3.5 stars

I mean, it was cute. Fast paced and fun with a very interesting take on magic and traditional western European faerie tales/mythology but it was all very... Surface level. Like, we spent so long "on the chase" we didn't get much in terms of depth and rules and what will happen to our group of protagonists as a result of their actions.

Plus the villains were a little too obvious early on and I would rather have thrown a but more confusion in there or made it even more obvious. Also, though we answer the major fundamental question that kicks off the book, there isn't much in that answer other than "off you go, you still have to defeat the big bad" which left me feeling unsatisfied.

Plus it was very difficult to differentiate between the various powers of the left- and right-handed booksellers since both Merlin and Vivian were handy in various fights and provokations.

But - genuinely enjoyable and a nice standalone fantasy