Today’s team review is from Elanor.
Elanor has been reading Bibliomancer by Frances Evelyn
Emily discovers that people at her local hospice die peacefully when she reads to them. This novel explores how she comes to understand and develop her power, with the help of several esotericist friends of her employer, who believe in the supernatural power of words and books. When she is arrested for murder, she has to try to clear her name. At the same time, she learns that she can’t be too trusting towards her new ‘friends’. I couldn’t see where it was going to go, and the final act was genuinely tense.
There are some well-observed characters. I particularly enjoyed Emily’s best friend, Lauren, a no-nonsense working mum who cuts through the book’s supernatural elements well.
The plot is interspersed with excerpts from Pride & Prejudice – the first book Emily successfully uses at the hospice – from the perspectives of different characters. This is well done and light-hearted, but did pull me away from the tone of the main narrative. I couldn’t decide if it was meant to be jaunty or gothic.
The main concept asks for an exploration of what it means to die a good death and the ethical implications of Emily’s power. Emily takes her own journey very seriously, but I never quite bought into the magical elements or the seriousness of what she and her group were doing.
Overall for me, this book skirted over the big themes it was undertaking, but was a fun read with a satisfying conclusion.
3 stars
Is this the book you’ve chosen?
Emily Brewster is an angel. Ask anyone she reads to at the hospice. When she’s arrested for murder, it should be easy to clear her name. The only problem is, she thinks she might be guilty.
But what if death isn’t The End?
Rosie Amber 