The Left-Handed Booksellers of London (Left-Handed Booksellers of London #1)
The Sinister Booksellers of Bath (Left-Handed Booksellers of London, #2)
By: Garth Nix
My Rating: Four out of Five Stars
Best for: 16 and up

Books about books about magic…

Not sure what it is with me and books about books set in alternative 1980’s London, but I’ve hit a few of them recently. The latest is The Left-Handed Booksellers of London and its sequel, The Sinister Booksellers of Bath.

If we’re just reviewing titles, these two get five stars, easy. Of course, we care about what’s inside…

Luckily in this case the inside is pretty good too.

I haven’t been a fan of Garth Nix. Everyone seems to love his most popular series, Abhorsen, but I didn’t get it. I forced myself through book 2 and gave up on Garth Nix–until I saw these books with really cool titles. Certainly books with such cool titles deserved my time!

These stories are about a girl named Susan with an absent father and a space-case mother who moves to the big city to attend college and see what she can learn about her father. Susan’s away from home less than a day when she discovers there’s much, MUCH more to her father than she ever though possible–and suddenly this book is feeling a little bit Percy Jackson-ish, but for big kids.

Turns out, there’s a whole hidden-in-plain-sight part of London that Susan’s dad was a part of, and it’s policed by an extended family of magical booksellers. Left left-handed family members are the fighters and enforcers, and the right-handed are the intellectuals and strategists. Susan meets up with siblings Merlin (Left handed! Outrageously good looking!) and Vivian (Right handed! Super smart!) who happen to have dead mother issues, and away we go–mysteries to solve, fathers to discover, and mothers to avenge. All while trying to not get magicked to death by the bad guy eternal magical…people? Entities? Gods?…who inhabit all the ancient parts of London and and the surrounding countryside.

The books are fun and well written. The characters are colorful and engaging. The plot was interesting and paced well. If you’re into books about books about magic, I bet you’ll enjoy these two books too!

The content conscious among us will want to know there are colorful, grown-up expletives of the 4-letter variety in both books. There is no explicit sexual content to be concerned with. Violence is minimal. Some may want to know that Merlin a man who sometimes dresses in women’s clothing. His sexuality is never discussed, but it’s implied he is gender fluid.

I found The Left-Handed Booksellers of London and The Sinister Booksellers of Bath to be a whole lot of magical fun! Because of the language and sexuality, this dad says they’re best for 16 and up.

Happy Reading!