I enjoyed this novel. There was a disjoint at first with the narrative because, well, I guess I’m too nice a person to be alright with the first lines of the novel.
Mild spoiler alert, the protagonist insists that the heroic young man who continually saves peoples lives needs to die. But I mean, that’s legitimately one of the first lines so it can’t really be considered a spoiler.
In any case, I was cautious with the protagonist after that first line because I quite enjoyed Orion and didn’t want to see him die. But as the story unfolded it was clear that Galadriel – that’s our protagonist – didn’t really want him dead either. And she didn’t want anyone else kicking the bucket, even if she was trying to confront the fact that the very school they were attending liked to eat children.
Also not a spoiler, it’s basically the premise of the novel itself.
I found the world in which this novel takes place interesting, especially the concept of the Void spitting books out at you. I wouldn’t mind a cupboard that I could open and have a void right there to shove new reading material at me whenever I wanted. Though admittedly, I wouldn’t want it to replace my real library. There’s something pleasing about shelves and shelves full of books.
It was a fast and fun read, if you enjoy a little darker humor, but I will admit that there were times I wished Galadriel would stop telling me about the world itself. Her voice was snarky and often funny, but sometimes I prefer to live in the world itself, rather than have its history relayed to me.
I’m looking forward to the second installment of the series and recommend the novel to anyone who enjoys a quasi-urban-fantasy Young Adult novel where magic is dangerous and snarky girls get to steal the show.
AJMaguire 