Fast-paced action scenes convey imminent danger vividly, but there’s little sense of a broader world here. The ending falls flat as the plot devolves into comic-book territory. But Adam belongs to a resistance movement he helps Juliette escape to their stronghold, where she finds that she’s not the only one with superhuman abilities. Unfortunately, he’s a soldier under orders from Warner, a power-hungry 19-year-old. Adam, it turns out, is immune to her deadly touch. After months of isolation, her captors suddenly give her a cellmate-Adam, a drop-dead gorgeous guy. Juliette’s journal holds her tortured thoughts in an attempt to repress memories of the horrific act that landed her in a cell. Juliette was torn from her home and thrown into an asylum by The Reestablishment, a militaristic regime in control since an environmental catastrophe left society in ruins.
Readers will beg for more adventures in this London.Ī dystopic thriller joins the crowded shelves but doesn't distinguish itself. Susan and Merlin are White the booksellers are ethnically diverse. While certain plot elements may be somewhat expected-Susan’s special by way of birth Merlin has a personal mystery that eventually ties in to the main plot and there’s a conspiracy storyline that becomes quickly apparent-the broad, immersive world and the specific rules for types of booksellers maintain a sense of discovery, and Susan and Merlin, the heroic protagonists, have vibrant, entertaining personalities (and a realistic romantic storyline). The worldbuilding is exquisite, hopping from an ’80s punk aesthetic and Margaret Thatcher references to wide-ranging supernatural threats and the customs they uphold the bookstores themselves are sure to please readers.
As the Old World of magic seems to be targeting Susan, Merlin and the booksellers take interest in her as well, especially in helping to solve her mysterious parentage.
Her guide is Merlin, an attractive gender-questioning boy (for now). Her first night in London, dangerous encounters pull her into the wild world of the booksellers-in between selling books, they’re tasked with policing interactions between what we know as reality and the more mythic levels of existence. A girl searching for her father finds a whole secret world in 1980s London.Įighteen-year-old Susan Arkshaw goes up to London ahead of her studies so she’ll have time to hunt down the identity of the father she’s never met.
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