bri's Reviews > Ink Blood Sister Scribe

Thank you to the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Now, I think this mayhaps have been a "right book, right time, right person" kind of thing, but wow I fell in love with this book. I found myself absorbed in its pages and struggling to pull myself away even to sleep or eat. And upon closing it, I found myself disappointed to leave the world behind. That certainly is not an occurrence with everything I read. Lately, reading has felt like meandering through a thick forest, trudging along different paths looking for a sign that I'm heading in the right direction, but Ink Blood Sister Scribe felt like finally finding the perfect little spot to settle down in, like Celia in the forest of Arden: "I like this place and willingly could waste my time in it."

In a magical world not unlike our own, we follow three characters:

Joanna: a young woman protecting and caring for her late father's personal library of magical books. Though in her attempt to protect the books from the outside world, she's holed herself in as well. Yet despite her expertise on her own collection, she can't seem to figure out where these books come from. Especially the book that killed her father.

Esther: Joanna's older sister who has been on the run for 10 years, after her father commanded her to move to a new location every November. Estranged from her family, and in a constant state of motion, she has no ties. But after spending the past year in Antarctica, she's decided to stay another season. For the first time she has a reason to stay: a girlfriend she's really starting to feel something for. And besides, what could possibly go wrong?

Nicholas: who is absolutely sick of his life. He's been giving his blood, sweat, and tears (quite literally) to the Library since he was a child, creating new magical books. But as the world's last and only Scribe, he's reluctantly resigned to his fate. At least his uncle–the head of the Library–and his uncle's girlfriend care about him, and at least he lives in a mansion out of a fairytale. At least he's safe, or so it seems.

But when all three of these characters discover hidden secrets that redefine their lives, they're thrown together on an unexpected and emotional journey.

Emma Törzs has crafted a brilliant little sandbox. This story was filled with the type of magic often reserved for children. One of mystery and whimsy; one that feels graspable and close to the heart. This feels like a world I could dream in, and it made me want to play pretend again. Any fellow fantasy-loving adults wanna meet up and play Magical Library with me? We can pull up weeds and mix them together as the herbs for spells and use berry juice and leaves as we pretend to write magical books with our blood. And we could even set up sticks into little frames and pretend they're magic mirrors. It's incredible that any fantasy book, especially an adult anti-colonialist fabulism tale, could make me filled with such childhood joy and imagination. This is a huge testament to the author's accomplishments.

Because of myself and my audience, I have to mention the biggest surprise of this book: its Jewishness. In fact, I had no idea it had any Jewish characters, and was so pleasantly surprised to see the casual representation for most of the story, but even more so to see the characters' connection to Judaism emotionally move the story in a moment of need. It meant a whole lot to me. In general, I was really a fan of this book's diversity. Two of the three main characters were queer (likely bisexual), one of the characters was half-Mexican, and another was disabled, using a prosthetic eye.

I must say, this is not a story of twists and turns, but one of nooks and crannies. Rather than dramatic surprises and mind-blowing reveals, it felt more as though the plot of this story was a picture slowly coming into focus. Some of the "twists" were easily spotted, but never felt predictable in a way that disappointed. And I've always said that I'd rather read a well-written and obvious twist than a shocking one that feels out of nowhere. I don't need to be caught off guard, I just need to be caught up in a story. And I was certainly swept off my feet by this one.

(Though a note for the editor: there's no airport in Brattleboro, and NYC is a 3.5-5.5 hour drive from Vermont, not 8 hours.)

I'm so grateful to have found this story at this point in my life, when I needed to be convinced that just a sprinkle of imagination reveals so much magic in the mundane. I can't wait to dive back into these pages someday, and I can't wait to see what Törzs does next.

Content Warnings: violence, gun violence, blood, self-harm (for magic), dead body, death of parents (past), grief, alcohol consumption, fire, emesis, abusive guardian, character death, kidnapping (past, recounted), torture (past, recounted), hospitalization (past, recounted), antisemitism (brief mention)