The Bookshop Below
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4.4 • 17 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
Below the streets of London, a secret network of magical bookshops has existed for millennia. But they’re slowly disappearing, and no one knows why. Only one dishonored bookseller can uncover the truth and rewrite her story—in this spellbinding standalone fantasy novel from the author of The City of Stardust.
If you want a story that will change your life, Chiron’s bookshop is where you go. For those lucky enough to grace its doors, it’s a glimpse into a world of powerful bargains and deadly ink magic.
For Cassandra Fairfax, it’s a reminder of everything she lost, when Chiron kicked her out and all but shuttered the shop. Since then, she’s used her skills in less ethical ways, trading stolen books and magical readings to wealthy playboys and unscrupulous collectors.
Then Chiron dies under mysterious circumstances. And if Cassandra knows anything, it’s this: the bookshop must always have an owner.
But she's not the only one interested. There's Lowell Sharpe, a dark-eyed, regrettably handsome bookseller she can't seem to stop bumping into; rival owners who threaten Cassandra from the shadows; and, of course, Chiron's murderer, who is still on the loose.
As Cassandra tries to uncover the secrets her mentor left behind, a sinister force threatens to unravel the world of the magical bookshops entirely...
★ "Georgia Summers’s magical bookshop is my new favorite place. The Bookshop Below is a delicious read, I loved every second of it." —Laini Taylor, New York Times bestselling author
★ "Steeped in bookish magic and infused with the comfort and terror of a favorite tragic fairytale, The Bookshop Below is darkly whimsical and utterly heart-wrenching." —Tori Bovalino, author of My Throat is An Open Grave
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Summers (The City of Stardust) loads this enchanting fantasy with sensory details and imaginative lore about London's underground network of magical bookstores. Chiron's bookshop is a mystical place trading in tomes imbued with magic that can change readers' fortunes. Chiron's disgraced ex-protégé, Cassandra Fairfax, has been exiled from the store and now uses her skills as an ink magic reader, someone able to decipher these text-based enchantments, to get by via extralegal means. Shortly after she's attacked by a stranger, the store suddenly reappears to her, but it's deserted and in disrepair. As it turns out, Chiron has been killed and he's willed the store to Cassandra. She then encounters the exasperating yet charismatic Lowell Sharpe, who warns her about the dangers of her running the bookshop without any experience and offers to buy it. Meanwhile, a shadowy society comprising the owners of London's other magical bookstores plots the best way to remove her from her new role. With enemies to dodge, Chiron's murder to solve, her own origins to discover, and Lady Fate presiding over it all, Cassandra has her hands full. It's perhaps one subplot too many, but Summers's feisty protagonist anchors this elaborate urban fantasy, and her vivid prose makes the dust and mustiness of the antique bookshop palpable. Fans of Genevieve Cogman's Invisible Library series should take note.
