The Library of the Dead, despite the grim sounding title, is a delightful read! In an alternate universe from our own, Ropa is a “ghost talker”, and that’s just her day job. Ropa is put on a task to help a ghost fund their missing son, and the bizarre circumstances bring her to the super secret doorstep of The Library of the Dead.

Some things I absolutely loved about this book: the fantastic is mundane. That is, being a ghost-talker is just another job, loaded with all the bureaucratic red tape and protocols as any other job. And magic is rooted in thermodynamics, while still being magical. I love books that take magic and make it scientific.

The language and tone is also incredibly engaging. The story takes place in Scotland and you get the flavor of the language without it being overwhelming. The colloquialism and Ropa’s voice throughout reads like a conversation. It really draws you in.

There is even excellent representation of various groups: BIPOC, disabled, lgbtq+.

There is some stuttering here and there where the story changes course and transitions to what suddenly feels like a different story, but it’s hardly noticeable and smooths over quickly.

Ropa - a ghostalker, communicates to the dead for a fee. One of these ghosts just told her that someone is “bewitching children” and Ropa has to investigate. Her investigation leads her to a magical library, a mentor, and other mysteries for her to uncover.

I liked this book. I liked that the main character. I liked the plot (for the most part) but I do have to admit that the plot seemed to shift gears without so much as a lead into it. Things just sort of “happen” but in the end the book found an ending point that made sense with the happenings of the book. I would have liked more depth of the actual library. The title of the novel is library of the dead and it seems like the library was much of an after thought to include.

I’m a little confused about the genre. It seemed really ya until the end and it talked about selling your body when you didn’t have anything else...

Let's start with the good stuff. I liked the characters, the plot was cool and the author made me care about what was going on enough that I plowed through this in one night. However, the setting-without giving too much away, let's just say that it's a lot like someone threw a bunch of elements into a bag and dumped them out randomly. Some stuff didn't need to be in the book at all. Some stuff made absolutely no sense given the historical backstory. There was a whole bunch of stuff that was clearly grafted on just because it would be cool but there was no thought as the implications of the grafting. A lot of bits of the setting clashed horribly. Thus, three stars. If the author had thrown out about half of the setting, this would have been a really great book.

Such a splendid story takes place in dreamy Edinburgh, take you to an action packed, mind spinning, riveting journey as magic and spiritual entities waltz at the streets and an occult library with dark secret passages!

Ropa who leaves her life, last chance of getting proper education behind to be a ghosttalker: when they whisper to her, she can hear them to help their unfinished businesses.

She’s handsomely paid by the families who recently lost the loved ones to connect with them which helps her to make ends meet.

She has every trait as a badass heroine, bold, quick witted, sarcastic, smart but also kind hearted, generous. Her lovely grandma and her sweet, independent, stubborn sister, her clever and intimidating bestie Priya are remarkable supporting character and reading the relationship dynamics between them is also quite fun!

Complex world building makes you questioning your whereabouts: post apocalyptic future or sometime in the past Scotland chose to be at the wrong side of the war and the kingdom is struggling to gather its power to rise from its ashes!

So far I had amazing time with creative world building, layered, well crafted characters, impressive concoction of magic and spirits’ universe at the underground life of Edinburg and the blood freezing, claustrophobic atmosphere were hooking elements make you addicted to the story!
The conclusion is foreseeable from miles away but the result is still satisfying!

I’m giving my four paranormal, surprising, entertaining, magical, fast pacing, Scottish stars!

Special thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan/ Tor- Forge for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest opinions.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. Thank you NetGalley!

The cover of this book is eye-catching. I like the contrast of the colors between the title and cover art.
The characters are well-developed and easy to relate to and/or like.
The storyline was easy to follow and pretty unique. I personally have never read something like it.
I honestly couldn't put the book down!


I'd definitely purchase a copy and check out other books by the author.

I want to start out by saying that this is not typically the genre that I read, but the book blurb caught me and I thought why not. Plus the cover was kind of fun. I did enjoy this book and felt that it was a quick and fun read. I think it's perfect for a middle school age child, there are other books out there that I would recommend over this one, but overall well-written and an interesting book.

Rating: 7.5/10

First of all, thank you to Tor UK and Stephen and Jamie-Lee at Black Crow for this wonderful review copy.

The Library of the Dead is a debut full of character, full of quirky voice and full of ghosts. Ropa’s POV is enthralling, funny and her spin on the paranormal, where mediums are licensed and taking messages from ghosts is run of the mill, is utterly human and downright charming. It’s a book that’ll talk your ear off in Ropa’s smart quips and keep you entertained with enough ghosts to last a lifetime.

The plot sees Ropa searching for a missing child – the ghost of his mother won’t leave her alone and can’t pay for her services, so she’s going to have to dig deep in her charitable pocket and set this one up for free. Only, it isn’t just one child, there’s a spate of missing children. The ones that have been found so far are … changed. Meanwhile, her friend Jomo’s working at a mysterious library that’s got a hidden, magical secret and she’s just about keeping her head above water with the rent owed to her landlord. Though, there’s plenty of ghosts that need a message delivered, and plenty of family members that are ready to pay for those messages – Ropa’s a ghostalker and specialises in messages from the dead.

At first, I thought this book was set in present day, or near that, Scotland. But with all the hints in the book, it’s set in a world where a war or a great calamity happened that Scotland was on the wrong side of and they’re still left reeling from it. There’s a King and we’re in what seems to be a post-apocalyptic future where there’s slums and poverty galore in Scotland – well, not quite post-apocalyptic, but you get the feeling that they’ve messed up and aren’t getting any help any time soon. The mobile phones recharge themselves by movement, fossil fuels are shot and electric and coal are all the rage; only Ropa’s grandma can remember a time they didn’t use coal. So it’s an interesting setting. What you also have to pair this with is the fact that everyone’s accepting of ghosts, magic, mediums, magicians – this is one thing that took me by surprise. It wasn’t until a little way into the book that I realised it was run of the mill, so that was quite clever. There’s a lot to keep the reader intrigued. That, and Ropa is hilarious.

With regards to the plot and Ropa being such a character, I feel like it takes a little bit of a backseat here in favour of Ropa, her antics, her worldview and just general Ropaness … which isn’t a bad thing. I can appreciate a character-driven story, but they’re not my usual type of book. There was a point where I’d kind of forgotten about the main plot, because we were busy delivering messages from the dead with Ropa and hearing about her rich family history and culture, stories of a time when her gran was the one dealing with the dead – which, if it was delivered in any other voice, might get boring, but it’s Ropa’s so you just kind of go with it. She’s such a strong, likeable character. An active character full of gusto, daring and wit, who has ownership on her life. This isn’t a character that’ll sit by and watch things happen, she’s the one who will sort it out and I loved that about her. However, the main storyline is so full of intrigue that I wish it came to the forefront a little more. It is the main plot thread, after all, so we do get there, but it takes until the last third of the book to really focus on moving it forward.

The history and practice of magic is something of particular note here, Huchu goes to great lengths to flesh out the theory and what practitioners of the past have written about it; Ropa’s studying of magic, working it out and eventually using it is wondrous. It took me by surprise to find such a hard magic system in this book about halfway through but I loved it and was here for it. It’s set out in solid, scientific terms and is treated as such. She studies the books, learns the theory and puts it into practice. I do love a good magic system so this was fantastic.

Overall, if you love all things paranormal, a punchy, page-turning voice and lots of magic, this is certainly a book I’d recommend picking up. However, you have to be aware that this is focused heavily around the character and might be not sit well with people who love a book that goes beat-by-beat with the plot.

Fun, easy read. Would recommend to a student or a friend, but not over many other competing books. Average read for me.

I requested this one because it might be a 2021 title I would like to review on my Youtube Channel. However, after reading the first several chapters I have determined that this book is not my tastes. So I decided to DNF this one rather than push myself to finish it only to give it a poor review.