The Book of Love

by Kelly Link

The Book of Love showcases Kelly Link at the height of her powers, channeling potent magic and attuned to all varieties of love—from friendship to romance to abiding family ties—with her trademark compassion, wit, and literary derring-do. Readers will find joy (and a little terror) and an affirmation that love goes on, even when we cannot.

Late one night, Laura, Daniel, and Mo find themselves beneath the fluorescent lights of a high school classroom, almost a year after disappearing from their hometown, the small seaside community of Lovesend, Massachusetts, having long been presumed dead. Which, in fact, they are.

With them in the room is their previously unremarkable high school music teacher, who seems to know something about their disappearance—and what has brought them back again. Desperate to reclaim their lives, the three agree to the terms of the bargain their music teacher proposes. They will be given a series of magical tasks; while they undertake them, they may return to their families and friends, but they can tell no one where they’ve been. In the end, there will be winners and there will be losers.

But their resurrection has attracted the notice of other supernatural figures, all with their own agendas. As Laura, Daniel, and Mo grapple with the pieces of the lives they left behind, and Laura’s sister, Susannah, attempts to reconcile what she remembers with what she fears, these mysterious others begin to arrive, engulfing their community in danger and chaos, and it becomes imperative that the teens solve the mystery of their deaths to avert a looming disaster.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Mystery, Magical Realism, Audiobook, Thriller, Magic

628 pages, Hardcover

First published February 8, 2024

About the author

Kelly Link is an American author best known for her short stories, which span a wide variety of genres - most notably magic realism, fantasy and horror. She is a graduate of Columbia University.

Her stories have been collected in four books - Stranger Things Happen, Magic for Beginners, Pretty Monsters, and most recently, Get in Trouble.
She has won several awards for her short stories, including the World Fantasy Award in 1999 for "The Specialist's Hat", and the Nebula Award both in 2001 and 2005 for "Louise's Ghost" and "Magic for Beginners".

Link also works as an editor, and is the founder of independant publishing company, Small Beer Press, along with her husband, Gavin Grant.

Reviews

[emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

uh, guys...i'm definitely with you and everything...absolutely one of the cool kids, having the popular opinion, agreeing with the mainstream, etc...but um. just remind me.

why do we not like this book?

https://emmareadstoomuch.substack.com...

the average rating is 3.5. and i totally get it. but for argument's sake, or just for laughs or whatever...explain it to me like i enjoyed it.

as if, for example, this was so funny and weird and magical and emotional. 

i will admit that for the first, like, 200 pages, it was an absolute chore to pick up. i dreaded it. i could only make myself do it by sandwiching chapters between chapters of other books i wasn't really enjoying (otherwise there was no way i was returning to it).

matters were made worse by the fact that i was reading an ebook with a tiny font, meaning i had to read 4 normal-sized pages for what counted as 1 page, and by the end my laptop was so overwhelmed it required 10 seconds to turn those pages, and 10 seconds is actually a long time if you think about it in that context, the context being that this book is 637 pages long. so, to me, 2,548 pages.

i now understand sisyphus completely.

but at some point, my feelings did a 180. even when i was reading books i liked, or listening to enjoyable audiobooks, or picking up my most anticipated read of the year, or even - gasp - watching tiktoks...i kind of always low level wanted to be reading this.

it's that good.

it's very one of a kind: three kids die and come back, and there's a death-like figurehead and a magical music teacher and a cursed splinter and a moon woman and a haunting carousel and a child named carousel. there's an unforgettable unrealistic town. there's a series of weird annoying romances. there are twists and laughs and tragedies, and all of them made me actually feel something, which - to those of you who know my whole thing - is not nothing. (see: my cold dark chunk of christmas coal of a heart.)

when i got past the rock-pushing task of the page count and the brain-murdering task of the first third, i had a really good time.

that's not nothing, either.

bottom line: i'm having the fun kind of unpopular opinion again.

4.5

-------------------------
tbr review

me at a horror movie: :)
me at a haunted house: :)
me at a long book: AHHHHHHHHHH

(thanks to the publisher for the e-arc)

[Lisa of Troy · Rating 2 out of 5]

If I hear “splinter” one more time……

Imagine watching an interesting fight scene. Except every minute there is a cut to commercial. That is exactly how I felt reading this book.

The underlying plot was interesting—three friends find themselves in the waiting room before death. To escape their fate, they will need to complete three trials.

If this book had primarily focused on one or two characters, I would have liked it; however, there are over 30 characters, and they all seemed to have their own backstory. The Book of Love was so busy playing character whack-a-mole that the plot suffered.

Thomas/Kristopher/Avelot should have been a prequel. Mo’s mom and grandmother should be their own short story.

To try to compensate for the character soup, there is a lot of repetition. For example, there would be a reveal. Then, an off-screen character would join the original group of characters, and someone would repeat the reveal over again.

As far as the title and cover is concerned, they are puzzling to me. How does this book qualify as “The Book of Love”? The cover has moons on it, but the moon wasn’t a very significant part of the book (there was a very small section very haphazardly tacked on at the end).

Overall, the concept of this book is a wonder of imagination (the fight scene in my opening paragraph), but it gets lost in the character building (the commercials). This interfered significantly with the suspense building.

*Thanks, NetGalley, for a free copy of this book in exchange for my fair and unbiased opinion.

How much I spent:
Electronic text – Free/Nada/Zilch through NetGalley provided by publisher

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[Sara Saab · Rating 5 out of 5]

I tried to review this once; my goodreads crashed as I was proofreading. Undeterred, here I am. Why, undeterred?

Because this book is a beacon light to its ideal reader.

Look, Kelly Link is the GOAT. The goatest. It really doesn't get more...lifegiving, thoughtful, tender, and generous than Link. Reading Link's work in her beloved short format, or her debut long-form, is like...I tell you, it's like someone you love humming a song against your breastbone, the way you feel song in your ribs. If you want to try a snack-sized Link, google The Hortlak, or The Game of Smash and Recovery.

And as for The Book of Love. This isn't going to be for everyone, because it's not of its time. It may struggle to grow in the (let's face it) arid soils of 2024. Because yes, it's a slow journey, and no, it doesn't do a classic Hollywood three-act plot (I mean, it probably does, but not in a 'sensed' way). IT IS WEIRD AS EVERLOVING FUCK. There's two dudes (one very grimy, one very geeky) who spin against their will when one tries to talk to another. There's gay fox sex (literal). There's a very important piece of shrapnel. There's a murderous (not derogatory) sister relationship, and one very, very wonderful + wholesome elderly writer in a mansion on a hill. And the moon turns people to marble on a whim. Everyone's intertwined in an ensemble major world crisis (of course) that is both existential and tenderhearted.

I could go on. This is Kelly Link in her full power.

Friends, I love a good page-turny romp, yeah? But I also have so much time for a book that reveals how expansive, elastic, prismatic the bubbles you can make with the soapy wand of fiction are, when you're in expert hands. This is one of those books! I hope you see it too.

[Sarah (berriesandbooks) · Rating 1 out of 5]

Holly Black and Leigh Bardugho led me astray blurbing this one.

Absolutely intolerable. This was easily the most boring book I've read this year. Generally, a book takes me three days to finish, no matter the length. This monstrous volume took me just under a month to push through. The writing was trying way too hard to be unique and different. It's written in this confusing manner where it tells us every mundane thought that passes through our character's heads but does nothing to further explain the plot. This went on for 640 pages.

At the end of the day, I don't even understand this book. I'm not above reading material that's outside of my IQ, but that's not the issue here. The problem is this book goes out of its way to misguide and confuse you, all for the sake of "prose." If you want to be insufferably bored, by all means, check this one out. Genuinely, I'm sure there is an audience out there for this book; I for the life of me can't figure out who it would be.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts expressed are my own.

[Jackie Raseman · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was like when someone tells you about their weird dream except it was 600 PAGES

[Karen · Rating 1 out of 5]

I love Thursdays. They are my day to go to my local public library to pick up books. I feel like a young kid going into an ice cream store ready to pick out my favorite ice cream. What flavor should I choose today?

When I saw this book, I was intrigued. I have never read this author before, and according to the side flap it sounded like magical realism, one of my favorite genres.

When I went to check my books out, the librarian said, “oh you must read this book first, there is already someone who is waiting to read this one right after you.” Which means I only get 3 weeks to finish it! So, with my large pile of books, I put this one at the top of my reading pile to begin reading first.

So, I did. Begin. To read it. First.

Well, where do I begin?

What I understand is that this is the author’s first novel. She has typically written contemporary short stories fiction. So, as a first novel, she decided to make this a 600-page story. Now, after having the experience of “The Covenant of Water” by Abraham Verghese, I have been more willing to venture into larger novels, as long as I have felt the story had meaning and purpose.

But where was this one going? I felt confused, and…well, it was strange. And I was having difficulty finding my way through the pages.

There appeared to be some drama, and grief, and resilience, and a supernatural presence which seemed menacing, and wanted the characters to explore what it truly means to be alive.

But it was really hard to understand how to connect to the characters when I didn’t really know what their purpose was for being. Are they dead or presumed dead? Are they missing or are they not? Are they on a mission or in some alternate reality?

Where am I as the reader?

I felt so off balance I am sorry to say that I had to abandon the book when one character said, “do you want to be dead, because I don’t. I want to avoid being dead for as long as possible.”

What?

Maybe it would have been easier for me to understand had this been a short story? Then maybe the author could have gotten to the point sooner.

Well, I hope the next reader who is so anxiously waiting for this book from my local public library, will be excited to get it earlier when I drop it off today.

[Melki · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've read thousand page books that flew by in the blink of an eye, but this one, clocking in at over 600 pages, seemed interminable. Seriously, it's very disheartening when the right side of your Kindle tells you you're at the 73% mark, but the left side says you still have 4 hrs, 9 mins. left in the book.

I was initially very invested in this Neil Gaiman-ish fantasy about teenagers, magic, and young lust. BUT, though I was never once tempted to quit, it just became too much. I honestly got tired of reading about these people. By the halfway point, all I wanted was for the book to end. Link is an author I've enjoyed in the past, and I knew I would always wonder about this book if I didn't read it, but all the same, I can't recommend it.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC.

[Romane Robinson · Rating 1 out of 5]

640 pages of steaming garbage and i read all of it ❤️ everybody clap for me

[Ron Charles · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kelly Link is a genius. That’s not just my opinion. In 2018, Link won a $625,000 “genius” grant from the MacArthur Foundation. Her strange and surreal short stories — along with books published by Small Beer Press, which she co-founded with her husband — have transfigured the genre of fabulist fiction. Her 2015 collection, “Get in Trouble,” was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize. Last fall, The Washington Post named her “White Cat, Black Dog” one of the year’s best works of science fiction and fantasy. It was the only story collection to make the list.

With her reputation for wonderment, every new book by Link arrives trailing clouds of enchantment. And given the assumption that novels rank higher on the scale of being than short stories — a fallacy driven mostly by marketing considerations — Link’s first novel has generated outsize interest. She has obliged by delivering an outsize novel.

At 628 pages, “The Book of Love” is a book to contend with, a tome that thunders: “I Am Not a Short Story!” Adding to its epic aura, all the chapters announce themselves as parts of some fantastical bible, emblazoned with headings like “The Book of Daniel,” “The Book of Laura” and “The Book of Mo.”

With this story for adults, Link is wending her way through an old-growth forest of fantasy novels that stretches from “Harry Potter” to “The Chronicles of Narnia,” adventures in which a small group of young people must confront a dark challenge and a maniacal adversary. But she’s also cutting her own distinctly Linkian path by following the struggles of modern-day teens as they figure out who they are and who they love in an unstable world shimmering with deception. . . .

To read the rest of this review, go to The Washington Post:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/...

[Judy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I chose to read this book because I recognized the author from an earlier book I enjoyed, and also because the description caught by attention because I like fantasy and this one sounded interesting.

Description:
Late one night, Laura, Daniel, and Mo find themselves beneath the fluorescent lights of a high school classroom, almost a year after disappearing from their hometown, the small seaside community of Lovesend, Massachusetts, having long been presumed dead. Which, in fact, they are.

With them in the room is their previously unremarkable high school music teacher, who seems to know something about their disappearance—and what has brought them back again. Desperate to reclaim their lives, the three agree to the terms of the bargain their music teacher proposes. They will be given a series of magical tasks; while they undertake them, they may return to their families and friends, but they can tell no one where they’ve been. In the end, there will be winners and there will be losers.

But their resurrection has attracted the notice of other supernatural figures, all with their own agendas. As Laura, Daniel, and Mo grapple with the pieces of the lives they left behind, and Laura’s sister, Susannah, attempts to reconcile what she remembers with what she fears, these mysterious others begin to arrive, engulfing their community in danger and chaos, and it becomes imperative that the teens solve the mystery of their deaths to avert a looming disaster.

My Thoughts:
The prose is beautiful and is atmospheric in nature - almost like a fairy tale. There is a good story here. I liked some of the names: the band name is My Two Hands Both Knowe You; the coffee shop is What Hast Thou Ground?; and one of the magical characters is called Carousel. I thought those names were fun. I liked how some of the characters could turn into animals using their magical ability. Unfortunately, and I'm likely in the minority here, I found the book to be overly long and I was bored through a little over half of the book. I had to force myself through. Luckily the second half of the book had a little more movement to it. Also, I couldn't get invested in any of the characters. Nothing made me feel anything while I was reading this. It is not likely that I will recommend this one to my friends.

Thanks to Random House Publishing Group through Netgalley for an advance copy. Expected publication on February 13, 2024.

[Tayler · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is the equivalent of watching paint dry and is filled with beautiful prose but there is nothing that makes you want to keep reading. There is some plot but by the time you get to an actual plot point. You’re already bored. If this book moved a bit faster and had more plot. I would’ve been more invested. But sadly I wasn’t

[Robyn · Rating 1 out of 5]

ARC | Dull, flat, overlong, trying too hard | It's difficult to be clear about how boring this book is, so I'll just start by mentioning that at around page 200, I put it down and scrubbed my kitchen counters. This was not an overdue chore, just seemed like a better use of my time. Around page 400, I thought "you know, I haven't dusted recently", got out the dustrag, and did that instead of reading for awhile. Because the book was so boring that I was desperately searching for things to do other than read it. The characters feel like they're being dragged through the book against their will, and given that every single thing they do or say is related in every minute detail, there is, to use Link's own words, a "tired reek" to the prose as the characters get pulled through it all. They're awful people, by the way. Whenever you say that in a review someone always snaps back that it's realistic, that the world is not made up of good people, but look, the world is also not exclusively made up of selfish bullying petty assholes (and one cardboard stage prop, Daniel, who has a couple supposed motivations slapped on in rough paint but was never fully developed as a person). People in the world have facets to their characters and reasons for the ways that they are disappointing. The characters in this book are just pricks, and all the Lovesend residents have fewer Adverse Childhood Experiences than the average pampered rich kid, so there's no reason for their personality disorders. There's a lot of 'how a white author thinks it feels to be Black' here, in ways that felt very patronizing. The writing is absolutely tortured, like Link is remembering all the awards she's won or been nominated for and so is trying super hard to prove what an amazing writer she is. And I've read some of her previous books, some of her writing has, in the past, been worthy of note. This is not. The construction, the scaffolding, the Work of it is so obvious all through. And then in some places it's just bad. I wouldn't expect sex scenes to be titillating in the context of this book, but please, Person A "pressed his cock into the well-lubricated asshole" of Person B? Person C, before performing oral sex, contemplates "the pad of fat above the pubic bone"? The language alternates throughout between trying with all its might to be florid and pretentious, and being absolutely flat and robotic. And then, the length. It seems like a cruelty to have named the editor in the acknowledgements. This is a 640 page book with about 135 pages of plot. This isn't just poorly edited, it has been force-fed, crammed with unnecessary lengthening until it's bloated up and choked on it, a beached whale full of bran. And the very tortured metaphor of the previous sentence is still not as bad as what I just spent a day and a half reading in The Book of Love.
Given a choice, I would simply have written a review that's a couple of sentences saying that this book needed better editing and that Link is out of her depth in long-form fiction. The length and detail of this review imply that I have actively antagonistic feelings toward it, when in truth it was so awful that I will never think about it again, but Advanced Review Copies of books require reviews, so here it is.


Free ARC provided by NetGalley which did not impact my review (obviously).

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book was too long for what it was. It saved itself with the charm of its youngest character Carousel. Most of the adults, the older students, and the immortals were really annoying.

[Kim Lockhart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Is this review a little long? Yes. Is it because I loved it? Also Yes!

Happy Publishing Day! I've added this book to my list of Best Books of 2024.

𝑾𝒉𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝑪𝒂𝒕, 𝑩𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝑫𝒐𝒈, a creative set of short stories by Kelly Link, was one of my top favorite books of 2023. So, you know I jumped at the chance to read the author's new work. This story is an expansion of Link's gravitation towards magic and the supernatural, from short stories to long form novel format.

The trio of main characters channel both Shakespeare's toil and trouble, and Marlowe's Mephistophelean bargain. The reader may wonder about the title 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑩𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒐𝒇 𝑳𝒐𝒗𝒆. Whose book? The Good Book? The Book of Life? Is there a Book of the Dead? And, of course, we contemplate 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 itself. From the Greeks, we know of at least four kinds: Philia, Eros, Storge and Agape. It's easy to imagine the love these friends have for each other, for their families, and for life itself. It's Agape that will be tricky. Who has the power to grant you what you most want, and is that kind of bargain ever in your favor?

The biggest consideration of all: Does the love we give to this world live on, after we're gone? Is that the true essence of being remembered?

So many questions.

First, we need to meet Mo, Laura, and Daniel.

By the chapter title, we learn that each character has a book of their lives. It becomes very Bible-reminiscent when you realize that there's a Book of Ruth and a Book of Daniel. Those two are Biblical canon. Mo(hammed) refers to the Prophet in Islam. And The Book of Thomas, appropriately enough, is apocryphal, outside the accepted canon.

We begin with Susannah, Laura's sister. Susannah has a keen awareness of emotional atmosphere. It's driving her nuts that not only is her sister missing, but also missing is any discussion of the family's shared loss. This is creating Laura-shaped holes in Susannah's dreams. She almost feels like she could speak her back into existence. And she's closer to being correct than she knows. Grief unexpressed is a dangerous thing, so Susannah acts out her anger in spectacularly explosive ways.

She conjures her sister in the only way she knows how: as a voice in her head. Susannah also wonders who she is now, if her identity has always been bound up by being Laura's sister. It's like having your strings cut, and floating off into space.

Meanwhile, our missing trio are frightened and frustrated. They don't know any more about their disappearance than those they left behind, nor do they have a clear recollection of the holding place, a kind of purgatory where they were trapped. Only two things are clear: that they've left that place of isolation and sadness, and that something escaped with them. The three become four. What does four represent? Traditionally, the number four represents the quadrilateral: all four standards of stability (like four legs of a chair): physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual. Four can also be lucky, as in a four-leafed clover. In Biblical terms, three is the number of heavenly divinity, while four is the number of the earth. In Hebrew, *four* is not merely the earth, but refers to its creation fulfilled in four days, preparing the way for the birth of humanity. It is 𝑫𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒕𝒉, a passageway from one kind of creation to another. In other words, four is a door.

The trio and their spiritual hitchhiker, all slipped through the door of one place to another.

To barely escape the horrible place, was one thing, but to end up back at high school seems like a cruel joke. They know where they are is real; they just don't know why they are there. Why would they end up in the music room, with the music teacher? It is the music teacher, Mr. Anabin (the similarity to Anubis, the Guide to the Underworld, being unmistakable) who calls forth these wispy souls into corporeal being by using their names. In Biblical tradition, speaking a name can be synonymous to having power over it/them. (Consider the Golem.) There is always risk involved in bringing back life through magic. Adam was made out of earth and given the breath of life (literal inspiration of the creator). The Golem is also a figure made out of earth, but brought to soulless life via magic inscribed into it with sacred Hebrew letters. Finally, these three are dust (inspiration) to dust (expiration) to something else entirely (reincarnation).

It is possible that my love of literary excavation has sent me down a symbolism rabbit hole, but I can't help but notice that the last names of the formerly missing trio represent power, justice, and knowledge. Susannah, from the Hebrew Shoshana means *lily* or rebirth. Laura's meaning references laurel leaves, signifying victory. Carousel comes from Italian, and means preparation, a smaller battle to get ready for a larger one. Avelot means bird, which is super spot-on. Okay, I'll stop (for now) but you see how much extra meaning the author has packed into this novel. No character is randomly named.

In an atmosphere already suffused with the dangerous and the uncanny, Mr. Anabin attempts to incorporate the fourth escapee. But, was the fourth ever corporeal to begin with? Mr. Anabin tries to get the 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 being to reveal his name, but the spirit knows better than that. And even drawn into the world, he seems slippery in a visual sense.

Laura wants to know what happened to them, where they've been, and who they are now. She feels like she's smaller than the body she inhabits, like looking out of the eyeholes of a paiper mache shell.

While the four are trying to adjust to who and where they are, and in what state, another figure appears. It should be no surprise that the stand-in for Cerberus, a giant wolf-sized dog, takes a position to block the doorway of the music room. (So many dangerous doorways.) Like his Greek counterpart, it is the job of the dog-wolf to keep the worlds of the living and the dead separated. Curiouser, the dog's name is Bogomil, which can also be translated as Theophilus, literally 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒚 𝑮𝒐𝒅. The Bogomils were a dualistic gnostic sect. They emphasized the world within and the world without, mirroring life and death, and they revered the body over the soul. They rejected Christianity outright and sort of accepted Islam, but they remained gnostic.

When the dog morphs, and takes the guise of the human gatekeeper, the danger in the room seems to rush into his form, and sharpen to a point. One of the trio of friends, Mo, tries to break the tension and speaks in the most entertaining metaphors, eliciting a bit of sardonic humor in the gatekeeper's malevolent smile, though his eyes grow angrier. This is a powerful entity. There was a clue in his first presented form: dog. He was telling them that he was God turned backwards, his realm opposite of, or adjacent to the opposite of, heaven.

As the reader most assuredly anticipates, there is a bargain undertaken, though the terms are set not at all in the way one usually expects. They're not even clear to the partakers.

One thing that surprised me was how smart-assed the three were, even as they felt the cold finger of fear. Perhaps affected bravado is the purview of teens. The fourth seemed to show no fear at all.

In their return home, they walk by various landmarks, which adds to the smorgasbord of symbolism. Even a park sculpture inscription refers to a reverse flow: a return to the sea, to the very beginning. Even more so, we recognize the importance of the sculpture of the sculptor: the author would not have included it without a reason. It's a wonderful testament to remembrance, as well as a metaphor for a creation by a creator of a creator, a kind of enigma inside a riddle inside a puzzle. It recalls the challenges the three will have to solve, as a part of their mysterious bargain.

Also, the name of the town: Lovesend. Is that 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒅 or 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆'𝒔 𝒆𝒏𝒅, or both? It seems that nothing is happenstance. Every name means something important.

A word about the writing: it vibrates like music, breaks out in anthropomorphic descriptions, speaks in clues and riddles, and both startles and amazes. I smiled reading the whole thing, and this never ever happens to me, because I'm generally an old grizzled wench.

The author really captures the idea of being both alive and dead, like some sort of warped Schrödinger's Frankenstein. Link also brings up philosophical questions I had not before considered, such as: is evil stronger than good, or does love conquer hate? And why do we say we would die for love, but not that we would live for love? And that's precisely the way so many of the meanings or realizations come to the reader as this story goes along. We might suddenly come to the conclusion that even good Daniel is a cautionary tale as a person. There are many more important things in life to achieve than getting people to like you. If everyone likes you, does anyone really know you, or just an idea of you? Daniel tries to be the one who smooths everything over, who makes it all okay. The problem, though, is that the person who says everything is going to be fine, is almost always trying to convince themselves.

Back to symbolism, I was at first very puzzled by the appearance of the moths. They seem to unsettle everyone, and it was clear they had meaning. It's possible that they represent transformation, or more precisely, transmogrification.

The mystery of the inhuman hunger of the reconstituted three made me feel wary. That kind of compulsive consumption seemed to indicate something very scary and evil driving them towards a deeply unpleasant choice. As a matter of fact, by the time I was a quarter of the way through the book I was suspicious of everyone: strangers in nice cars, people who look younger than they should, dogs who don't behave like dogs. Something about white wolves and black rabbits began to strike me as unavoidably sinister as well. I kept seeing evil in every anomaly. So many reversals and inverses. The effect is so unsettling. Even the realization that each side character is immensely intriguing (even rivaling the main characters at times) seems unnervingly dangerous.

Along the way, we see many ways of choosing how to live, how much of yourself to keep secret, how to reconcile with those you've harmed, how to air grievances without alienating the people you care about, and how to avoid temptation when you know it won't lead anywhere good.

As the story progressed, I felt like the writing became more fearless, but maybe it was the characters who became more emboldened, or maybe both. The introduction of new character: Malo Mogge, certainly heralded a sharp turn in the story. As best as I can interpret, Malo Mogge means 𝒂 𝒃𝒂𝒅 𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝑮𝒐𝒅 (or maybe a bad creation of a god?)

Things get super dicey with the appearance of Malo Mogge, and not just with people, but also with places and the entire environment. The bizarre confluence in Lovesend of fire and ice, if Robert Frost is to be our guide, metaphorically represents the competing or complementary emotions of the burning fire of desire and the ice-cold nature of pure hatred. Both desire and hate can consume, until there is nothing left. There lies the age-old problem: what happens after you finally get what you want? And if hate or vengeance define you, what is your identity when either is satisfied?

As the story races toward its crescendo like a soaring overture, there are circumstances which the reader can easily anticipate, bracketed by sudden dissonant events that no one saw coming. And the story tugs at our emotions. The author tenderly lays bare the awful pain of separation from the ones we love, especially when they cross the veil. That love we have for them is a kind of energy: it cannot be destroyed, though it can change form. Sometimes, the only comfort we have when someone dies, is that even though their lives don't go on, their love for us, and our love for them, do go on. Love never dies.

One could easily make the case that Kelly Link is the most talented fabulist writer of our time. This epic tale creates its own (gloriously inclusive) modern mythology while it also makes use of ancient symbols and traditions. There is plenty of magic, the uncanny, and the fantastical, (spiced with clever humor), but the major focus is on people, relationships, emotions, and reflections, all with an eye toward our larger society.

This is an ambitious story, well-told. Because it never lags, it actually read like a much shorter novel. For readers of dark fantasy, and those who want to dip a toe in those waters, I highly recommend this reading experience. It's one of my top-rated books of the year.

Thank you to NetGalley and to Random House, an imprint of Penguin Random House, for providing a copy of this novel for review.

[Amy Biggart · Rating 3 out of 5]

Going to have to sleep on this one

Something about this book rubbed me the wrong way — maybe because the premise and writing on a technical level was very good. But it never really crossed into more meaningful territory. The story almost felt like it lacked the large message you'd expect of a 600-page adult fantasy book. Which is what it is branded as, unfortunately.

I say unfortunately because this is, by most measures, a young adult book. The characters are 17-18 years old and so much of this book centers around the interpersonal teenage problems of the main characters. Some of the teenagers I found more interesting than others, though they all had a solid mix of love/relationship problems, and larger family issues. (You read from the perspectives of at least 6 or 7 of the teenagers.)

The magic in this book just sort of was, which I found frustrating. Characters morph into bears and seagulls and tigers, without much rhyme or reason. There was an explanation of why the characters who could do magic, could do magic. But by the end that was kind of abandoned. And largely the characters use their magic to convince their parents to let them go out after curfew, or trick salespeople into giving them musical instruments for free. I guess I should be grateful that the teenage characters behave as teenagers. But I couldn't help wondering when this magic was going to take the sinister or darker turn you'd expect from a book marketed as an adult novel.

Mostly, I think it just overstayed its welcome. This whole story is set over the course of days, and it's 600 pages long. If it had been a tighter execution and pitched more true to what it is (a YA fantasy), I wouldn't be so hesitant to recommend this.

Sad — three stars.

[Danila · Rating 5 out of 5]

To declare “The Book of Love” anything less than stunning would be to sell the book severely short. This audiobook was beautiful, captivating, and entirely engaging from start to finish—a re-listen for the library shelves. With near-lyric prose and a fable-like incredulity, Kelly Link creates a world that feels both immediately recognizable and wildly incomprehensible, filled with characters that feel wholly realized and complete in their own right.
Audiobook version: (The Book of Love)

This book returns to the story of a small group of New Englanders one year after they mysteriously disappeared and were thought to be lost forever. Laura, Daniel, and Mo are resurrected by their old high school music teacher, Mr. Anabin, and given a chance to take back their lives—if only they can figure out how they actually died that one significant night. Through a tangle of point-of-view perspectives, the story unwinds, creating a layered, intricate story.

The performance of the audiobook interweaves those distinct voices, breathing life into their characters, and amplifying their emotional journeys. From Laura, upright and composed, to her wild and grief-driven sister Susannah; from Daniel, earnest and loyal, to Mo, sarcastic and wise beyond his years; from Bowie, enigmatic and fluid—each character’s story is broken and laid out in the smallest of pieces. The performer’s interpretation of these stories—complex, layered-in-depth—enhance the complexity of these individual narratives and the narrative as a whole, painting a fuller portrait of the story’s landscape.

It is a wonder for any author to create such distinct personalities, to show their desires and vulnerabilities with such fragile care. Kelly Link does this beautifully, and the audiobook only enhances her storytelling, making "The Book of Love" impossible not to enjoy.

If you are looking for an audiobook that is rich in layers and emotionally captivating, then I fully give my recommendation to "The Book of Love." A remarkable journey that will linger in your mind long after the final chapter has ended, and one that I will undoubtedly listen to again and again.

[Natasha Leighton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gorgeously tender and rich in magic and whimsy, Kelly Link’s long awaited fantasy debut was just as weird and wonderfully immersive as I hoped it would be!

With incredible world-building and an emotional, character driven narrative that borders on the uncanny, Link has created a modern masterpiece of speculative fiction that even Lewis Carroll would be envious of.

It’s set in the small, seaside town of Lovesend, MA and follows three teens (Mo, Daniel and Laura) who return from the dead and tasked (by their seemingly magical high school music teacher, no less) with learning to use the magic they each now posses. As well as remember the circumstances that led to their deaths.

But with talking animals, unhinged goddesses and mysterious magical boys slowly overtaking the town—our formerly unalive MCs must succeed if they wish to save themselves (and their town) from the bizarre goings on that seek to destroy everything they hold most dear.

This is actually the first of Link’s work I’ve ever read, but the glowing praise for her short stories made me eager to get my hands on her first full length novel—and unsurprisingly, it didn’t disappoint. The prose is fabulously lyrical and the intricately woven characters were an absolute joy to get to know.

With meticulously crafted backstories and messy, melodramatic relationships driving the narrative-Susannah, Laura, Mo and Daniel, and their experiences with life and love (in all its varied forms) was powerfully compelling.

From the grief stricken pain of losing a family member, to strained sibling relationships, first loves and embittered rivalries— we really delve into the core of each of our flawed protagonists. Capturing such an emotionally detailed picture that, by the end I was emotionally invested in them all to some extent.

Even antagonist Bogomil, and (the Aziraphale to his Crowley) counterpart, Mr. Anabin (who I was prepared to dislike on sight) had some tender blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moments that got me rooting for them too. But of all the characters we encounter, it was Carousel (Daniel’s precocious little sister) that I loved the most—her reactions and sass were sheer perfection and I’d love to see a short story (or two) centred around her.

I should probably also mention that it does clock in at just over 600 pages (626 in the UK arc), which I know seems daunting if you don’t read a lot of chunky books. However, the writing was soo beautifully done that the length didn’t really bother me, and I pretty much inhaled the first hundred or so pages without even realising.

Overall, an immersive and thoroughly enjoyable love letter to love—and all things strange and unusual, that fans of Buffy, Good Omens or Tim Burton are sure to enjoy.

Also a huge thank you to Jade over at Head of Zeus for the wonderful proof

[Dez the Bookworm · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story blends magic, whimsy, and human emotion into a spellbinding narrative. TV is story is set in a seaside Massachusetts town where the ordinary collides with the extraordinary.

What makes this novel so enchanting is how it combines supernatural themes with the emotional landscape of teenagers who experience relatable struggles—love, identity, grief, and belonging.
Lovesend is a town where statues stroll, a cat consumes itself, and music blends with spectral magic. The magic system seems to be used as a metaphor for power and storytelling that subtly enriches the narrative.

Yes, it’s a long novel, and its pace can be slow so be prepared for that. The debut novel holds its own for the most part. I enjoyed the journey but felt the pace could have been a little better.

Thank you to Random House for the Arc in exchange for an honest review.

[Trin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sometimes you go for a run and you hit your stride, and though you're working hard, you're outside and the scenery's beautiful and there's something euphoric about the pounding of your legs and your sweat and the air rasping through your lungs: you're alive!

Other times, you push and push and push, and you feel every fucking step, and it never gets any easier or zen-like or fun, and if occasionally you pass a cool bird or a interesting-shaped rock, you never sink into it, you never enjoy it; you are aware how much you're laboring the entire time. All you want to do is finish, drag yourself home, and shower.

The experience of reading this book was, for me, unfortunately the latter.

This book is 625 pages long and I felt every one of them. It's been a while since I've read Link's short fiction, but I remembered her being a good prose stylist; I did not find that to be the case here. You can feel her laboring too. So many sentences are phrased as questions, a tic that lends the prose the aura of uptalk? Like, Link is checking in with you? To see if you're still with her? Then there are the attempts at humor -- all of which felt extremely "How do you do, fellow kids?" Like for the love of god, Kelly, stop talking about fanfic (inauthentically) and please, please, please, can all writers of queer fiction stop it with the constant references to Harry Potter? Please? In 2024?

Beyond which: I just didn't care about these characters, this town, this world. I never believed in the stakes (or that there were any, outside of this small, bland Massachusetts community). Link does have the seeds of a terrifying villain in Malo Mogge; some of her capricious god behavior was genuinely frightening, and subtle, well-written. But we spend so much time in the heads of mopey, mopey teens, it's hard to care. It's certainly hard to want them to succeed in winning phenomenal cosmic powers. Go back to school! Get over yourselves! I'm hitting the showers.

[Jorie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every time I picked this book up, I heard Burt Bacharach. And, on finishing it, how appropriate that tune was, for the lyrics ring so true~

🎶 The Book of Love,
It's saying so much more than just words could ever say,
And what my heart has heard, well, it takes my breath away 🎶

Maybe My Two Hands Both Knowe You should do a cover of “The Look of Love”, Daniel would be onboard, though I imagine Laura and Susannah would object 🙃

Kelly Link’s storytelling unfolds as smooth as a Bacharach song, and as sensuously. She makes what could be a convoluted concept easy to follow, by sheer force of writing skill.

It’s the tale of three teens, Laura, Daniel, and Mo, awakening in a sort of purgatory, a classroom headed by their high school music teacher Mr. Anabin. He’s not just a spirit or a glamor—he’s literally the same Anabin who had taught them, and he tells them they’ve been dead for almost a year. But two of them have a chance at life again, if they solve their deaths before a certain time.

Only two, and two must remain. With them is a boy called Kristopher, a stranger to them all, and intent on working against them.

Lurking in the classroom is another being, Anabin’s opposite, Bogomil. Just as Anabin promises them life, Bogomil wants them to stay dead.

Left alive was Susannah, Laura’s tall, messy, aimless sister. Hopelessly in love with their fellow bandmate Daniel and a friend to Mo, Susannah is left devastated in the wake of their disappearance. When they are brought back to life, everyone remembers their absence as a study abroad…but something about that story doesn’t sit right for Susannah.

But Laura, Daniel, Mo, and Kristopher are not the only strange beings landing on their quiet Massachusetts town. So does chaotic goddess Malo Mogge, imbued with the capriciousness and cruelty of all storybook fairies, drawn to the resurrected, though they know not why. With her is her tragic and alluring gofer Thomas, bent on his own goal: Going after Kristopher.

Both characters and setting transmute as the novel goes on, expanding with magic and mystery. All throughout, the unique character relationships and storylines remain strong; through lines they intersect and bind. Building into a finale both esoteric…and basic. Basic for its simplicity, its core.

And that’s love.

Cuz what the world needs now is love 💗

[Christine Seager · Rating 1 out of 5]

The book of Love is a tedious slog of a novel that attempts to follow the lives of an exhausting array of characters, each one more underwhelming than the last. Don’t expect any twists or surprises, just dull and uninspired repetition.

With a cast of over two dozen characters, you'd think there would be someone, anyone, worth rooting for. But no, the characters are void of any personality or charisma. One character transforms into at least three different characters, you’d think this would bring some excitement to the story, nope, just three different versions of the same one-dimensional character.

The authors writing is dry and lifeless. Imagine someone describing miraculous experiences with the same vigor as a trip to the gas station, flat and uninteresting. Extraordinary things happened to characters with personalities of a foot, completely void of emotion (and a little stinky).

Since each chapter is told by a different character, we are forced to read the plot over and over again. The story isn’t re-told with different perspectives, not at all, just repeated. Imagine listening to your parents or spouse retell the same story to everyone they meet, that specific type of boredom is the best way I can describe this book.

Although this book is slow, it’s very difficult to follow as it doesn’t have a cohesive timeline. The story jumps around jaggedly which causes unnecessary confusion. Why? No reason, just because. I attempted a timeline but lost interest less than half way through.

Get to the Point! The beginning of the book is promising, but the story develops slowly, and the characters are so uninteresting that I stopped caring about the plot long before it’s revealed. So much build up and it just falls flat. The author seems to be under the impression that quantity equals quality, and that the more words they use, the more profound the book will be. But the truth is, the book is just a lot of empty calories, I was left feeling unsatisfied and unfulfilled.

The end is revealed and we learn the very boring outcome of the characters, yet the book keeps going, and going, and going, and going, and going, and going. I’m guessing the editor sent the book back and forced the author to add more pages.

In conclusion, someone invested a lot of money into this author, which is why such a poor quality book filled with colorless, uninspired characters has been so heavily promoted. This book tries to capitalize on the popularity of well-known vampire novels, but lacks all the passion and excitement of a typical vampire story. This author struggles to master the ability to evoke any sort of emotion from the reader, important characters lose their lives with the same sadness as dropping a piece of toast. The Book of Love is 600+ pages of crushing boredom.

[L.S. Popovich · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is brutally unfocused, so many characters thinking, saying and doing things which are unrelated to previously done, said and thought things.
Pseudo-explanations for post-magical situations seemingly added after the fact. A lot of talk about magic but not a lot of magic happening.
Characters are quirky in the extreme. Awkward teen moments. Lots of texting and casual sex, usually taking place in an odd location, while being rough, as most aggressive, spontaneous cinematic scenes tend to be, without tenderness or reason or any attention paid to gender.
Some confusion as to who is imaginary and who is real, who can use magic and who cannot. No rules for the magic system, no constraints, but characters don't use it or explore the fact that they are all aware of the magic, and are not doing anything except using it to clean the stains off their horrifying bedsheets. Sinister villains who don't do anything evil, but who are very dastardly, and can apparently turn people into animals all of a sudden, but when they are animals they always get turned back relatively quickly and without much fuss or comment.
A lot of social commentary at the expense of plot and observations about the absurdity of the situations they find themselves in. Kids moving from one pleasure to another, aimless, encountering death, dreaming while awake, feeling no pain and handling objects we are supposed to believe are symbols.
But still constantly clever, as Kelly Link is, infusing the mundane with an ounce of menace and an easygoing atmosphere. Fluffy prose, and hilarious in places, and incredibly idiosyncratic, nonsensical, fun. A talking cat. The fluidity of physical forms and the flowing nature of the characters' sexuality, and their preternatural jadedness, uncomfortably adult children and childish adults. Adults who cannot adult. Some major exposition dumps, implanting backstory for debonair ancient immortals, who don't act or speak like they're from the 1600s. They are just in touch with the times and up on their slang. Can relate to the new generation, whom they are manipulating for no particular reason.

[AndiReads · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Book of Love is the absolute best book of the WINTER! I loved it so much and enjoyed everything about it.

I had read a little of Kelly Link but now will immerse myself in the worlds she creates. An amazing and enthralling story of 4 friends, sisters Laura and Susannah as well as Daniel and Mo. A year ago, a mysterious moment that changed their lives when three of the four disappeared potentially forever. A deal with a devil allows the three to return but they have upset the delicate balance of the universe their friends and family still reside in and it's not long before everyone is in danger.

Link create an utterly believable story where the supernatural seems natural. Best yet, she allows us in to each firiend's mind and it's truly intimate and beautiful, chaotic and revealing. So pick this intriguing work and visit
Lovesend, Massachusetts, where friends have been holding grudges but are possibly acting out the ancient grudges of supernatural beings instead!
#Randomhouse #thebookoflove #KellyLink

[Spencer Orey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Long gorgeous prose, where things aren’t white, they’re “the color of fresh milk.” I was gripped by the central magical mystery and the tight focused setting.

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Book of Love, clocking in at a staggering 640 pages, is the first novel from acclaimed weird short story writer Kelly Link. It tells the story of four teens from the sleepy town of Lovesend, New England, who find themselves trapped in a metaphysical melodrama when three of them mysterious die, are mysteriously resurrected (and joined by a strange being they definitely didn’t know in life), and must return to life in a world magicked to think they were just gone away studying abroad in Ireland. They’re immediately given an unsettling ultimatum - of the four newly resurrected souls, two will get to remain alive, and two will have to go back to the haunting, desolate land they can only half-remember.

When imagining how a short story author might tackle the novel, you might wonder if they’ll end up with something more like a novella - slim and lean and (in Link’s style) a little sexy and quite a bit feral. I’ll admit, that’s what I was expecting. Instead, Link seems to have taken the plunge into the novel with arms spread wide, creating a messy, sprawling tale that allows for complicated magical shenanigans, and most importantly, deep dives into the book’s four main characters; Laura, an ambitious and closeted musician who aspires to greatness; her older yet more aimless sister Susannah, living at home and the only one not to have died and returned, the sisters’ neighbor, friend, and Susannah’s on-again-off-again situationship Daniel, the protective older brother of a host of little siblings; and Mo, a gay Black teen living in the rather homogeneously white town, reeling from the loss of his grandmother and caretaker while he was gone, and struggling to ever open up enough to show the world his art.

Laura, Susannah, Daniel, and Mo are a fractious lot, keeping secrets from each other, fucking around behind each others’ backs, getting into petty arguments, and in general, just acting like shitty teens. Link understands what many who write teen characters don’t: teens aren’t just people halfway in the transition from childhood to adulthood, but rather people who remain most definitely children in some aspects and most definitely adults in others. Over the course of The Book of Love’s lengthy page count, we peer into the minds and lives of these four - as well as a number of other secondary characters - enough to really get a sense of who they are, to love them because of their messiness, their hungers, their shames, their loves. Not to say that short fiction can’t deliver memorable characters, but I have to say I can’t remember too many, and these four will likely stick with me longer than many characters.

If Link leans into the novel’s strengths, she also brings with it some of its weaknesses, though, like her characters, these are understandable and probably inexorably tied together. The Book of Love is definitely a “slow” book, one who other earlier reviewers have stamped with that most overused judgement of “nothing happens.” For much of, to be honest, the first half of the book, our characters just live their lives, struggling to process what’s happened to them, and reaching for whatever sense of self or love they can find. Digging through the character work and tonal groundwork and looking only for the “plot” might leave some readers bored or confused, and it may be that the book doesn’t really need to be this long.

But if it were shorter, would I feel as much for these characters as I do? Link’s relatively newness to the form lets her play with it in ways many other novelists don’t, or at least don’t feel like they can do some and still gain commercial success. I’ve been bored to tears with a lot of contemporary sci-fi and fantasy fiction that, on paper, are lean and propulsive narratives that I get caught up in…and then just entirely forget. The Book of Love luxuriates, it spirals, it rambles, it sprawls; until it doesn’t. Eventually, the character work done, we get a dazzlingly fast and sometimes overly complex series of plot machinations between the four teens and the five other supernatural beings who’ve caught the teens in their web.

I don’t imagine most readers will understand the reference, but throughout my time with The Book of Love I couldn’t stop thinking about the tabletop role-playing game Monsterhearts, my favorite of the genre. I’ve ran Monsterhearts more than any other game, and my stories always involve these messy, dysfunctional, horny, monstrous, heartrendingly sympathetic teens as they fight and flirt their way through life, even as they’ve stumbled into supernatural struggles too big for them to comprehend. There are a number of wildly specific things that happened in some of my campaigns and in The Book of Love that I won’t spoil, but it makes me wonder if somehow Link was listening in on the stories I told with my friends!

All in all, it’s clear how much fun Link had when writing this, and how much love she has for its cast of prickly, moody, terrible teens. It’s definitely too long, and it burrows its way down many paths and twisting alleys before its primary “plot” kicks into focus, and some of its tropes feel clumsy or predictable; but in the end, I found myself too charmed by its characters to resist its particular flavor of magic.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts expressed are my own.

[Kara · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars

I kept getting echoes of David Mitchell—maybe with a sprinkle of Stephen King—in the best way. And I have to say upfront that the title is terrible and does this book a disservice.

This is the story of a small town, a handful of (primarily) young people and their dreams and relationships, and godlike entities who interfere with them. It is epic.

This is my first Kelly Link book, and I’m really impressed with the quality of the writing, the super distinct characters, and the unique premise.

It did feel longer than even its 640 pages should which is why I just couldn’t give it the full five stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House!

[Claudia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually really really liked this???? It was too long and had so many perspectives which I usually hate but I loved it anyways???? So wonderfully enthralling.

I realized I never completed my review for this so jumping in a few weeks late!

Recommending this book to anyone who loves a slow ethereal paranormal mystery. The writing was wonderful and the characters could be very annoying at times but in a way that felt like teenagers who went through something traumatic should be annoying. Link has an amazing way of writing that made me feel like I was floating in the scene, I don't know how else to describe it.

The plot was engaging and a constant need to want to know more kept it moving forward despite the slower pace.

The plot follows five teenagers, four of which were recently returned from the 'dead' where they seemed to have been trapped in some Dark Nether Realm, they are entered into some kind of competition where half can stay in the world and the other half has to return. The fifth was a teenage sister one of them left behind who is pulled into the world of magic. That description does sound very thrilling but I will again emphasize the rather slow pace just so people know what to expect.

I really liked this and will be thinking about it for a long time.

[Madilynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you to Random House and Netgalley for the chance to read The Book of Love as an ARC! I went into The Book of Love completely blind, and was so incredibly (and pleasantly!) surprised with the outcome. This book was so whimsical, character driven, interesting, and strange- which is a combination that I feel is not often done well. This, however, was executed perfectly. It took me a little bit to get used to the writing style/prose and to understand what was going on, but I ADORE books that confuse me a little bit, and by the 30% mark, I was completely invested. This is the kind of book that I found myself thinking about when I wasn't reading it. Every time I set it down, I was thinking about what might happen next, or how it would all play out. That, to me, is a strong indication of a 5 star book.

I think that this book will fit niche audiences, but I will say that it made me feel similarly to how I felt when I read The Night Circus. This is the kind of book that I can easily obsess over, but can also see how some people may not enjoy the writing style/concept. That being said, I fully intend to pick up a physical copy of this as soon as I possibly can, as well as reading absolutely everything Kelly Link has written. The Book of Love will release on February 13th, 2024, and I hope you love it as much as I did!

[Alexa]

DNF at 23%

This book is bad.

[Emma Cathryne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Don't get me wrong, I adore Kelly Link. White Cat, Black Dog was easily one of my top three books of this year, and I am an avid collector of her short stories. However, I am forced to reluctantly admit that her exceptional skill as a short story author does not translate to novel form. Core to her style is a sense of absurdist whimsy that infuses her short stories with charm and magic; in novel form, this translates to something more repetitive and frustrating. Quirky details become long anecdotes become discursive journeys into the perspective of characters I lack interest in, drawing focus away from the central plot which is already murky at best. There is a vague quest, there are four teenagers with messy relationships, there are looming and mysterious forces of good and evil. However, even halfway through the story this promise fails to coalesce into anything propulsive. Which is a HUGE disappointment, given the Died And Came Back Wrong trope is one of the most fun and interesting out there.

The story is, if anything, more of a character study of the four main protagonists and the seaside New England town they live in. It is easy to lose track of the fantastical elements in the mundane ups and downs of their lives. I would have enjoyed this aspect a lot more if I found the cast likable: the only protagonist I was consistently rooting for was Mo. Daniel and Laura were surprisingly bland, and I was endlessly fed-up with Susannah, becoming quickly turned-off by her growing role in the story. I was significantly more interested in the arcane pasts of Mr. Anabin, Bogomil, Thomas, and Malo Mogge, and wish their characters and histories were more defined. Overall, a somewhat disappointing novel debut from one of my favorite authors. I liked best the heavy influence of mythology and folklore that is key to any Link story: there are echoes of East of the Sun and West of the Moon, Tam Lin, and plenty of other lesser-known but well-loved folktales that are likely influenced by her most recent story collection, itself a series of retellings.