Its a page turner read. If you like a story book about book, here you go. I love the narrative from what the writer trying to present.

A brilliant concept whose execution just didn’t work for me. I am grateful to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to check it out.

A young man stumbles across a strange old man who passes onto him a family heirloom which has been causing his family trouble. This heirloom is sought out by the villains because power and the protagonist has to keep it away from them - it's a plot that has been seen thousands of times, but very well can work provided the right elements string these things together. The problem, however, is that just like the short stories in this book fade when the protagonists shut the book, perhaps this one should have as well. Or rather, to put it less harshly, it at least needs a little more cooking before it's appetizing.

On a pure writing level, the novel is fine, if not a bit advanced. Sometimes, slang is used with a more outdated meaning, like the fact that I had to look up if the word "nonce" had a different meaning that wasn't the British slang version which I hear far more frequently (apparently it does), and the author's favorite word appears to be anachronistic considering how much it was used. These are all fine and don't really interfere with the writing, and even despite the vernacular, it was a relatively quick read that I had little issue understanding.

However, technical writing ability unfortunately does not make a book, and I found the other parts to be odd. For starters, the novel seems to be a critique on the real world, often criticizing anything from modern pedagogy to more simplistic ways of speaking in a way that I'm unsure whether it's Charles, the character, speaking as a pretentious English professor, or the author himself venting frustrations about the youths of today. However, what I do know, is that either way, it led to strange world building decisions that I can't wrap my head around. The novel says that this book is technically the last one, because no one reads anymore, but at the same time there is, in fact, a market for fake books owned by nobles, alongside the fact that everyone in the world seems at least functionally literate. I expected it to be explained somewhere, but it just... wasn't. Never brought up again outside of intellectual quips between the protagonist and his love interest.

Leading on from that, the characters in this book are... fine? Charles is a bit of a misogynist, but whatever, it's spoken in throwaway lines. Ultimately it was hard to like or dislike any of them. This wasn't helped by the fact that they all spoke fairly similarly. A new character might have a unique way of talking for a few lines, but by the end of the scene, it was hard to keep track of who was saying what because they all had that same cocky, "distinguished" (think less attractive Londoner in a suit and more someone who gets into debates on Reddit) tone Charles has, even characters who are the opposite of him like Maurice falling into that trap at some point.

In addition to the above, I generally just found it hard to suspend disbelief, though for a personal reason, really. One of the areas that the protagonist visits is a place where I grew up five minutes away from by foot, and it was surreal reading the idealized version on the page while knowing that reality was so different, even in ways that are easily Googled. I ended up wondering what else was neglected to be researched on things I don't know, the historical facts? The way these computers work which already made no sense to me? Or something more? I'm sure, had I not been from the area, I would've just brushed past it and perhaps not questioned everything else, but it feels pertinent to bring up as details are important in any work.

Finally, and perhaps the biggest error of all, the book ambles through its plots with little linking things together. Often, I felt as though there was little logical connection between going from one area to the next, and even the plot felt weirdly glued together like someone just... forgot to include a couple chapters where this would actually make sense, especially toward the second half when the climax hit. It almost felt as though it was a strange, extended epilogue, rather than a comedown.

I don't mean to say the book is all flaws though.

I think, had it been done over with a finer tooth comb, really tugging at those weird plot things, smoothing out those details, and honestly even just adding a few "Celeste said" tags on long stretches of dialogue and such, the book would already hit three stars. Additionally, the final two short stories weren't bad, though by that point I wasn't reading too closely as to just get it done. I think had the other issues with the plot been fixed as well, it might have even been a 3.5 or 4 stars, but as it stands currently, I don't know if I could rate it that high.

However, you might like this book if you're more of a fan of dystopias, light sci-fi, or want to explore a short story collection with a fiction plot threading through it. I wouldn't expect the best story ever, but it's certainly readable.

2.75 Stars

This is a story of an aged leather-bound book whose magical property allows a reader to read a story, and then, magically, it fades away, to be replaced by a new one, and the man who is given this book by a man, advanced in years, who accepts it, unaware of the impact it will have on him and his life.

Each time he opens this book, a new story appears, and he is drawn into that story, only to see it has disappeared once he closes the cover, and then a new story slowly appears. He becomes obsessed with this, reading one story after another, realizing that these stories are all delightly satisfying and gratifying.

And, yet… he questions what it all means, how can this be?

There’s more to this story, part of which involves an investigation, but ultimately this story strives to be an ode to literature, the place it has in our lives, and how it enriches us, individually and collectively.


Pub Date: 05 Dec 2023

Many thanks for the ARC provided by Amplify Publishing Group, Mascot

The Last Book
by Stephen Cline
I wanted to like it. I tried so hard. It was just too much of too much in the big words and not one to help the storyline.

Phew this wasn’t for me. Lots of big words thrown around with absolutely no substance. The premise seemed good but the execution here did not work.

I enjoyed this book. Unusual and magical. In the near future, a man finds a book that gives a different story every time you open it. A sprinkling of romance and action, a good read and imaginative. Thank you to #netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy.