The sinister booksellers of Bath

After learning that a vast world of mythical beings exists in parallel to everyday life in the UK, Susan Arkshaw has fallen in with the network of superhuman booksellers who keep the old and new worlds in balance. Oh, and she's also the daughter of an ancient sovereign and appears to be coming into immense power of her own. Susan would prefer to be a normal London art student, but that proves increasingly difficult after her bookseller boyfriend disappears into a magical map and she is tapped to retrieve him. The seemingly simple rescue mission uncovers a murderous, magical conspiracy, centuries in the making, and it becomes clear that Susan is the next target. Can she save herself and others without sacrificing her humanity? This satisfying sequel keeps up the same breathless pace as The Left-Handed Booksellers of London (2020), and Nix offers the comfort of familiar faces, exquisite fashion, and sinister supernatural entities, all while exploring physical settings and bookseller lore in exquisite detail. It's a treat to rejoin Susan and company on their ever-expanding adventures.

Following The Left-Handed Booksellers of London (2020), a rescue mission lands Susan on an entity's radar. Susan (art student, demi-mortal) and her boyfriend, Merlin, (gender shifting and nonconforming fashionista and left-handed bookseller) are still together but taking it slowly, especially because Susan's not comfortable with the proximity to the supernatural Old World that Merlin represents (especially because her own Ancient Sovereign father is going to be waking at the New Year). But when contact with an ensorcelled map pulls Merlin into a pocket dimension out of time, Susan doesn't hesitate to use her heritage and artistic ability to make a translocation map to get him back safely. Their dangerous jaunt reveals the existence of a supernatural serial killer--and draws its attention to Susan. While the booksellers unravel a pattern of murders going back decades, Susan tries to avoid being the next sacrifice while grappling with fears of losing herself to the Old World and being changed into something else. And the dreams she's having of her father's demesne, dreams that might be more than dreams, leave her convinced that a big change is coming. All plotlines are time-sensitive enough to put the dead in deadline, keeping tension high as they face a variety of threats. While Susan's internal conflict gets repetitive, it pays off in the climax. The leads are White; the secondary cast's racially diverse. A fast and fun outing in an immersive alternate world. (Fantasy. 12-adult) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.