DISCOVER THE ENCHANTING EPIC THAT WILL TRANSPORT YOU TO OTHER WORLDS . . . 'AN INSTANT CLASSIC' GUARDIAN 'BEWITCHING' THE TIMES 'MIND-BLOWING' LAINI TAYLOR 'ASTOUNDING' FRANCIS SPUFFORD 'GORGEOUSLY WRITTEN' DEBORAH HARKNESS _______ Taryn Cornick barely remembers the family library. Since her sister was murdered, she's forgotten so much. Now it's all coming back. The fire. The thief. The scroll box. People are asking questions about the library. Questions that might relate to her sister's murder. And something called The ...
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DISCOVER THE ENCHANTING EPIC THAT WILL TRANSPORT YOU TO OTHER WORLDS . . . 'AN INSTANT CLASSIC' GUARDIAN 'BEWITCHING' THE TIMES 'MIND-BLOWING' LAINI TAYLOR 'ASTOUNDING' FRANCIS SPUFFORD 'GORGEOUSLY WRITTEN' DEBORAH HARKNESS _______ Taryn Cornick barely remembers the family library. Since her sister was murdered, she's forgotten so much. Now it's all coming back. The fire. The thief. The scroll box. People are asking questions about the library. Questions that might relate to her sister's murder. And something called The Absolute Book. A book in which secrets are written - and which everyone believes only she can find. They insist Taryn be the hunter. But she knows the truth. She is the hunted . . . The Absolute Book is a tale of sisters, ancient blood, a forgotten library, murder, revenge and a book that might just have the answer to everything. _______ 'An instant classic . . . A work to rank alongside other modern masterpieces of fantasy such as Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials series or Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell. Everything fantasy should be: original, magical, well read, compelling' GUARDIAN 'Astonishing. Gripping. Hugely ambitious. An extraordinary conclusion. Admire the sheer scope and grandeur' DAILY MAIL 'A marvellous argument for stories. There are Norse gods, references to Merlin, a tour through purgatory and a strange parallel world where magic is real and humans are bit players in the clash of supernatural realms. Bewitching' THE TIMES 'Contains multitudes, spanning the geographies of Canada, Britain and New Zealand; the cosmologies of fairies, demons and angels; and the genres of thriller, domestic realism and epic fantasy . . . I'm in awe of it' NEW YORK TIMES Review of Books 'Intricately plotted and gorgeously written, THE ABSOLUTE BOOK has something for everyone . . . Here is a cinematic tale that is by turns dark and dreamlike, yet ultimately hopeful' DEBORAH HARKNESS, author of A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES 'Fantastical' THE TIMES 'Savour and absorb the world Knox conjures' SUNDAY TIMES 'Gorgeous. The payoffs and reveals are mind-blowing' LAINI TAYLOR, author of DAUGHTER OF SMOKE AND BONE 'An angelic book, an apocalyptic book, an astounding book' FRANCIS SPUFFORD
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Add this copy of The Absolute Book: a Novel to cart. $5.48, new condition, Sold by Books-FYI rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from cadiz, KY, UNITED STATES, published 2021 by Viking.
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I love a good fantasy story and so I was excited to get the ARC of The Absolute Book although I was a little apprehensive as at 650 pages it is a beast. I was therefore really disappointed to have it be my first DNF for NetGalley at 36%.
The story starts out well, there's a dead sister and a hitman and a family history in a library. Then I'm afraid it all got very confusing for me! The author seemed to be in a bad habit of describing a lot of things in detail but then skipping over something very important that made you feel like you were constantly playing catch up! One example of this is our main character is making food for everyone one night as they lay out their plans and then all of a sudden she is possessed by a demon again in a car going somewhere with no explanation. There's also theatrical snow in a server farm in a desert somewhere which I did not understand the relevance of. It was disjointed, confusing and I didn't understand what was going on most of the time. I didn't really feel anything for any of the characters and felt like I was just skipping through to finish it rather than enjoying it. If the book had been 300 pages or so I would have ploughed through but only having made it a third of the way at page 200 I realised I wasn't interested where it was going. Judging by other reviews it seems to be a bit like marmite - you either give it 5 stars or abandon it halfway through and I'm afraid I am in the latter camp with this book.
Overall, The Absolute Book is a bit of a mess - confusing and disjointed and not recommended. Thank you to NetGalley & Penguin UK - Michael Joseph for the chance to read the ARC in exchange for a (very) honest review.
