The Sinister Booksellers of Bath by Garth Nix is book 2 in The Left-Handed Booksellers of London series. We are back with the quirky, magical librarians whom I love so much! This time we are in Bath, and we go on an adventure to stop an evil ancient entity from taking over the world and gaining full power on the solstice.

I truly love this world, the quirky crew, and the banter between the left and right handed booksellers. Who knew a secret society of magical booksellers would be so entertaining!!

If you like cozy fantasy, magical adventures, and a quirky cast of characters then I highly recommend this series to you!

Thanks to NetGalley for providing an eARC of this book.

3.75 stars out of 5 stars.

When I got notification I was approved for this ARC, I realized it was a part two, then had to read part one, which is why it took me a while to get around to reading this.

This books continues with the lives of Susan, Merlin, and Vivien, and we get introduced to a few new characters, some who were apparently in the background of The Left-Handed Booksellers of London. Merlin has been called up to help Vivien with a map that was found hidden in a book left to them from a private collection. The map is only a portion of a bigger one, but when a bee appears from nowhere while they are looking at the map, Merlin goes to catch it and release it, but is instantly transported into the place the map shows.

The map begins to dissolve, but Vivien and Ruby tack the map to the table they are viewing it on with silver tacks, which stops the destruction. Realizing instantly that it is a translocation map, a map made by an entity of extreme power to remove a particular place from time and...space. The book did a better job of explaining it.

Now, I was not particularly impressed by The Left-Handed Booksellers of London, but I could not exactly pinpoint why. This book captivated me more in that the portal fantasy trope was a hit for me from the onset. And that it was a magical map that transports people to a garden place with a labyrinth and clocktower? Oh my gosh take my hours.

I must say that this was a little gory in some places. The punk hanging from a pole in the clock tower was...disturbing, as were the bodies.

Without giving too much away, I am just going to reiterate that I liked this book more than the first one. However, I still feel as though the characters need a lot more fleshing out. They felt like they were in an in-between space from 2D to 3D. I could not get a clear image of any of the characters in my head. There was also something about the book that, despite it checking off a lot of "favorite things" boxes, I just couldn't get excited about reading it.

Maybe I was just in the wrong mood for these two books.

Would I read a third one? Absolutely. So, there's that.

Readers met the booksellers, right- and left-handed, in the first book, set mostly in London. The booksellers, besides running several bookshops, are also responsible for dealing with Old World entities when they intrude into the modern world. In that outing art student Susan Arkshaw's hunt for her father leads her to a house that Merlin visits during an investigation. The two of them, along with Merlin's sister Vivien must discover how their parents' fates are intertwined.

Now Susan is trying to come to terms with what she learned of her parentage, but puts aside her own concerns to help rescue Merlin. It seems that an ancient map has pulled him into a maze maintained by magic and guarded by animated statues. Vivien recruits Susan to get Merlin back to the real world, but that is not the end of their involvement with the enchantments in the maze. Somehow, that magical location is linked to deaths and disappearances that have been going on for centuries. Their search for answers will lead them to Bath and the ancient entity that lives in the springs, but it won't end there.

The world of this series is fascinating; a mix of books, magic, ancient British deities and folklore, conspiracies, danger, romance, disguises - and all the while trying to keep the public ignorant of what is going on in the streets of London, Bath, and small villages along the way.

I am eagerly awaiting the next installment and you will be, too!

Nix hits it out of the park again with this second installment of the Left-handed Booksellers of London series. This time the booksellers face an ancient and stony foe. Susan just wants to be a normal human, doing normal activities, but when she gets pulled back into the bookseller world, her own place in it comes into question. With derring-do, and fun exploits a plenty readers will enjoy the book. Recommended

The Sinister Booksellers of Bath is the second book in the Left-Handed Booksellers series and picks up a few months after the events of the first book. Vivien, Merlin and Susan are again thrust together against some magical world beings fixated on Susan. The team will have to figure out why she is at the center of another gods machinations and how to save her. Set in an alternate 1980s London, the reader will be introduced to new booksellers, new gods and new understandings on just what it means to be the child of a god.

Susan is trying to keep her human life as much as possible. She has limited the amount of time she is spending with Merlin or anything else in the magical community. That all changes when Merlin accidentally, really sometimes you shouldn’t touch magical things when they come flying at you, ends up inside a dimensional pocket inside a map. Vivien has enlisted Susan to assist in going into the pocket dimension to get him out. Should be easy enough, but getting him out of the dimension is just the beginning. The Stone Lady picks up the scent of Susan and she wants her for a ritual and now there are lines drawn in the magical community. Who will help Susan? Who will help the Stone Lad? And who will remain neutral? Susan is going to need some big magical help to stay alive for this one, maybe even her dad.

The Left Handed Bookseller world is pretty interesting. I enjoyed the 1983 aspect of it in a slightly altered London. It is easy to picture the time and place, because it is so familiar and then layer the magic on top of it just a smidge offset from normal life. Vivien and Susan are likeable characters each strong in their own way and learning how to be adults at the age right around 20, where who you are and what you are going to do with your life is solidifying. Merlin is a bit fun showing up in all manor of dress. I’m not a huge fan of the crossdressing aspect of him, but that could have just been the way it was presented. Still he is a character with a costume for just about any occasion.

The story was interesting and I enjoyed meeting some of the entities with their devoted followers and the pocket dimensions where they live. The entire concept was fascinating to me. Some of the story pacing in the middle was a bit lagging, especially after the excitement started early on. Once back on track and headed into the ending though, it picked back up and went strong until the end keeping me completely engaged. The trio works together so well and I enjoyed Susan’s journey the most as she comes into her own magic and capabilities accepting them a little bit more in the progression of the story.

I still enjoyed the Left Handed Booksellers of London a little more but the Sinister Booksellers of Bath is a solid second book in a series and another win in the Garth Brooks column.

Really creative world that was a joy to return to. I really enjoyed the Susan-Merlin-Vivian dynamic, and it was nice to reenter this world with a bit of context from the first book -- a bit more grounding and less of the chaos of being thrown into a new world, while still being an intriguing and gripping adventure that kept me turning the pages. A good, fun romp that still has its deliciously dark and deep moments.

This was another great installment in this series. I’m excited to see how many more hijinks can be got up to. I will say the only downside is how rapidly the books end. Like, the story is drawn out across the whole thing and it feels like the climax of the book is actually in the epilogue! That is my only complaint.

Merlin & Susan’s Magical Adventure Continues In Bath! When Vivien Finds An Anomaly In An Old Book Of Maps, She Ends Up Opening A Passage To A Hidden Creation With A Sinister Design. Susan Must Face Her Fears Whether Ready Or Not, & Merlin Is Steadfast At Her Side. There Is Incredible Detail – Almost Too Much To Keep Track Of If You Dare To Set The Book Down.


ABOUT THIS SERIES:

Thus far, The Left-Handed Booksellers of London includes:
1. The Left-Handed Booksellers of London
2. The Sinister Booksellers of Bath

ABOUT THE BOOKSELLERS:

The booksellers, or St. Jacques, are a clan of sorts. Born with one bookseller parent, the children are sent to Wooten Hall for school at the age of seven. There, the children are taught about their role in the world.

The New World is the human world, otherwise known as reality. The Old World is the collection of various mythical and magical levels that exist below reality. Occasionally, the two worlds intersect, and it is the role of the Booksellers to police those interactions. They keep the peace. When not called into action, they make their living as booksellers.

Booksellers are fully inducted when they turn eighteen. Some don’t settle on a particular hand until their twenties, and a few remain both-handed, or even-handed.

Left-handed booksellers operate much like field agents when called to duty outside of the bookstore. Sometimes referred to as sinisters, they are the fighters. They tend to enjoy poetry and music, which help them decompress. In the bookstores, they typically work behind the scenes, unloading and stocking shelves.

The right-handed typically love art and are good at puzzles. They are quite skilled at the arcane arts. They often have extraordinary healing powers and excellent hearing. Some have premonitions or visions. In the bookstores, they interface with the public. They are the sellers. They are also knowledgeable about the history of books and bookselling. They tend to be more independent-minded, although they work collectively under their leader.

There had been relative peace for years under the leadership of Thurston and Merrihew. The Old World and its various magical creatures had mostly remained below the surface of the everyday world. However, book one led to change in the leadership. Now great-aunt Evangeline leads the right-handed booksellers, while Una leads the left-handed crew from her office in the Old Bookshop. When something does surface, the booksellers work with the authorities – the few that are in the know – to keep things under wraps and out of the public eye.

FROM THE LEFT-HANDED BOOKSELLERS OF LONDON, BOOK 1:

The story opens on May 1, 1983, in England.

Susan Arkshaw, eighteen, has had a recurring dream since childhood. A river creature, ravens, and a lizard made of stone – all gifts from a father she never met. Her hippie mother raised her in a farmhouse near Bath, in the west of England. Jassmine spent her days painting and was always too lost in her own world to make a real connection with her daughter. A product of the 1960s, she had once been into musicians and the city, but those days were gone. She had taken Susan to London on her Mayday birthday each year until Susan turned twelve, at which time those visits stopped for some reason or another.

Susan has adopted her mother’s love of art and has plans to attend art school in London in the fall. Her student housing isn’t available for three months yet, but that won’t hold her back from heading to the city early. Her mother might not want to share her father’s identity, but Susan has collected a few clues over the years and has high hopes of tracking him down herself. Her starting point is her “Uncle” Frank Thringley.

Merlin Upbright, nineteen, is a left-handed bookseller and a relentless flirt. His good looks and charming personality ensure he always turns heads. He likes things casual, so his relationships typically end almost as soon as they start. He is a human male at the moment, although his beauty sometimes masks that fact. His shape-shiftery allows him to contemplate a change, but regardless, he enjoys wearing a dress from time to time.

Since turning eighteen and becoming fully inducted as a bookseller, Merlin has been quietly investigating his mother’s death. It was six years ago that Antigone was in the wrong place at the wrong time, the unfortunate victim of a gunshot wound. Merlin never believed it to be an accident, though, and he isn’t about to give up. His pursuit of the truth brings him to the home of Frank Thingley, but he never anticipates the chaos that comes next. Yet one thing he knows for sure – he wants to go out for drinks with Susan. She isn’t anything like his usual type, but it doesn’t matter. She won’t give him a firm answer, but he has time for that later.

When Susan meets Merlin by chance, she is introduced to a world of booksellers and magical creatures. This poses a problem since knowledge is strictly need-to-know. Susan only wants to get on with her life, to be left alone to find her father. Inspector Greene from Special Branch gets involved in an effort to watch over and protect her. Soon the powers that be – Merlin’s great-uncle Thurston and great-aunt Merrihew – would like a word with her, as would Grandmother. Susan wants to know who her father is, and the booksellers would also like answers. Too many magical things are happening around Susan for it simply to be a coincidence.

Merlin and his right-handed older sister Vivien help keep an eye on Susan while the booksellers try to get answers. As things continue to get more precarious, Merlin has his own suspicions. The trio is tested as they chase answers and attempt to avoid danger. The truth only complicates matters. There are secrets and plots that will shake up the booksellers before all is said and done, and the answers that come aren’t easy. At the end of the day, though, Merlin and Susan earn a happy-for-now ending.

IN THIS BOOK:

The story opens on December 10, 1983, in Bath.

Roughly five months have passed since the close of book one. Susan is nearing the end of her first semester as an art student at Slade School of Art in London. She has been trying to bury her head in the sand by immersing herself in her studies. She struggles with the almost certain knowledge that her life will never be normal again after learning that she is the child of a mortal and an Old One – the first such birth in about two hundred years. Her father is the Old Man of Coniston and is resting in his mountain until the year’s end. Instinctively, Susan feels that change will come when he awakens. Meanwhile, she and Merlin have been steadily dating – something that is entirely new for him. But their relationship has been strained as of late, and Merlin senses that Susan is pulling away.

Vivien Upbright, early twenties, had been left-handed until about a year and a half ago, but she seems to have settled on being right-handed, at least for now. She is pursuing an MBA at the London Business School while also working at the Old Bookshop three days week. The Small Bookshop is a branch run by the Booksellers. Located in Bath, it has a small staff, but when right-handed help is requested for a new shipment of old books, Vivien lends a helping hand. She comes across an anomaly in a book of maps that inadvertently pulls her brother Merlin into one such map. Vivien enlists Susan’s help in saving him, but what they discover in the process sends the Booksellers into a crisis. There is a serial killer at large. They must determine who is behind the map and the murders before the winter solstice when the killer appears poised to strike again.

Merlin and Susan’s magical adventure continues in the Small Bookshop in Bath. The story is dense with detail that brings the book to life. Some of it may be lost on those not intimately familiar with England. There is incredible detail, almost too much to keep track of if you dare to set the book down. It slows down the action quite a bit. The old adage “show, don’t tell” is applicable here. Much of the plot and mystery is unraveled off the page by hard-at-work booksellers and then relayed in the form of a summary to Susan. Sometimes it felt like a CSI episode. This makes it hard for the story to resonate, and it does begin to feel a bit much. After briefly setting the book down, I caught myself glossing over some of the detail rather than looking back to double-check facts. It didn’t keep my interest.

Nevertheless, the bookseller world has been intricately woven and paves the way for more fantasy books to come. There are goblins and urchins as well as cauldrons and cauldron-born. There are sippers and sacred wolves, too. Old Ones can inhabit a human body, to add to the confusion. The seemingly simple concept of grandmother is even redefined here.

Note that this book ascribes to the woke religion. It is apparent from the start, although it largely becomes a non-issue after that. The whole notion of left and right-handedness gently hints at the notion of fluidity. Merlin’s character, though, directly addresses gender fluidity and mentions that though not easy, it is possible. Towards the end, the issue is nearly forgotten.

When Vivien finds an anomaly in an old book of maps, she ends up opening a passage to a hidden creation with a sinister design. Susan must face her fears whether ready or not, and Merlin is steadfast at her side. The story is nicely written. It is carefully crafted and plot-driven. The characters are well-defined. The story is written in third person omniscient. It largely follows Merlin and Susan but dips into other characters as well. I rate this book four stars.

Not quite the revelatory romp of book one, this installment is still an adventure in the archane and very fun. Susan and Merlin (who remains largely conventional this time around) still have a sweet rapport but not near as much heat. In fact most of the characters are painted with broader strokes, except for Vivien who gets quite a bit more play.

Unfortunately, the story ends up pretty wrapped so I’m not sure where it will go from here. Hopefully we’ll get to spend more time with our intrepid magical heroes, maybe in a more modern time?

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my free copy. These opinions are my own.

I believe the Left-Handed Booksellers of London was originally intended to be a standalone, and it probably should have stayed that way.

This is the sequel and while it maintains the good humor and charm of the first book, I found it to be largely disappointing.

The pacing is really uneven, and that makes it difficult to invest in the action, particular in the middle of the book when things slow down considerably without any positive trade offs in terms of plot and structure.

While I love Merlin and Vivian, Susan has gotten significantly more irritating, overearnest and precious. I especially don’t care for characters in fantasy novels who get high and mighty about refusing to get their hands dirty when it comes to any sort of violence, while (of course!) being more than willing to let others take care of the tough stuff when they’re actually threatened.

It’s always an obnoxious character trope in fantasy and I’m disappointed to see this from Nix, who has previously always managed to write a relatively peaceful breed of fantasy that is YA appropriate without engaging in this level of sanctimony.

We’ve also gotten really far from anything relating to the concept of booksellers, and the magical system went from fun and action driven to abstract and vague.

A Splendidly Sinister Place to Be

Good news on the horizon. There is something to cure the doldrums: the left-, right-, and even-handed booksellers are back! Happily, Garth Nix returns to his alternate 1980s England, depicted in ‘The Left-Handed Booksellers of London,” a place of ancient gods and ancient battles, with old magic sometimes unsettlingly trying to squeeze into a modern city, backed by a battalion of magical booksellers, whose left or right hand manifests strange powers . These booksellers, whose power often runs through family lines, must also hold the line, keeping mystical and often malevolent age-old forces at bay. But dynastic enchanted beings have to make a living too, so Nix delightfully populates his world with bookshops and taxis to ply their nonmagical trade. In “The Sinister Booksellers of Bath,” glamorous left-handed bookseller Merlin is back and in his usual sartorial glory, complete with accessories, ranging from an Italian taffeta morning dress and parasol, circa 1800s, to serious kilts and fisherman’s boots and of course, his infamous carpet bag. But Merlin is stuck in a scrap of an old and rare map he fell into while assisting his right-handed sister Vivian in the Bath bookseller’s shop.
And the map is of an over ornamented ghastly estate wrought in sculpted stone and marble and the lives of 26 people, going back over a hundred years. To find his way out of this horrifying garden and uncover the malign powers behind these strange deaths requires the help of his reluctant new paramour Susan Arkshaw. Susan, a young art student, has her own concerns: she is trying to acknowledge and accept the news of her parentage, more specifically, of her recently discovered father, an ancient sovereign tied to the earth.

And with this knowledge comes inherited power which will wax at the quickly approaching winter solstice, and Susan who craves a “normal” life, is filled with conflict and trepidation of what the future will bring. Nix persuasively conveys Susan’s ambivalence about her incipient magical abilities and her vacillation about continued association with the bookseller’s world, including the laissez faire Merlin, who is himself a bit hesitant and uncomfortable about his growing attachment to her. Susan makes a tempting target for these yet unknown forces; the powerful senior booksellers, an eccentric and diverse group, attempt to protect her…or not? Added to the mix is a pre-Roman deity who inhabits the waters of Bath, and Susan’s mystical father, who is impatient for a high stakes daddy/daughter talk. As the countdown to the solstice approaches the great puzzle of the map begins to coalesce; attempts are made on Susan’s life, old sculptures become animated and the border between the magic and mundane worlds grows thin and hazardous. The rising arc of action accelerates, so that at times the narration resembles an old CSI episode, which is not a bad thing. Nix is painstaking about details of fashion, vehicles, accessories, and food, making it easy to fall into the narrative, though occasionally the minutia overpower the story line. His fight scenes are exciting, well-choreographed and easy to visualize and, as in his other books, the indelible setting serves as another character. As the solstice approaches the story threads converge and Susan must make some agonizing and difficult decisions. As with so many of Nix’s other novels, this is a hard book to leave, filled with grand flights of imagination, corkscrew plot twists, a deft and delicate love story, and clear moral lines in the murkiest of settings. I am already pining for the next book

I found this sequel to The Left-handed Booksellers of London just as enjoyable as its predecessor. In a 1980s Great Britain that's been tilted slightly askew, a hidden world of magic lies just beneath our own—a classic kind of fantasy story in the vein of Susan Cooper, but with an older set of characters and thus appealing to an older audience. This installment shows a more serious side of some of the more irreverent characters, but it's still an awful lot of fun.

3.5 thanks netgalley and pubs for the book for review!~. An interesting book, although it felt like Susan was fighting the plot most of the way and she really only got to do something at the beginning and end besides talking to a couple of important people due to her heritage.

I’m not at all convinced by her relationship with Merlin, who seems to have lost a fair bit of personality in this one minus constant reminders of how he loves to wear dresses. That’s not a personality, that’s a quirk.

I did like Uma and Vivien, I could have had more of them easily.

Anyway, the setting is still good as is the writing, so I’m kind of waiting to see how it goes from here if there’s a third book to wrap things up a bit more series wise.

Not as good as the first book, but still a ton of fun. It had been long enough since I'd read the first book that it took me a bit to remember who the characters were and how the magic system worked, but once I got that sorted it moved fast and was enjoyable. I'll definitely read the next in the series if there is one.

Sequel to the Left-Handed Booksellers of London, The Sinister Booksellers of Bath has the same strengths and weaknesses of the first novel, with little to recommend it to anyone who is not already a fan of the series. Merlin, Vivien, and Susan are drawn to Bath to deal with another literary threat. The characters are superficially interesting, but never develop much depth. The action isn't particularly suspenseful and the narrative trick of never showing any doubt or worry on the part of the characters during action sequences, let alone explaining or showing how they plan to prevail, leaches out a lot of the fun and tension in those scenes. The personal issues between the characters could all be solved with a quick conversation, and despite being told how intelligent all the characters are, they rarely show a capacity for thought beyond memorization of obscure and convenient facts. It may sell to people who liked the first, but lacks a wider appeal and isn't worth recommending the series as a whole.

Thoroughly delightful novel mixing booksellers (right- and left-handed) with special powers, impressive longevity, and the duty to protect 1983 Bath citizenry from the depredations of ancient gods, some of whom have parented children with mortals. Those children cross into both worlds, being both human yet possessing god-like powers that grow as they age. Characters are charming, especially cross-dressing Merlin who mediates tense moments with a light touch of normality and helpfulness.

A magical adventure that begins with Merlin getting stuck in a mysterious map and Vivien and Susan figuring out a way to rescue him. They soon find themselves facing another Old One and figuring out Susan's part in a prophecy as well as what it means to be the daughter of Old Man of Coniston. The storytelling is fun and quirky with decent character development, though the pacing is uneven at times. Fans of Ben Aaronovitch, Neil Gaiman and William Ritter will like this one.

I received an ARC from Harper Collins' Children Books and NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.

THE SINISTER BOOKSELLERS OF BATH follows THE LEFT-HANDED BOOKSELLERS OF LONDON.

Genre: Fantasy, Historical Fantasy (80s)
Audience: YA-Adult
Spice Level: Low (closed door)
Representation: Half-Gods, Binary +

The first book was so fun and quirky, and I wondered if it would be sustainable.

It worked! The characters remain true to themselves, and they're quirky, delightful, strong willed, messy, hungry for lemon drizzle cake, and overall quite charming in that British manner of tea and crumpets.

I was so happy to dive into a new adventure and mystery. One of the things I loved about this book is how the mystery they need to solve is so different than the first book. It's not a repeat at all. But we got some of the same characters (like Susan, Merlin, Viv, ), and we got to enjoy seeing how their characters grow.

One element I wanted to know more about was the secret order within the Masons. And I'm wondering if there will be another book with them in it. This seems like a premise that Nix can spin into more stories.

I also want to see more of Susan and her journey with her father—it's such an interesting piece of the puzzle. Do I fully understand Merlin? No—definitely not. But am I glad he can make weapons out of a Regency dress? Why yes, I am. His relationship with Susan is a bit inexplicable to me, but I'm willing to hang on for more to see what they decide. I also want more with Viv—does she have a love interest? Will she become Even-Handed? Did her mother's death affect her as much as it changed Merlin? You can see there are a lot of questions that could be explored.

This is a madcap whodunit, featuring a serial killer, strange statues, and an ancient call for Susan. I would have a hard time deciding if I liked the first or second better. There are great things about both books.

Yes—I highly recommend this to all readers who enjoy British booksellers and mayhem.

Happy reading!

I did not reread The Left-Handed Booksellers of London prior to reading this, so I cannot say whether I liked it more or less than that one. Much like the previous installment, I did find this quite fun and I'm really glad we got more with these characters. I don't know if we'll get another sequel, but if we do, I'll be excited for it.

The quick cut: Magical booksellers find themselves having to save themselves from an ancient entity and monstrous statutes.

A real review:
Thank you to Katherine Tegen Books for providing the arc for an honest review.

Every book reader knows that knowledge is power that is often found in the tomes around us, but there are a few booksellers whose lives are revolved around that knowledge. For the booksellers, that information will be necessary to stop an ancient power from trying to destroy them.

There is an entity in the ancient hot springs of Bath that the booksellers keep a close watch on. It's a mystical power they continue to keep an eye on. So when a mystery map leads the booksellers to a place removed from the rest of the world, it starts a chain of events where they need to stop an evil once again.

I love Garth Nix books and thoroughly enjoyed this one. He once again took a world uniquely crafted by him and made another exciting journey with its own features seen no where else. That being said, there were a few character development moments I felt were missed in the process.

Merlin is as always a favorite of mine. He's such a quirky character and so different that I love seeing him again. His romance with Susan definitely seemed to take a back seat to everything else going on, but that makes sense. Susan has only just started discovering her power and the focus was appropriately there.

That being said, I expected to see more character development and advancement in Susan as she continued through that discovery process. Also, I missed that persistent chuckle I had in the first book with the quippy sibling relationship that Merlin and Viviene have. I feel like a certain amount of levity from the first book were left behind in the sequel.

An enjoyable sequel missing some of the development and levity of the first.

My rating: 4 out of 5