Review: The Left-Handed Booksellers of London by Garth Nix

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The title of this book is what got me to pick it up though fantasy is only a small percentage of my reading. The Left-Handed Book Sellers of London has three elements that appeal to me: another world unseen, unknown, and magical to everyday people that is rooted in ancient folklore; a mysterious organization charged with interacting with this unknown world and, when necessary, policing it; and a quest.

The Booksellers fall into one of three groups: left-handed, right-handed, and even-handed. The left-handed are the militia unit of the Booksellers while the right-handed are the planners, strategists, the poets. The even-handed are comfortable in both roles.

Into this world comes Susan Arkshaw, just turned eighteen, who is about the start art school but arrives early to see if she can find clues to her mysterious, never known father's identity. Almost immediately, Susan is caught up in the magical world when she encounters Merlin, one of the left-handed Booksellers, who saves her life. Very soon she realizes that there is more to her past than she could possibly have imagined. Something I immediately appreciated about the story is that when Susan is confronted with the magical realm and the Booksellers, the reader isn't subjected to a lengthly "denial, this is impossible, this can't be happening" impediment to the story moving along. Like Scully's skepticism in the X-Files which always annoyed me.

The story quickly slips into thriller mode with chases, flight, peril, magical encounters, betrayal, and narrow escapes mixed in with humor and some very nice world-building. Seriously, the way Nix fleshes out his world without falling into the Mr. Exposition (aka Basil Exposition) trope is a reading pleasure.

Sorry if this review is a a little shy on detail but for me a lot of the fun reading was the way the author adds layers to the story. The plot flows along with no bumps and no longer than it needs to be; the action is fast-paced without losing control.

I found this a fun read and would like more stories with the same characters.

Keywords: fantasy, magic, alternate London, unseen worlds