An urban fantasy set in an alternate Scotland with ghosts and magic.
We follow Ropa, who drawns on both her Scottish and Zimbabwean magic to keep her family fed and with a roof in a town that is running dry for many as ghosts grow more restless.

I enjoy seeing slang and saying that I am familiar with (Ireland and Scotland are cousins in my heart), and the setting of Scotland for ghost stories is perfect. Unfortunately, I couldn't fully immerse myself in this book. The story was a bit too slow/mundane for the magic use. However, the dark society and mystery were intriguing wish it hadn't been dragged out.

I absolutely adored The Library of the Dead, the first in the new Edinburgh duology by T. L. Huchu!

“Ropa dropped out of school to become a ghostalker – and they sure do love to talk. Now she speaks to Edinburgh’s dead, carrying messages to those they left behind. 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 strength. It’s on Ropa’s patch, so she feels honor-bound to investigate. But what she learns will rock her world.

Ropa will dice with death as she calls on Zimbabwean magic and Scottish pragmatism to hunt down clues. And although underground Edinburgh hides a wealth of dark secrets, she also discovers an occult library, a magical mentor and some unexpected allies.

Yet as shadows lengthen, will the hunter become the hunted?”

Full of rich world building, and wonderful character building, this series is one I cannot wait to read more of!

Thank you so very much to NetGalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge books for allowing me the opportunity to read this title in exchange of an honest review.

I wanted to love this one, and I thought I would, going in. Unfortunately, I think this book suffered from having too much plot and too little world-building. The book was pulled in so many different ways and would, at times, abandon one plot for another, only to come back to it later in the story (and sometimes not at all). While the book bears the name of a library and seems to promise lots of library goodness, there’s actually very little time spent in the Library of the Dead and it plays almost no part in this plot. I also really struggled with the voice and understanding some of the things the protagonist said. It seemed like there were made-up words to go with the world, like knapf? I really wasn’t clear on that and tried to Google it and didn’t find anything, so it may be a thing.

This is an interesting and unusual story, a mix of fantasy and reality to keep the story moving, I found it easy to connect to the hero of the story right off the bat.

This wasn't a straight 3 star read, it was more like 3.5 stars, but I have qualms about giving it 4 stars. I can't say I enjoyed it to that extent. The villain reveal, while it made sense with the lead-ins, was very random. Random and anti-climatic. At the same time, it's not so neutral that I'm not invested. So, really, this was a 3.5 star read that I'll be rating as 4 stars across respective book reading platforms.

Spooky ghost stories, but full of literary scaries rather than pulpy ones, as well as a healthy dose of history. Definitely a great read.

What a letdown. This book should be everything I love, but instead it has a lackluster plot, a non-mysterious mystery, a main character who is the definition of a Mary Sue, and spends too much of it's focus on voice an atmosphere leaving plot and characterization to the wayside. I'm glad that even though this is a series, it's a more or less self-contained story so I don't feel bad not continuing with the series.

I received an eARC of this title through NetGalley in return for an honest review.

I thought this book was an interesting almost post-apocalyptic fantasy.

Ropa Moyo is an interesting character. She dropped out of school to help support her family by delivering messages from the dead to the living. I enjoyed how she was constantly educating herself through podcasts even though she dropped out of school. It was a good choice to show that not all those who drop out of school, do so because they did not like learning and were not intelligent. On the contrary, Ropa is supposed to be extremely intelligent.

The story itself was, for the most part, well told and thought out. I felt it moved a little slow in the beginning as it was setting up to introduce the reader to important characters and people. However, it picks up with the action sequences. I would say the second half of the book went quicker than the first half as the story was hurtling towards its conclusion. The only part I did not like about the book was a part where the story takes a weird turn. I do not want to spoil it, but there is a part where the story feels clunky as if another idea for a story got shoved into the plot. I think there were other ways to get the information that was needed from this instance then having the character's momentum be halted by this happening.

All in all, this was a decent fantasy read. It was dark and had a somewhat satisfying ending leaving openings for a sequel. I would recommend this to anyone looking for a dark fantasy with paranormal and fantasy elements mixed with a post-apocalyptic world.

I enjoyed this book and look forward to the next in the series. I loved the character building, but would have liked to know a tad more about the events leading to the current ways of the world in the story. I assume we will learn more in the next book. Additionally, not exactly sure why the book had this specific title, the library wasn't that prominent in the storey. But it's all good. Great story

3.5 solid stars! this is precisely the sort of urban fantasy i want to be reading more of: fresh, distinctive, ownvoices stories with quick-witted characters and eldritch antagonists.

ropa moyo is a teenaged zimbabwean-scottish ghostalker roaming the streets of a post-apocalypse, dystopian edinburgh. she is clever, sharp-tongued, and resourceful: in other words, exactly the sort of protagonist i love reading.

magic runs in ropa's blood. her grandmother is also a renowned ghostalker, someone who can see and communicate with the restless dead. ropa's taken over her grandmother's gig, and she works as a messenger/conduit between ghosts and their living loved ones. this includes some nifty world-building, including playing a mbira (a plucked instrument traditionally used by the shona people of zimbabwe) to stabilize ectoplasm.

i was immediately drawn into the main conflict in this novel. one day, while on her rounds, ropa is cornered by the ghost of a young mother who implores ropa to locate her missing son. before long, ropa realizes she's stumbled into a conspiracy vaster and more sinister than she could have predicted; at the heart of it all are missing children suffering from an inexplicable ailment, and villains who exploit dark magic that must be peeled away layer by layer. the action scenes are EXCELLENT. i was viscerally reminded of my experience with the diviners by libba bray - another urban fantasy with uncanny, unsettling undertones.

my complaints are few. i found that the magic system was presented through dense, complicated info-dumps that made it hard for me to grasp what was being conveyed. i also wish that we spent more time inhabiting the eponymous library of the dead, which wasn't fleshed out nearly as much as i would've liked, and was not as central to the story as i would've expected from the title. sometimes, it felt as though the plot were stretched a smidge too thin, what with ropa juggling the library, her job as a ghostalker, tracking down the missing children, and fighting three separate baddies - all of it in the span of 300-odd pages.

i will conclude by saying this: i can't wait to read more of t.l. huchu's writing. book 2 of edinburgh nights, here we come!


thank you netgalley and macmillan-tor/forge for this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I don't always enjoy urban fantasy, I find it falls into genre tropes too often for my enjoyment. This one, however, called to me. What's better than a drop-out medium?! And Huchu doesn't disappoint, either. This was a delightfully fun and exciting romp from start to end. I don't know that I'll continue with the series, but I definitely enjoyed this one.

Creepy, funny, heartwarming, all with a break neck pace!! What’s not to love!! I will definitely be checking out the next book.

First, what an absolutely beautiful and engaging cover. The art is spot on to create the atmosphere necessary for this novel and also for someone such as myself who read multiple books at a time,

This novel was very entertaining on many fronts. I enjoyed the aspect of a conflicted heroine who wants to stand on principle (I only do things for money), but who’s greater sense of humanity wins out to do the right thing and help those less fortunate. The world-building was thorough and intriguing. The storyline while a little slow at the beginning ultimately picks up the pace to a tale where the reader is drawn into a desire to “turn the page to find out what happens next”.

I enjoy urban fantasy and this book is one of the few gems from recent years that stuck with me. I will be continuing the series as it develops. I would strongly recommend over many others.

Thank you to Net Galley and Tor for the free advanced copy provided for an honest review.

The Library of the Dead by T.L. Huchu is set in Edinburgh, Scotland. As you can imagine, Edinburgh has plenty of secrets. There could possibly be an actual magical underground and a secret library. I bet it is all under Edinburgh Castle. The castle is built on an extinct volcano. You could hide a lot of things in a dormant volcano.
Ropa Moyo is a teenager with a Zimbabwean magic heritage. She has recently dropped out of school in order to be a ghosttalker. She relays messages from those who have passed on to the other side. Someone has to support Gran and her little sister. At the beginning of the story, Ropa’s new business is a bit slow in taking off. Everyone wants to talk to their deceased loved ones but no one wants to pay. Ropa is pretty resourceful and sassy so things might work out.

While trying to deliver a message from the other side, Ropa stumbles across some unusual things. She learns that her friend Jomo has a job at a very exclusive library of the occult. Ropa visits the library as often as she can whether the librarians like it or not. She meets a new friend, Priya, who helps her with magic.

Secondly, there are several children that have gone missing. She links it to a new drug called yang-yang. The main supplier is a creepy Pied Piper type of character called the Milkman. Of course, he is working for someone else, who has a special use for the missing children. I can’t tell you but I was soooo surprised when the true villain was revealed.

Conclusion:
I really enjoyed the writing of T.L. Huchu. Luckily, there is a second book in the series. Our Lady of Mysterious Ailments. The second book should be out in March 2022.

If you like urban fantasy, weird libraries and even weirder villains, then you will love The Library of the Dead.

If you aren’t a fan of magic or libraries, then . . . I can’t imagine how bored you are right now.

I received this ebook from NetGalley. All opinions are my own. Obviously.

really interesting mystery. I really loved the main character and all of the worldbuilding. excited for book 2

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thanks Macmillan Tor Forge and Netgalley for this enjoyable read. Do you enjoy reading urban fantasy? If so, Library of the Dead is the book for you. Dialect was hard to follow at first but smoothed out as the story continued. Ropa is a ghost talker in a gritty post-apocalyptic world who finds herself helping a ghost mother look for her living child. She also encounters the mysterious Library of the Dead as she finds out more about herself and her hidden talents.
More mysteries unfold as the story progresses and she finds unexpected allies and learns more about who she is.
The story leads down the streets of Edinburgh and I found myself thoroughly enjoying the journey. I love Scotland and being immersed in this world was very pleasant and kept me wanting more.
It felt like I was right there having a conversation with Ropa as she told her story. I look forward to reading more of this series. This book is truly a diamond in the rough. Lots of great world building and relationships between characters as Ropa moves through this mesmerizing journey of self-discovery

This is a weird thing to say as a person who loves books about supernatural libraries, but the storyline surrounding the library was a lot less interesting to me than the adventures Ropa has with the spirits she encounters.

I could listen to stories of ghosts begrudgingly passing on family recipes for hours, which I didn't know was a thing I wanted before this book.

The character building for Ropa and her grandmother were highlights, but every secondary character felt rushed and underwrought. I was often left wondering who and why some characters were introduced.

I'm bummed because I think there were some really fun elements here but not enough for me to continue with further installments.

Thank you to NetGalley and TorBooks for an arc of this title.

Such a well written story and it takes place in dreamy Edinburgh *heart eyes*, The Library of The Dead takes you on an action packed, mind spinning, riveting journey as magic and spiritual entities waltz at the streets and to top it off there's an occult library with dark secret passages! Hell yes. Complex world building makes you question your whereabouts. 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. The conclusion is relatively foreseeable from miles away but the result is still satisfying!

DNF'd at 25%. This title's premise intrigued me but the writing style lent itself to a younger reader, I felt. Thank you Net Galley for providing an ARC.

This book was surprising and wonderful. Ropa’s voice and originality paired with the unique fantasy aligned dystopian future the book is set in is dark but refreshing. It was unexpected, enjoyable with humor, both dry and situational, woven throughout. I am interested to see Ropa’s story continue as the series grows. I will say that the ending was foreseeable but did not take anything away from the experience. Overall I rated it a four out of five stars and would recommend to anyone seeking something a little off the beaten path of the mainstream fantasy genre.