Title: Ink Blood Sister Scribe
Author: Emma Torzs
Release Date: May 30, 2023
Format: Hardcover
Where to buy: Bookshop | Amazon
My Rating: 3.25/5
Synopsis
For generations, the Kalotay family has guarded a collection of ancient and rare books. Books that let a person walk through walls or manipulate the elements–books of magic that half-sisters Joanna and Esther have been raised to revere and protect.
All magic comes with a price, though, and for years the sisters have been separated. Esther has fled to a remote base in Antarctica to escape the fate that killed her own mother, and Joanna’s isolated herself in their family home in Vermont, devoting her life to the study of these cherished volumes. But after their father dies suddenly while reading a book Joanna has never seen before, the sisters must reunite to preserve their family legacy. In the process, they’ll uncover a world of magic far bigger and more dangerous than they ever imagined, and all the secrets their parents kept hidden; secrets that span centuries, continents, and even other libraries . . .
My review
I’ll be completely honest, I bought this book very spontaneously. I had heard no initial hype around it, but was looking for something with magic. There are a few different paths that fantasy can take the form of: fae, different universes, elemental magic, creatures, or spells. I really was craving something with spell based magic.
This book focuses on two sisters, who love each other very much, but are estranged. I liked their dynamic as well as the glimpses into their pasts. The past helps show that even though they love one another dearly, that doesn’t mean that they were immune to the jealousies that can arise. For example, Esther was jealous of Joanna’s connection to their father Abel because she is able to hear magic like him.
I also really liked the magical system that Torzs created. Books, written in blood by and from a scribe, with very specific cadence and word use that are then read aloud. I particularly liked some of the results of the spells. For example, the spell that Joanna reads to bring all the animals with in a certain radius to her so that she can be with them. I also loved the flower spell that Abel let Joanna read so that she and Esther could experience the magic together.
I thought that the ending felt very rushed, but I am excited about the potential for world building and what will happen next. I hope we get to learn how the final spell in the book works and where the world grows as Joanna, Esther, Nicholas, and Collins get to explore one anothers worlds. Will there be more collectives like the one in Boston? Will they create a school for people like them so that this skill set can be passed on?
Overall, it was an entertaining story that scratched the magical mystery itch that had taken over my thoughts. It was not a complicated tale. The story was told through three perspectives–Esther, Joanna and Nicholas. If you are looking for something to entertain while you wait for the third Ninth House book, I suspect this will be an interesting stop gap.
