely adored the sequel just as much as the first book
This time we visit Bath and the bookshop there but we still follow Susan, Merlin, and Vivian. Susan is trying desperately to lead a normal life after finding out about the other world but it's not going so well when Merlin gets sucked into a map that's out of time. Then there's weird monsters made of stone that are chasing everyone and they have to kill someone every seven years to keep the spell going in this land out of time. Oh and they have to go in alphabetical order. The order has restarted so we're back to A so SURPRISE, Susan Arkshaw is the target. It's all hands on deck to keep Susan protected so the spell breaks and the monsters are defeated all while Susan tries to not let the powers from her father take over.
Absolutely loved this book from beginning to end and it was a fantastic way to end 2022

I was really disappointed in this one... I really loved the first in the series and just reread it in eager anticipation of the sequel. Unfortunately, I found the pacing all over the place here and it really drew me out of the story time and again. I thought there was way more description and detail about minutiae here than in the first book and it really slowed down the story in ways that I found quite distracting.

I also found the fundamental storyline to be someone underwhelming, particularly given the big action, adventure and drama of the first book. The characters didn't seem to have the depth and breadth of the earlier story either. And I got rather sick and tired of listening to Susan whine about wanting to be "normal" (as though that were actually a thing) yet continue to come running every time the Booksellers called. I think that also slowed down the action because so much of the book was spent trying to pretend that her whole life hadn't changed and she wasn't now a part of the magical universe of Booksellers and Ancient Ones.

All in all this one just didn't do it for me...

The booksellers are back! This was a wonderful sequel. I was so excited to read the next adventure that the booksellers and Susan were up to. I loved discovering more about Susan’s heritage and taking on the role heroine. I hope there will be more bookseller stories to come.

I usually very much enjoy Nix's books and characters. Although I liked the 1st in this series, this one was a bit of a miss for me.

The relationships between the characters felt a little off or awkward. I felt Susan and Merlin had both taken a little backwards step in their development.

But as always the atmosphere, magic and pacing were excellent. The mystery, clever magic and conclusion were my reasoning for continuing, as I was intrigued with what new Old World Sovereign would appear and require from the booksellers.

A smooth and easy read for readers looking to continue this series.

Garth Nix is one of my hands down favorite authors, and a magical crime fighting bookseller is pretty much my personal aspiration. 4.5 stars. (No Spoilers)

- I always like a strong second book in a series, and was happy to be back with the gang.
- The characters are likable - I find Susan’s struggle of self identity relatable, very much enjoy all the eating that happens in these books. I like Merlin, but thought he was a little sidelined in this one.
- Cons: pacing is a little slow (and then… not slow) and there’s a bit more vehicular/military related shop talk than actual (bookseller) shop talk.
- Yet another moment where I finish an ARC (thanks, NetGalley) after voraciously reading.. and realize I now have extra long to wait until one of my favorite authors writes the next book.

I did not read the first book and it took me more than a minute to get oriented into the universe created here. But the information was doled out throughout the book, so that things began to take shape and I felt like I could enjoy the story and the characters and then get to that first book as soon as possible. There is a ton of complicated world building running parallel to a regular one, which I found fascinating because they were separate but linked. In fact, it reminded me a lot of Gaimans work where you just accept the world on the page as how it is, and you will have a lot of fun with it, even when the Freemasons show up. Susan, Merlin and Viv are a great trio and I was glad I got to spend time with them altho now I am craving some lemon drizzle cake.

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.
I
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.

Super fun read, I you liked the first one this will absolutely meet your expectations. That said, the pacing was weird and there is something strange happening with the tone, but I can't quite put my finger on what.

Well well! This book was a surprise. I didn’t think for second before starting to read it that I would end up falling for it this much. Without spoiling it, I would say it was pretty engaging and entertaining. And I absolutely loved that epilogue. Couldn’t wait enough to see and read what the author has in store for us