Ink Blood Sister Scribe

Ink Blood Sister Scribe is a fresh modern fantasy exploring a world where books are magical, in a literal sense. It's fast-paced, well-written, nuanced, and not too predictable or tropey.

Picked this up because the NYT review was so effusive, noting that for a debut book it was incredible and exciting to imagine where the author can go from here. I didn't vibe with it as strongly as the Golem and the Genie (another great debut), but the story was pretty gripping and I was with it each step of the way. Ultimately, the focus on blood throughout was kind of off-putting and it makes for a less than interesting magical system. And I didn't really strongly connect with any of the characters or their emotional lives. But this was well-written, well-plotted, and a good story.