I’ve enjoyed Garth Nix’s tales of Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz (you can read my review here) so I decided to try Nix’s new series: The Left-Handed Booksellers of London (2020) and The Sinister Booksellers of Bath (2023). As you can see on the cover of The Left-Handed Booksellers of London above, the phrase “Authorized to Kill…And Sell Books” drew me in!

Susan Arkshaw has just turned 18 and before she goes off to art school, she wants to learn who her father was. Her mother, Jassmine (yes, two “s”s), seems to have a faulty memory of who Susan’s father was. So Susan goes to London to visit a family friend, “Uncle Frank (aka,Frank Thringley, Crime Boss).

Susan’s stay at Uncle Frank’s mansion is cut short by a violent incident where Susan meets Merlin. “Merlin is a young left-handed bookseller (one of the fighting ones), who with the right-handed booksellers (the intellectual ones), are an extended family of magical beings who police the mythic and legendary Old World when it intrudes on the modern world, in addition to running several bookshops.” Merlin and Susan are chased by a creepy creature called The Shuck, just one of the many magical creatures who will threaten them in this book.

Susan’s quest to find her father becomes problematic as she learns she both human and magical. And she’s going to have to tap her powers in order to survive.

The Sinister Booksellers of Bath takes place two years after the events of The Left-Handed Booksellers of London. Merlin is trapped in a magical maze in a bubble reality and Susan has to go there to draw a magic map that will bring them both back to Bath. Susan learns another magical entity is out to get her and the Booksellers of Bath might not be enough to save her. If you’re in the mood for some exciting adventures full of action and magic, give these two Garth Nix books a try! GRADE: B+ (for both)