Ink Blood Sister Scribe by Emma Torzs

​“Magic is real but can only be summoned by the spells held within certain books. Joanna has spent her entire life protecting the small collection that her father has compiled over the years. Esther, her older sister, left home when she was 18 and has spent the last 10 years moving from place to place, never staying in one spot for more than a year. And across the pond, Nicholas, is the last remaining Scribe of the Library, someone gifted with the ability to create spells, ones that must be written in his own blood. This was a complex, intricate and overall entertaining read. It touched upon family, loyalty love and loss and was definitely a unique and interesting take on magic.”

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Pros: It was definitely a unique and interesting plot. 

Cons: At the beginning of the book, it’s explained that technology is weird in the house in Vermont yet later, when they write the spell to break the NDA, Joanna has a printer and a desktop computer. It seemed like a bit of a continuity error/The ending had a lot of telling and not much showing. 

Full Review: 

Magic is real but it’s limited to spells housed in books. Joanna has spent her entire life guarding her family’s collection. Even after a book drained her father of all his blood, killing him, she devoutly guards the books, cares for them and keeps the wards up that keeps the location of her house a mystery. She holds to the note her father left her. She will not let her mother, Cecily past the wards and so, she lives a very quiet, solitary life. 

Esther, her older sister meanwhile, left home shortly after her 18th birthday with no explanation. She has her reasons, of course, but every time she speaks to Joanna, she won’t tell her. She never stays in one place for more than a year, always packing up her meager belongings on November 2nd and running. 

Of course, this year, she’s found a reason to stay. After spending the last year in Antarctica as an electrician, she’s fallen in love with Pearl and thinks, maybe this time will be different. Unfortunately for Esther, it won’t and her decision to stay will have consequences. 

Meanwhile, across the pond, Nicholas is a young man who’s also spent his entire life around magical books. His Uncle runs the Library, an organization founded for the protection and acquisition of magical books. And Nicholas is the sole remaining Scribe. Someone who can write spells. And so his Uncle uses his nephews’ talents to write books for wealthy patrons. Unfortunately for Nicholas, each spell requires his blood be mixed with certain herbs to create the ink to ensure the spells have power. And it’s slowly but surely killing Nicholas. 

When Richard’s long time partner, Maram, leaves Nicholas a strange note, telling him to find a certain book within the collection, it plunges him down a rabbit hole of lies, secrets and murder and when he follows the bread crumbs left by Maram, his path collides with none other than Esther and Joanna. 

They uncover the truth of the Library, Nicholas’ Uncles schemes and Marams motives of bringing them all together. 

Though the ending had a lot of telling and not showing, it made sense. And though everything was a bit convoluted, I enjoyed it for what it was. This was an interesting, definitely unique and fun take on Magic and the truly transformative power of books.