About This Book:
In this spellbinding debut novel, two estranged half-sisters tasked with guarding their family’s library of magical books must work together to unravel a deadly secret at the heart of their collection–a tale of familial loyalty and betrayal, and the pursuit of magic and power.
For generations, the Kalotay family has guarded a collection of ancient and rare books. Books that let a person walk through walls or manipulate the elements–books of magic that half-sisters Joanna and Esther have been raised to revere and protect.
All magic comes with a price, though, and for years the sisters have been separated. Esther has fled to a remote base in Antarctica to escape the fate that killed her own mother, and Joanna’s isolated herself in their family home in Vermont, devoting her life to the study of these cherished volumes. But after their father dies suddenly while reading a book Joanna has never seen before, the sisters must reunite to preserve their family legacy. In the process, they’ll uncover a world of magic far bigger and more dangerous than they ever imagined, and all the secrets their parents kept hidden; secrets that span centuries, continents, and even other libraries . . .
My Thoughts After Reading:
For October, it seemed fitting to showcase a witchy novel. Ink Blood Sister Scribe doesn’t use the term ‘witch’ but the book bleeds magic, literally — spells are created by writing magical books with one’s blood. Ink Blood Sister Scribe blends all my favorite elements of urban fantasy and dark academia into a spellbinding magical thriller filled with suspense and twists.
Through lush and immersive world building, it was easy to get lost in the book but also easy to follow. The author deviates from the genres’ predictable ‘norms’ giving us a truly unique novel with likeable, intriguing characters. Ester, Joanna, Nick and Collins are the perfect, unorthodox group of misfit heroes when they finally get together. Collins, technically a secondary character, stole the show (well, book) for me. I was disappointed he didn’t get his own point of view.
While Ink Blood Sister Scribe is a standalone novel, the world and characters built by Törzs deserve another novel (or two!)—perhaps focusing on Collins?
– Michelle
