It’s been less than a year since Garth’s last book (Angel Mage) appeared, a book which was advertised as an adult novel. His latest, The Left-handed Booksellers of London, is back into more familiar Young Adult territory.
It is set in England in an alternative 1983 (Jasper Fforde fans, take note.)
From the publisher: “Susan Arkshaw is looking for her father, a man she has never met. Crime boss Frank Thringley might be able to help her, but Susan doesn’t get time to ask Frank any questions before he is turned to dust by the prick of a silver hatpin in the hands of the outrageously attractive Merlin.
Merlin is a young left-handed bookseller (one of the fighting ones), who with the right-handed booksellers (the intellectual ones), are an extended family of magical beings who police the mythic and legendary Old World when it intrudes on the modern world, in addition to running several bookshops.
Susan’s search for her father begins with her mother’s possibly misremembered or misspelt surnames, a reading room ticket, and a silver cigarette case engraved with something that might be a coat of arms.
Merlin has a quest of his own, to find the Old World entity who used ordinary criminals to kill his mother. As he and his sister, the right-handed bookseller Vivien, tread in the path of a botched or covered-up police investigation from years past, they find this quest strangely overlaps with Susan’s. Who or what was her father? Susan, Merlin, and Vivien must find out, as the Old World erupts dangerously into the New.”
Long-time readers of Garth’s earlier YA books will recognise that things don’t move too far from the traditional template. There’s a young person in search of their unknown past and mysterious parentage, and the idea that there are other places beyond that which seems most real – an overlap between the ‘real’ New World and the Old World, which contains more mystical aspects.
In the best traditions the book also covers similar ground in that Susan’s destiny is connected to ancient myths and legends, in a similar way to Garth’s character of Arthur in The Keys to the Kingdom series. It is possible that this book, the first of a proposed trilogy, will intersect with other books Garth has written. You don’t need to know these other stories to enjoy this one, but it adds another layer of understanding to what you’re reading.
And it’s a lot of fun – a book with bookshops and librarians at its centre can’t do too much wrong in my opinion, and I suspect that many other readers will feel the same. I loved the fact that there’s lots of mentions of other books named throughout. If the thought that one floor holds every Penguin Book in print amuses you, then you’ll find a lot to like in this book.
Of course, as this New World is a version of 1983 this allows mentions of 80s pop culture, which was also a lot of fun. At the same time, though, there’s little in the way of computers (although a TRS-80 computer is mentioned) or mobile phones (although there are some!) to make things be solved faster. Much of the detective work seems to be on index cards, and much of the running-around plot involves trying to find a telephone or a phone box.
The characters themselves are not incredibly detailed, though you pretty much get the main details. Merlin is a character of fluid gender, Vivien is the sensible sister, forever quibbling with Merlin and yet the person you most want on your side in a crisis. Characters you don’t trust are pretty much that throughout the novel, and it is pretty clear from the start who you should like and dislike as you continue to read. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, as it allows focus to be on the plot. Just don’t expect too much introverted navel-gazing here – it’s not that sort of book.
When talking of the book in the SFFWorld Forums, I described it as a blend of The Avengers 1960s TV series (nothing to do with Marvel!) with bookshops, librarians and English folklore thrown in. More contemporary readers may think of the Kingsman movies and graphic novels (which also pay homage to The Avengers) in terms of their sardonic tone and fast pace.
And this in part leads to my main issue with the book.
The book seems to struggle in terms of tone and balance, to the point where at times I wasn’t entirely sure of where this book wants to be. It is clear that the author’s having a lot of fun in telling this tale. Garth does put a great Afterword in at the end to explain his inspiration. It’s clearly a book he’s enjoyed writing and drawn on a lot of personal experiences to fill in the details.
The downside is that its approach seems a little scattershot for me and there were changes in tone that seemed to lurch from one state to another. although Unfortunately this then led to feel that there were details shoehorned into the book that for me didn’t entirely work and led me to feel that at times everything’s been thrown into the plot.
Such a fast pace and generally jolly tone throughout led me in the end to find that when serious things happen, I found them having less of an impact than I thought they would. More worryingly, for all of the entertaining things going on, at no point did I feel that our main characters were in genuine peril, even when things happen towards the end that should.
But perhaps I grumble too much. There’s a lot to like about this one, and I can see it becoming much liked by bibliophiles. It’s a fast-paced romp with lots to not think about too much, but there’s a lot of fun in just simply enjoying the ride.
The Left-handed Booksellers of London by Garth Nix
Published by Gollancz, September 2020
416 pages
ISBN: 978-1473227767
Review by Mark Yon
