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Bookburners #1.1-1.16
Bookburners: The Complete Season 1
The critically acclaimed urban fantasy about a secret team of agents that hunts down dangerous books containing deadly magic—previously released serially online by Serial Box, now available in print for the first time!
Magic is real, and hungry. It’s trapped in ancient texts and artifacts, and only a few who discover it survive to fight back. Detective Sal Brooks is a survivor. She joins a Vatican-backed black-ops anti-magic squad—Team Three of the Societas Librorum Occultorum—and together they stand between humanity and the magical apocalypse. Some call them the Bookburners. They don’t like the label.
Supernatural meets The Da Vinci Code in a fast-paced, kickass character driven novel (previously published serially at SerialBox.com/Serials/Bookburners) chock-full of magic, mystery, and mayhem, written collaboratively by a team of some of the best writers working in fantasy.
Magic is real, and hungry. It’s trapped in ancient texts and artifacts, and only a few who discover it survive to fight back. Detective Sal Brooks is a survivor. She joins a Vatican-backed black-ops anti-magic squad—Team Three of the Societas Librorum Occultorum—and together they stand between humanity and the magical apocalypse. Some call them the Bookburners. They don’t like the label.
Supernatural meets The Da Vinci Code in a fast-paced, kickass character driven novel (previously published serially at SerialBox.com/Serials/Bookburners) chock-full of magic, mystery, and mayhem, written collaboratively by a team of some of the best writers working in fantasy.
800 pages, Hardcover
First published November 1, 2016
106 people are currently reading
3575 people want to read
About the author
Max Gladstone
120 books2,527 followersMax Gladstone is the author of the Craft Sequence: THREE PARTS DEAD, TWO SERPENTS RISE, FULL FATHOM FIVE, and most recently, LAST FIRST SNOW. He's been twice nominated for the John W Campbell Best New Writer award, and nominated for the XYZZY and Lambda Awards.
Max has taught in southern Anhui, wrecked a bicycle in Angkor Wat, and been thrown from a horse in Mongolia. Max graduated from Yale University, where he studied Chinese.
Max has taught in southern Anhui, wrecked a bicycle in Angkor Wat, and been thrown from a horse in Mongolia. Max graduated from Yale University, where he studied Chinese.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 181 reviews
September 22, 2017
Book Burners is an urban fantasy series about a five-person team that works to recover dangerous magical artifacts and lock them away beneath the Vatican. The brainchild of Max Gladstone, author of the fabulous Craft series, it is one of the main titles for Serial Box, an online publisher/distributor that "brings everything that’s awesome about TV (easily digestible episodes, team written, new content every week) to what was already cool about books," selling the weekly installments for a small price. Like a tv show, there's a overarching plot that is moved incrementally along as the cast fights weekly battles. Think the tv show Supernatural, or as other reviewers note, Warehouse 13. Let the Serial Box advert serve as warning: Book Burners shares some of the weaknesses of the television format without capturing the strengths.
Five main characters make upThe Avengers the team: Detective Sally, police officer; Liam, computer dude; Grace, kick-ass fighter; Asanti, researcher; and Father Menchú, priest and leader. The first story uses Sal as as stand in for the naive reader, building the world and introducing the team and its mission. Sal's a NYPD police officer whose younger brother shows up at her apartment, looking for a place to crash. The team is following him, and when weird things happen, Sal ends up working with them to help her brother.
The collected edition has all 16 episodes of the first season in one tome, and definitely feels too similar about halfway through. Undoubtedly, reading will work better following the serial pacing, not binging. Each episode is about 50 pages. The four authors are able to achieve a relatively uniform tone, although I felt like Gladstone's style tended to stand out slightly. Most follow the standard tv format of short victim viewpoint followed by team-focused problem solving and action mode. Lafferty's sections had welcome flourishes of humor although it was misplaced when she did one of the final horror-filled installments. The pacing is well done, with each installment having a plot that starts and finishes, usually without resorting to cliffhangers. A small romance plot makes an appearance at one point, but overall it is paranormal romance-free.
However, the uniform tone is at the expense of in-depth world and personality-building. One way the authors deal with the challenge is to have a couple of episodes focus on backstories. Sal, the police officer and Grace, the fighting expert from China (go ahead; I sighed too) both get some history, but most episodes are the 'monster of the week' variety. Eventually, arch-villains are discovered who will provide background opposition through multiple stories.
Honestly, as a read it was only mildly entertaining. I don't think I've ever read anything that felt more like a television script, bare on details that would likely be fleshed out in a visual medium. Writing was often choppy, making me nostalgic for the work of writers more comfortable with short-story format. Characters felt largely stereotypical, with only the rare transcendent moment. There isn't too much that gets into the philosophical underpinnings of how team members reconcile the dichotomy of having magical support/knowledge/access/skills at the same time they are confiscating magical artifacts.
Overall, not a bad book, and I wouldn't rule out reading more in the world to see if the group gains their footing. It's just wasn't as fun as I was expecting (especially with the tv-like focus) and the choppy writing made it a bit of a chore as I progressed through the installments. Definitely made me want to go watch Supernatural.
Two and a half books.
The installments, broken out:
Badge, Book, and Candle (Gladstone): Sal meets the team
Anywhere but Here (Slattery): an Italian apartment and a pair of missing girls
Fair Weather (Dunlap): an explosion at a book shop leads to a yacht
A Sorcerer's Apprentice (Lafferty): Asanti heads to Scotland for her mentor's funeral, Sal is back-up
The Market Arcanum (Dunlap): Sal and Menchu attend the annual flea market for practitioners
Big Sky (Slattery): tornadoes are out of control in an Oklahoma town
Now and Then (Gladstone): Sal tracks down Grace and learns her story
Under My Skin (Lafferty): the team heads to Vegas to solve a problem with a tattoo artist reality show
Ancient Wonders (Dunlap): the team goes to Delphi to listen to the Oracle
Shore Leave (Lafferty): Grace and Sal enjoy Grace's day off while the team tries to manage a timepiece
Codex Umbra (Gladstone): recovering a magical book from a guarded fortress
Puppets (Slattery): dealing with demons
Keeping Friends Close (Lafferty): demons and books
An Excellent Day for an Exorcism (Slattery): Sal goes visiting
Things Lost (Dunlap)
Seige (Gladstone)
Five main characters make up
The collected edition has all 16 episodes of the first season in one tome, and definitely feels too similar about halfway through. Undoubtedly, reading will work better following the serial pacing, not binging. Each episode is about 50 pages. The four authors are able to achieve a relatively uniform tone, although I felt like Gladstone's style tended to stand out slightly. Most follow the standard tv format of short victim viewpoint followed by team-focused problem solving and action mode. Lafferty's sections had welcome flourishes of humor although it was misplaced when she did one of the final horror-filled installments. The pacing is well done, with each installment having a plot that starts and finishes, usually without resorting to cliffhangers. A small romance plot makes an appearance at one point, but overall it is paranormal romance-free.
However, the uniform tone is at the expense of in-depth world and personality-building. One way the authors deal with the challenge is to have a couple of episodes focus on backstories. Sal, the police officer and Grace, the fighting expert from China (go ahead; I sighed too) both get some history, but most episodes are the 'monster of the week' variety. Eventually, arch-villains are discovered who will provide background opposition through multiple stories.
Honestly, as a read it was only mildly entertaining. I don't think I've ever read anything that felt more like a television script, bare on details that would likely be fleshed out in a visual medium. Writing was often choppy, making me nostalgic for the work of writers more comfortable with short-story format. Characters felt largely stereotypical, with only the rare transcendent moment. There isn't too much that gets into the philosophical underpinnings of how team members reconcile the dichotomy of having magical support/knowledge/access/skills at the same time they are confiscating magical artifacts.
Overall, not a bad book, and I wouldn't rule out reading more in the world to see if the group gains their footing. It's just wasn't as fun as I was expecting (especially with the tv-like focus) and the choppy writing made it a bit of a chore as I progressed through the installments. Definitely made me want to go watch Supernatural.
Two and a half books.
The installments, broken out:
Badge, Book, and Candle (Gladstone): Sal meets the team
Anywhere but Here (Slattery): an Italian apartment and a pair of missing girls
Fair Weather (Dunlap): an explosion at a book shop leads to a yacht
A Sorcerer's Apprentice (Lafferty): Asanti heads to Scotland for her mentor's funeral, Sal is back-up
The Market Arcanum (Dunlap): Sal and Menchu attend the annual flea market for practitioners
Big Sky (Slattery): tornadoes are out of control in an Oklahoma town
Now and Then (Gladstone): Sal tracks down Grace and learns her story
Under My Skin (Lafferty): the team heads to Vegas to solve a problem with a tattoo artist reality show
Ancient Wonders (Dunlap): the team goes to Delphi to listen to the Oracle
Shore Leave (Lafferty): Grace and Sal enjoy Grace's day off while the team tries to manage a timepiece
Codex Umbra (Gladstone): recovering a magical book from a guarded fortress
Puppets (Slattery): dealing with demons
Keeping Friends Close (Lafferty): demons and books
An Excellent Day for an Exorcism (Slattery): Sal goes visiting
Things Lost (Dunlap)
Seige (Gladstone)
February 7, 2017
4 of 5 stars at The BiblioSanctum https://bibliosanctum.com/2017/02/02/...
Bookburners initially landed on my radar around a year and a half ago when it was first announced as the launching project by Serial Box, a publisher with an ambitious new idea to deliver their stories in a weekly serialized medium. The plan was that “Season One” will be a 16-episode run, written by a team of authors made up of Max Gladstone, Margaret Dunlap, Mur Lafferty, and Brian Francis Slattery. Though at the time I was only familiar with Gladstone’s work, it was enough that my interest was immediately piqued.
But as much as the concept of serialized novels intrigued me, it didn’t long at all for me to realize I preferred my books the same way I prefer my TV shows—as in, binge-watching a full season all at once. Sure enough, I tried to follow Bookburners when it first came out and promptly fell behind, which is why I was so glad when I found out that a collected edition was coming from Saga Press. I honestly loved what I saw of the first couple episodes, and thanks to this more convenient format, I finally got my chance to catch up with the full season.
Now, I’ve always admitted a huge weakness for “books about books” but what I liked about Bookburners is its unique take on the subject. You have a kickass lady cop, her wayward brother, and a group of demon hunters from the Vatican, and before you know it the stage is set for an urban fantasy adventure that will make you see “dangerous reading” in a whole new light. For NYPD Detective Sal Brooks, it was just another day on the grind when she gets a strange phone call from her brother Perry asking to hide out at her place. Over the years, Sal has become used to Perry’s idiosyncrasies, but this time, she knows something is seriously wrong. Turns out, her brother has gotten himself into some deep trouble, and it all comes down to a demon-possessed book.
Soon, Sal finds herself entangled with a Catholic priest and his secret team of agents whose mission is to travel all over the world tracking down and securing dangerous books infused with nasty magic. The book in Perry’s possession is revealed to be one such artifact, but the intervention comes too late and he succumbs to its evil. Now in order to save her brother’s life, Sal has little choice but to join up with Father Arturo Menchú and the Bookburners (even though they don’t actually burn the books), relocating to Rome to help fight for the cause. She quickly discovers a whole secret world that the Vatican’s Societas Librorum Occultorum has been keeping from the public, but a recent string of deadly magical threats is about to bring everything crashing down.
At first, I thought the structure of Bookburners was going to be like any other traditional novel which just happens to be released in 16 parts. So I was pleasantly surprised to find that each episode actually contains its own mini-story roughly complete with intro/exposition, rising action, climax and resolution, etc. Together, the 16 sections then make up a more complete and overarching season plot, so that in a sense, the format really does mirror that of a TV show. With Bookburners, I also noticed that the episodes grew progressively deeper and more complex, so for instance, earlier episodes that played more to the “Monster of the Week” trope would gradually give way to ones that contributed more to the overall “bigger picture” storyline.
This definitely affected my experience with the characters. I started the book not really caring all that much for anyone but Sal, but as each episode went on, her relationships with the other team members were explored. Eventually I became a fan of the whole cast, especially Father Menchú, whose portrayal was a breath of fresh air in contrast to the clichéd representations of religious figures I’ve seen in many other books; and also Grace, whose “origin story” wasn’t revealed until an episode halfway through the book, but wow, it was well worth the wait! Grace might have started the season as one of the most mysterious and least developed characters, but by the end of it I was in love and I wouldn’t be surprised if she ends up being a favorite for many others too.
But even though hands down Grace had the coolest and most unique backstory, it’s really just the tip of the iceberg. You’ll find so many more incredible and creative ideas in here, because every episode offers something different and new. A few of my favorite ones include “A Sorcerer’s Apprentice” (the one where Sal and Asanti go to Scotland and find that an entire town has become crazily obsessed with a restaurant), “Under My Skin” (the one where the Bookburners head to Vegas to investigate the competitors on a tattoo reality TV show, after the people getting inked start dying one by one under mysterious circumstances) and “Shore Leave” (the one where Grace and Sal get to spend some buddy time together on their shared day off). Probably not a coincidence that all three are written by Mur Lafferty, who has certainly gained a new fan in me after this book, but truly, all the authors involved did a fantastic job. Their styles and voices complemented each other very well, leading to seamless transition from one episode to the next, which became all the more important towards the end of the season when everything had to come together for the final showdown.
In case you couldn’t tell, I am beyond ecstatic that I got to read Bookburners in its entirety. With the serialized format, it’s always tough to know whether something will work or not, since a project often takes more than a couple episodes to take off (and I’m not exactly a font of patience either, so having to wait for anything tends to take the air out of my sails). Needless to say, I saw plenty of potential back when the first episode was released, but having this collection and being able to binge read several installments all at once was what ultimately got me well and truly hooked. Bookburners was a lot of fun and now I can hardly wait for Season Two.
Bookburners initially landed on my radar around a year and a half ago when it was first announced as the launching project by Serial Box, a publisher with an ambitious new idea to deliver their stories in a weekly serialized medium. The plan was that “Season One” will be a 16-episode run, written by a team of authors made up of Max Gladstone, Margaret Dunlap, Mur Lafferty, and Brian Francis Slattery. Though at the time I was only familiar with Gladstone’s work, it was enough that my interest was immediately piqued.
But as much as the concept of serialized novels intrigued me, it didn’t long at all for me to realize I preferred my books the same way I prefer my TV shows—as in, binge-watching a full season all at once. Sure enough, I tried to follow Bookburners when it first came out and promptly fell behind, which is why I was so glad when I found out that a collected edition was coming from Saga Press. I honestly loved what I saw of the first couple episodes, and thanks to this more convenient format, I finally got my chance to catch up with the full season.
Now, I’ve always admitted a huge weakness for “books about books” but what I liked about Bookburners is its unique take on the subject. You have a kickass lady cop, her wayward brother, and a group of demon hunters from the Vatican, and before you know it the stage is set for an urban fantasy adventure that will make you see “dangerous reading” in a whole new light. For NYPD Detective Sal Brooks, it was just another day on the grind when she gets a strange phone call from her brother Perry asking to hide out at her place. Over the years, Sal has become used to Perry’s idiosyncrasies, but this time, she knows something is seriously wrong. Turns out, her brother has gotten himself into some deep trouble, and it all comes down to a demon-possessed book.
Soon, Sal finds herself entangled with a Catholic priest and his secret team of agents whose mission is to travel all over the world tracking down and securing dangerous books infused with nasty magic. The book in Perry’s possession is revealed to be one such artifact, but the intervention comes too late and he succumbs to its evil. Now in order to save her brother’s life, Sal has little choice but to join up with Father Arturo Menchú and the Bookburners (even though they don’t actually burn the books), relocating to Rome to help fight for the cause. She quickly discovers a whole secret world that the Vatican’s Societas Librorum Occultorum has been keeping from the public, but a recent string of deadly magical threats is about to bring everything crashing down.
At first, I thought the structure of Bookburners was going to be like any other traditional novel which just happens to be released in 16 parts. So I was pleasantly surprised to find that each episode actually contains its own mini-story roughly complete with intro/exposition, rising action, climax and resolution, etc. Together, the 16 sections then make up a more complete and overarching season plot, so that in a sense, the format really does mirror that of a TV show. With Bookburners, I also noticed that the episodes grew progressively deeper and more complex, so for instance, earlier episodes that played more to the “Monster of the Week” trope would gradually give way to ones that contributed more to the overall “bigger picture” storyline.
This definitely affected my experience with the characters. I started the book not really caring all that much for anyone but Sal, but as each episode went on, her relationships with the other team members were explored. Eventually I became a fan of the whole cast, especially Father Menchú, whose portrayal was a breath of fresh air in contrast to the clichéd representations of religious figures I’ve seen in many other books; and also Grace, whose “origin story” wasn’t revealed until an episode halfway through the book, but wow, it was well worth the wait! Grace might have started the season as one of the most mysterious and least developed characters, but by the end of it I was in love and I wouldn’t be surprised if she ends up being a favorite for many others too.
But even though hands down Grace had the coolest and most unique backstory, it’s really just the tip of the iceberg. You’ll find so many more incredible and creative ideas in here, because every episode offers something different and new. A few of my favorite ones include “A Sorcerer’s Apprentice” (the one where Sal and Asanti go to Scotland and find that an entire town has become crazily obsessed with a restaurant), “Under My Skin” (the one where the Bookburners head to Vegas to investigate the competitors on a tattoo reality TV show, after the people getting inked start dying one by one under mysterious circumstances) and “Shore Leave” (the one where Grace and Sal get to spend some buddy time together on their shared day off). Probably not a coincidence that all three are written by Mur Lafferty, who has certainly gained a new fan in me after this book, but truly, all the authors involved did a fantastic job. Their styles and voices complemented each other very well, leading to seamless transition from one episode to the next, which became all the more important towards the end of the season when everything had to come together for the final showdown.
In case you couldn’t tell, I am beyond ecstatic that I got to read Bookburners in its entirety. With the serialized format, it’s always tough to know whether something will work or not, since a project often takes more than a couple episodes to take off (and I’m not exactly a font of patience either, so having to wait for anything tends to take the air out of my sails). Needless to say, I saw plenty of potential back when the first episode was released, but having this collection and being able to binge read several installments all at once was what ultimately got me well and truly hooked. Bookburners was a lot of fun and now I can hardly wait for Season Two.
September 4, 2016
Bookburners The Complete Season One...
Bookburners is a serial about a detective named Sal Brooks who joins a secret Vatican Black-Ops Squad after her brother gets possessed by demons after handling an ancient text that houses dark magic and demons. The squad is tasked with retrieving these books and securing them in their archives before more demons are spread through the world.
I wasn't sure what to expect going in to this but I knew the serial was about books so I couldn't pass it up. I'm glad I didn't. I thoroughly enjoyed every episode! There's a little bit of mystery, a little action, lots of magic and a great cast of some pretty cool and quirky characters too.
There are 16 episodes and each episode is fairly short so you can read through them pretty quickly when you don't have a lot of time but they pack a lot into a few pages. Also, the serial is written by four different authors that rotate episodes so you're in for a little something different each time which I really liked. I thought the four authors, Max Gladstone, Brian Francis Slattery, Mur Lafferty & Margaret Dunlap did a fantastic job collaborating and keeping the stories tied together and flowing naturally which I imagine isn't an easy thing to do with multiple personalities and writing styles.
I've gotten hooked on this serial so I definitely plan to continue with Season 2. A whole new set of authors are featured so I'm looking forward to seeing what they have in store for the Bookburners.
Links to all 16 reviews:
Hooked on Books Blog- Bookburners: The Complete Season One
*I received Bookburners: Complete Season One ARC from NetGalley & Serial Box Publishing in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!
**I read Episodes 13, 14, 15 & 16 for 2016 Halloween Book Bingo
Bookburners is a serial about a detective named Sal Brooks who joins a secret Vatican Black-Ops Squad after her brother gets possessed by demons after handling an ancient text that houses dark magic and demons. The squad is tasked with retrieving these books and securing them in their archives before more demons are spread through the world.
I wasn't sure what to expect going in to this but I knew the serial was about books so I couldn't pass it up. I'm glad I didn't. I thoroughly enjoyed every episode! There's a little bit of mystery, a little action, lots of magic and a great cast of some pretty cool and quirky characters too.
There are 16 episodes and each episode is fairly short so you can read through them pretty quickly when you don't have a lot of time but they pack a lot into a few pages. Also, the serial is written by four different authors that rotate episodes so you're in for a little something different each time which I really liked. I thought the four authors, Max Gladstone, Brian Francis Slattery, Mur Lafferty & Margaret Dunlap did a fantastic job collaborating and keeping the stories tied together and flowing naturally which I imagine isn't an easy thing to do with multiple personalities and writing styles.
I've gotten hooked on this serial so I definitely plan to continue with Season 2. A whole new set of authors are featured so I'm looking forward to seeing what they have in store for the Bookburners.
Links to all 16 reviews:
Hooked on Books Blog- Bookburners: The Complete Season One
*I received Bookburners: Complete Season One ARC from NetGalley & Serial Box Publishing in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!
**I read Episodes 13, 14, 15 & 16 for 2016 Halloween Book Bingo
Read
September 6, 2018At eight hundred pages, divided into sixteen fifty-page episodes, this series reads like a novelized TV show, which has its strengths and its weaknesses.
The episodes largely reflect a standard TV episode structure, introducing a victim, followed by the team’s actions in solving the case. The pacing reflected television in moving along swiftly, and providing plot arcs that resolve, for the most part, by the episode’s end.
But the novelization feel shows in how briefly characters are sketched in, making most of them seem like types, right down to the Chinese character being of course a martial artist. Backgrounds seemed like prose versions of Hollywood sets at times, especially in episodes that read like “MOW” eps (Monster of the Week).
Most of all, though the story is dealing with mythic material that borders on big questions, and the characters employ big powers, there was surprisingly little corresponding sense of wonder. However, that could just be first pancake syndrome—the writers settling the world, the characters, and how it all will work.
Considering the pedigree of the various authors, I feel certain that the next season will delve into more interesting territory, now that the foundation has been laid.
Copy provided by NetGalley
The episodes largely reflect a standard TV episode structure, introducing a victim, followed by the team’s actions in solving the case. The pacing reflected television in moving along swiftly, and providing plot arcs that resolve, for the most part, by the episode’s end.
But the novelization feel shows in how briefly characters are sketched in, making most of them seem like types, right down to the Chinese character being of course a martial artist. Backgrounds seemed like prose versions of Hollywood sets at times, especially in episodes that read like “MOW” eps (Monster of the Week).
Most of all, though the story is dealing with mythic material that borders on big questions, and the characters employ big powers, there was surprisingly little corresponding sense of wonder. However, that could just be first pancake syndrome—the writers settling the world, the characters, and how it all will work.
Considering the pedigree of the various authors, I feel certain that the next season will delve into more interesting territory, now that the foundation has been laid.
Copy provided by NetGalley
August 7, 2017
I have to say that I really enjoyed this HUGE 800-page book, written in serial form, with 16 50-page episodes. 4.5 stars. And I have to say it rates up there with the classic of this genre, Stephen King's The Green Mile.
The basic premise is a team of five people from different backgrounds are part of a Vatican team dedicated to fighting demons and capturing dangerous books to be kept safe in the Vatican library. The main character, Sally (Sal) Brooks is a NYC cop, who meets the team when they come to get a book stolen by her brother, and joins them to save him. Each episode has a full story arc dealing with a new demonic or magical threats, with a premise, building tension, and a resolution. The stories also develop the characters, politics at the Vatican, and the seminal question as to whether magic should be restricted or free. Personally, I liked the format, giving readers the chance to binge or step away to read something in between. My favorite episode was the back story of the team's kick-ass enforcer, Grace.
I am looking forward to reading Season 2.
The basic premise is a team of five people from different backgrounds are part of a Vatican team dedicated to fighting demons and capturing dangerous books to be kept safe in the Vatican library. The main character, Sally (Sal) Brooks is a NYC cop, who meets the team when they come to get a book stolen by her brother, and joins them to save him. Each episode has a full story arc dealing with a new demonic or magical threats, with a premise, building tension, and a resolution. The stories also develop the characters, politics at the Vatican, and the seminal question as to whether magic should be restricted or free. Personally, I liked the format, giving readers the chance to binge or step away to read something in between. My favorite episode was the back story of the team's kick-ass enforcer, Grace.
I am looking forward to reading Season 2.
February 23, 2021
I have a new obsession and no regrets.
Articulate review may or may not follow
AAAAAAH
Update: I found some words! Full review
Articulate review may or may not follow
AAAAAAH
Update: I found some words! Full review
December 9, 2021
2.5 💦 Fairy из 5
Фоновая версия "Сверхъестественного" для занятий домашними делами. Вслушиваться вовсе не обязательно.
Фоновая версия "Сверхъестественного" для занятий домашними делами. Вслушиваться вовсе не обязательно.
March 25, 2017
I'm a sucker for stories about secret histories and secret worlds hiding behind our mundane reality, so this was right in my wheelhouse. This tome about magic books and the Vatican team tasked to retrieve them is great fun from start to finish.
The fact that this was written by four different authors each taking turns in serial format and yet it hangs together in terms of tone and style is a kind of magic all its own. After a while I could kind of see slightly different styles here and there (Lafferty's comma-spliced compound sentences, Gladstone's syncopation) but the vast majority's melds so astoundingly well that the seams are virtually invisible.
This is a long-running idea used before: John Steakley's Vampire$ hinted at other groups hunting different supernatural critters, the tales of modern Templar knight Peter Crossman and his kickass nun comrade by James D. Macdonald in The Apocalypse Door used this idea offscreen, and, more recently, the TV series Supernatural adding a new international secret society of monster hunters called The Men of Letters has revitalized that show. And, of course, the Watchers who pulled strings (mostly) behind the scenes in Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
But now we finally have a terrific, pure version of the concept, complete with cool characters, smashing action, holy crosses and unholy double-crosses, plus moral conundrums.
I really enjoyed how they set us up with the apparently typical Five Man Band situation and then subverted expectations. The Smart Guy (Liam Doyle) who is the computer hacker also happens to be handy in a fight, because he regularly spars with the River Tam "action girl" analogue (Grace), and so on. This also sports one of the smoothest integrations of the Audience Avatar (aka Audience Surrogate) into the secret world that I've seen in a while, when NYPD detective Sally Brooks gets swept into the demon-hunting world because her brother is into some shady shenanigans. She meets the team, led by a priest, and discovers there's some spooky shit going down. It flows like water.
There are twists and turns which feel natural, but best of all everyone is smart. I can't stress that part enough. The good guys are smart. The demons are smart. The bad guys are smart. The people in charge are smart. The hired help is smart. No one does something dumb just because the plot demands it.
People get caught unawares because they experience things beyond their comprehension or because they didn't have all the information, but once they acclimatize and adjust, it's full speed ahead.
Despite the 800 page length, this was also a fast read. Everything entertainment should be: smart, fast and fun.
The fact that this was written by four different authors each taking turns in serial format and yet it hangs together in terms of tone and style is a kind of magic all its own. After a while I could kind of see slightly different styles here and there (Lafferty's comma-spliced compound sentences, Gladstone's syncopation) but the vast majority's melds so astoundingly well that the seams are virtually invisible.
This is a long-running idea used before: John Steakley's Vampire$ hinted at other groups hunting different supernatural critters, the tales of modern Templar knight Peter Crossman and his kickass nun comrade by James D. Macdonald in The Apocalypse Door used this idea offscreen, and, more recently, the TV series Supernatural adding a new international secret society of monster hunters called The Men of Letters has revitalized that show. And, of course, the Watchers who pulled strings (mostly) behind the scenes in Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
But now we finally have a terrific, pure version of the concept, complete with cool characters, smashing action, holy crosses and unholy double-crosses, plus moral conundrums.
I really enjoyed how they set us up with the apparently typical Five Man Band situation and then subverted expectations. The Smart Guy (Liam Doyle) who is the computer hacker also happens to be handy in a fight, because he regularly spars with the River Tam "action girl" analogue (Grace), and so on. This also sports one of the smoothest integrations of the Audience Avatar (aka Audience Surrogate) into the secret world that I've seen in a while, when NYPD detective Sally Brooks gets swept into the demon-hunting world because her brother is into some shady shenanigans. She meets the team, led by a priest, and discovers there's some spooky shit going down. It flows like water.
There are twists and turns which feel natural, but best of all everyone is smart. I can't stress that part enough. The good guys are smart. The demons are smart. The bad guys are smart. The people in charge are smart. The hired help is smart. No one does something dumb just because the plot demands it.
People get caught unawares because they experience things beyond their comprehension or because they didn't have all the information, but once they acclimatize and adjust, it's full speed ahead.
Despite the 800 page length, this was also a fast read. Everything entertainment should be: smart, fast and fun.
March 29, 2017
4.5/5 STARS
“‘How bad can it be? I’ve never seen a demon attack on the news.’
‘People disappear all the time. All over the world…Lost legions. Lost cities. Have you ever heard of the town of Colebridge, New York?’
‘No.’
‘Exactly.’”
About : NYPD detective Sally Brooks walks into her apartment one day to find that her techie younger brother, Perry, has come for a surprise visit—needing her help, as usual. This time Perry’s brought a strange book with him, the source of his latest troubles.
Things just get stranger when the Bookburners kick down Sal’s front door, demanding the mysterious book. They arrive too late to save Perry from opening the book and releasing a destructive power from inside.
Next thing Sal knows, her brother is hospitalized and comatose and she’s chasing down demon-possessed books of power with the same team who tried to save her brother. Her new team, the Societas Librorum Occultorum, works for the Vatican by containing the threats posed by magical artifacts. Sal wants in—if only to find some way to save her brother. Bookburners is an adult urban fantasy collection of serials, hardcover, 800 pages. Published January 31st 2017 by Saga Press. Authored by Max Gladstone, Margaret Dunlap, Mur Lafferty & Brian Francis Slattery.
Thoughts : I first heard about Bookburners in a Fantasy and Science Fiction Magazine review, and though I was interested in it, I couldn’t afford to pay $1.99 per episode (season one has 16 episodes) because I didn’t have a job at the time. But soon after that, I heard about Max Gladstone’s Craft Sequence books and immediately fell hard for the humor, worldbuilding and characters. So I was pretty stoked when I heard that Saga Press was releasing a collected volume of all sixteen episodes in season one.
I’m happy to report that season one easily lived up to my atmospheric expectations. If you pick up this collection, get ready to kick some demon butt with the Bookburners!
I love the premise of the worldbuilding: that books can be a window to the dangerous and mysterious world of demon magics and the Vatican protects the world from said dangers. Each episode has a full arc dealing with a new demonic or magical threats, and it never fails to deal moments of genuine urban fantasy “cool factor.” Whether it's possessed restaurant owners, deal-making machines that steal knowledge from your mind or hand-drawn “tornado eaters” come to life, I guarantee you’ll enjoy the imagination of these four top notch authors. Some episodes also really hit home emotionally. One of my favorite episodes is Big Sky by Slattery, which is set in the US and just so moving. It feels like a western tall tale. As Sal walks through a small town Oklahoma in search of a mysterious pulse of magic, she reflects on the homey scene:
“It was all so recognizable to Sal. She didn’t have a general theory about people—she’d seen a little too much for that—but if someone had forced her to give one, it would have ben that most people don’t ask that much from their lives. They want a roof over their heads, a job that isn’t too terrible, a couple of days off to relax now and again. If they have kids, they want to do okay by them. That’s about it.”
It's an emotional moment for the cop, who doesn't get to see this side of life in her line of work.
The writing feels a little choppy in the very beginning episodes (especially if you’re breathlessly anticipating Max Gladstone’s word perfect “Craft Sequence” humor, as I was), but it quickly smoothes out and regardless I enjoyed every episode very much.
Perhaps most interesting to me about the world of Bookburners is the debate among the characters over how to handle the magic: use it or destroy it? Magic is clearly dangerous, but what if it could be harnessed? Can it be harnessed? The religious members feel so genuine in their convictions, and the secular debaters pose equally strong arguments. It’s a hot topic in this urban fantasy world and I enjoyed seeing it bandied about among the characters.
“‘Information is like a contagion. It spreads. Your employers do an admirable job controlling that, but they aren’t the only players in the game. As much as they might want to eliminate the knowledge and use of magic completely, not every vector can be silenced.’"
I love how Max Gladstone engineers all his work to be full of secrets, questions and conflicting opinions, a mirror of life itself. It reminds me of Brandon Sanderson's Way of Kings quote, “The purpose of a storyteller is not to tell you how to think, but to give you questions to think upon.” I love it when an author can channel that into their storytelling—and make it cool! [Also, spoilery discussion: ]
And speaking of characters, everyone gets their own full, fascinating arc throughout the season, and often an episode laser-focuses on one or two characters. I especially fret over poor, damaged Liam, a studdly gym rat with a history of demon possession and a rocky, but fervent lifeline in the church. The conflicts surrounding him have hugely personal stakes (and he does tend to attract ALL THE DRAMA, lol), although Grace, the kick-butt ninja of the team has her own crazy magical secrets and is a very close second favorite…and Father Menchú, now there’s a cool priest…you know what, they’re all awesome. Forget I said anything about favorites.
Overall : Fantastic and I can’t wait for season 2. We will get a compilation of season two, right? Pretty please?!
Recommended To : Readers looking for a fresh take on the demon hunters trope.
If you liked this review, you can read more of my speculative fiction reviews on my blog
“‘How bad can it be? I’ve never seen a demon attack on the news.’
‘People disappear all the time. All over the world…Lost legions. Lost cities. Have you ever heard of the town of Colebridge, New York?’
‘No.’
‘Exactly.’”
About : NYPD detective Sally Brooks walks into her apartment one day to find that her techie younger brother, Perry, has come for a surprise visit—needing her help, as usual. This time Perry’s brought a strange book with him, the source of his latest troubles.
Things just get stranger when the Bookburners kick down Sal’s front door, demanding the mysterious book. They arrive too late to save Perry from opening the book and releasing a destructive power from inside.
Next thing Sal knows, her brother is hospitalized and comatose and she’s chasing down demon-possessed books of power with the same team who tried to save her brother. Her new team, the Societas Librorum Occultorum, works for the Vatican by containing the threats posed by magical artifacts. Sal wants in—if only to find some way to save her brother. Bookburners is an adult urban fantasy collection of serials, hardcover, 800 pages. Published January 31st 2017 by Saga Press. Authored by Max Gladstone, Margaret Dunlap, Mur Lafferty & Brian Francis Slattery.
Thoughts : I first heard about Bookburners in a Fantasy and Science Fiction Magazine review, and though I was interested in it, I couldn’t afford to pay $1.99 per episode (season one has 16 episodes) because I didn’t have a job at the time. But soon after that, I heard about Max Gladstone’s Craft Sequence books and immediately fell hard for the humor, worldbuilding and characters. So I was pretty stoked when I heard that Saga Press was releasing a collected volume of all sixteen episodes in season one.
I’m happy to report that season one easily lived up to my atmospheric expectations. If you pick up this collection, get ready to kick some demon butt with the Bookburners!
I love the premise of the worldbuilding: that books can be a window to the dangerous and mysterious world of demon magics and the Vatican protects the world from said dangers. Each episode has a full arc dealing with a new demonic or magical threats, and it never fails to deal moments of genuine urban fantasy “cool factor.” Whether it's possessed restaurant owners, deal-making machines that steal knowledge from your mind or hand-drawn “tornado eaters” come to life, I guarantee you’ll enjoy the imagination of these four top notch authors. Some episodes also really hit home emotionally. One of my favorite episodes is Big Sky by Slattery, which is set in the US and just so moving. It feels like a western tall tale. As Sal walks through a small town Oklahoma in search of a mysterious pulse of magic, she reflects on the homey scene:
“It was all so recognizable to Sal. She didn’t have a general theory about people—she’d seen a little too much for that—but if someone had forced her to give one, it would have ben that most people don’t ask that much from their lives. They want a roof over their heads, a job that isn’t too terrible, a couple of days off to relax now and again. If they have kids, they want to do okay by them. That’s about it.”
It's an emotional moment for the cop, who doesn't get to see this side of life in her line of work.
The writing feels a little choppy in the very beginning episodes (especially if you’re breathlessly anticipating Max Gladstone’s word perfect “Craft Sequence” humor, as I was), but it quickly smoothes out and regardless I enjoyed every episode very much.
Perhaps most interesting to me about the world of Bookburners is the debate among the characters over how to handle the magic: use it or destroy it? Magic is clearly dangerous, but what if it could be harnessed? Can it be harnessed? The religious members feel so genuine in their convictions, and the secular debaters pose equally strong arguments. It’s a hot topic in this urban fantasy world and I enjoyed seeing it bandied about among the characters.
“‘Information is like a contagion. It spreads. Your employers do an admirable job controlling that, but they aren’t the only players in the game. As much as they might want to eliminate the knowledge and use of magic completely, not every vector can be silenced.’"
I love how Max Gladstone engineers all his work to be full of secrets, questions and conflicting opinions, a mirror of life itself. It reminds me of Brandon Sanderson's Way of Kings quote, “The purpose of a storyteller is not to tell you how to think, but to give you questions to think upon.” I love it when an author can channel that into their storytelling—and make it cool! [Also, spoilery discussion: ]
And speaking of characters, everyone gets their own full, fascinating arc throughout the season, and often an episode laser-focuses on one or two characters. I especially fret over poor, damaged Liam, a studdly gym rat with a history of demon possession and a rocky, but fervent lifeline in the church. The conflicts surrounding him have hugely personal stakes (and he does tend to attract ALL THE DRAMA, lol), although Grace, the kick-butt ninja of the team has her own crazy magical secrets and is a very close second favorite…and Father Menchú, now there’s a cool priest…you know what, they’re all awesome. Forget I said anything about favorites.
Overall : Fantastic and I can’t wait for season 2. We will get a compilation of season two, right? Pretty please?!
Recommended To : Readers looking for a fresh take on the demon hunters trope.
If you liked this review, you can read more of my speculative fiction reviews on my blog
August 20, 2024
I lost my loan and doubt I'll get back to it any time soon, unfortunately.
It was nice! A bunch of related short stories about the supernatural librarian/military corp. Very monster of the week from noteworthy authors.
It was nice! A bunch of related short stories about the supernatural librarian/military corp. Very monster of the week from noteworthy authors.
June 9, 2017
Well, that was fun. This was originally written as a weekly serial and laid out as if it were a television show, albeit written in traditional story format rather than as a script. Four authors undertook to write 16 "episodes" comprised of 5-6 chapters per episode, with each author writing their own episodes. You'd think the result would make for a jarring transition of writing styles when moving from one author's episode to another's but it really didn't. It all flowed rather well.
The story deals with magic, demons, and a secret organization within the Vatican that is tasked with keeping dangerous magic from entering the world. Pledged to this cause is Team Three: a hacker, an archivist, a fighter, a priest, and a newly recruited cop. Much as with a television show, I found myself getting more and more sucked into the misadventures of Team Three, complete with interesting twists and reveals.
Overall this felt like a mix of actual televisions shows, Warehouse 13 and The Librarians - with a bit of Haven thrown in. A second season is already written and available for purchase as individual episodes at Serial Box publishing but I'm torn between diving in right now or waiting for all of season two to be published in a single volume (as they've done with season one). Either way, I'll continue to follow Team Three's adventures.
The story deals with magic, demons, and a secret organization within the Vatican that is tasked with keeping dangerous magic from entering the world. Pledged to this cause is Team Three: a hacker, an archivist, a fighter, a priest, and a newly recruited cop. Much as with a television show, I found myself getting more and more sucked into the misadventures of Team Three, complete with interesting twists and reveals.
Overall this felt like a mix of actual televisions shows, Warehouse 13 and The Librarians - with a bit of Haven thrown in. A second season is already written and available for purchase as individual episodes at Serial Box publishing but I'm torn between diving in right now or waiting for all of season two to be published in a single volume (as they've done with season one). Either way, I'll continue to follow Team Three's adventures.
February 6, 2017
3.5-4ish. This really gains its momentum about halfway through, though most of the episodes are a lot of fun. I can only imagine season two will be even better and really build on what they've already established. Full video review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouS8e...
April 27, 2019
I enjoyed this a LOT. Found family/team stories, written compellingly, are always fun to read. I had thought the whole vatican/sealing demons/monster of the week storyline would get boring, but these authors know what they're doing. There are overall plots, characters beats, exotic locales, and lots of discussion of purpose. Plus, ride or die teammates (for most part). Read this one in chunks of ebook during work, and have the next lined up on audible. Solid Urban Fantasy.
August 11, 2016
I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
The Bookburners series was originally published online as a serial to which you can subscribe. They are now on Season 2. Each serial is written by one of four co-writers, and I guess the concept is kind of like a TV show with different writers.
While Bookburners is certainly a catchy title, it's a bit misleading when you think about how you normally perceive something like destroying a book. It turns out that there are books of evil magic, containing demons, that must be destroyed, or at least that's what we're going with for the first season. So Bookburners aren't as subversive as you might think.
Our entry point to the series is through the POV of Sal, a female detective with a little brother with a penchant for the occult, technology and for getting into trouble. By the end of the first episode (written by Max Gladstone) Sal has become a member of a team that includes a fiery Irish tech guy, a Latino priest, a Chinese martial artist, and eventually a dreadlocked British librarian who sort of leads the team. The series is indeed quite episodic, with a sort of Case of the Week, although there is a plot throughline that eventually comes together. It reminds me a lot of the "Shadow Unit" series written by Elizabeth Bear, among others.
I started detaching from the series of stories with Mur Lafferty's. I've only read one book by her, and she's not really my kind of writer. I'm not good with humor in books- it's tricky to pull off- and that's why. Her story, which featured a gluttony demon hiding in a cookbook that then made an Edinburgh restaurant inexplicably, crazily popular, tried to be funny, and after the intensity of the previous stories it was a clanger. I suppose the writer was trying to write what she knew and had worked in a restaurant once, but the "as you know, Bob" explanation of the food industry and the stilted conversations the characters had kept me at a distance. The tone was not really all that consistent through most of the early part of the book, maybe because the writers weren't quite sure how to get where they were going. The twists were not especially surprising. There was an effort to give all the characters a backstory, but relationships weren't developed consistently and I had to make a lot of allowances for stuff that didn't make sense in order to keep going.
I finished it, and thought it was fine. It's good "popcorn" reading if you want something quick and light. Part of the reason I started the book was because I'm a big fan of Max Gladstone, but his appearance in the stories was sporadic and I didn't find a new author to be enthralled by. I'm not going to seek out more in the series.
The Bookburners series was originally published online as a serial to which you can subscribe. They are now on Season 2. Each serial is written by one of four co-writers, and I guess the concept is kind of like a TV show with different writers.
While Bookburners is certainly a catchy title, it's a bit misleading when you think about how you normally perceive something like destroying a book. It turns out that there are books of evil magic, containing demons, that must be destroyed, or at least that's what we're going with for the first season. So Bookburners aren't as subversive as you might think.
Our entry point to the series is through the POV of Sal, a female detective with a little brother with a penchant for the occult, technology and for getting into trouble. By the end of the first episode (written by Max Gladstone) Sal has become a member of a team that includes a fiery Irish tech guy, a Latino priest, a Chinese martial artist, and eventually a dreadlocked British librarian who sort of leads the team. The series is indeed quite episodic, with a sort of Case of the Week, although there is a plot throughline that eventually comes together. It reminds me a lot of the "Shadow Unit" series written by Elizabeth Bear, among others.
I started detaching from the series of stories with Mur Lafferty's. I've only read one book by her, and she's not really my kind of writer. I'm not good with humor in books- it's tricky to pull off- and that's why. Her story, which featured a gluttony demon hiding in a cookbook that then made an Edinburgh restaurant inexplicably, crazily popular, tried to be funny, and after the intensity of the previous stories it was a clanger. I suppose the writer was trying to write what she knew and had worked in a restaurant once, but the "as you know, Bob" explanation of the food industry and the stilted conversations the characters had kept me at a distance. The tone was not really all that consistent through most of the early part of the book, maybe because the writers weren't quite sure how to get where they were going. The twists were not especially surprising. There was an effort to give all the characters a backstory, but relationships weren't developed consistently and I had to make a lot of allowances for stuff that didn't make sense in order to keep going.
I finished it, and thought it was fine. It's good "popcorn" reading if you want something quick and light. Part of the reason I started the book was because I'm a big fan of Max Gladstone, but his appearance in the stories was sporadic and I didn't find a new author to be enthralled by. I'm not going to seek out more in the series.
May 13, 2017
This book is loooooong, but if you're into action-packed dark fantasy it's worth your time. It was originally written serially and released with a subscription box, so the story is broken up into easily digestible bits that are easy to remember if you want to take a little break in between, so if you find a physical copy of this book don't let it intimidate you. It's not as big and scary as it looks.
As for the story, it's kind of like those Librarian movies with Noah Wyle, or National Treasure. With demons. It's about a crack team of specialists who work with the Vatican to collect and secure dangerous (read: possessed) books and artifacts to keep them from endangering hapless readers by spewing out demons or stopping time or turning everything nearby into toxic black mold. The demon stuff is dark and creepy (and occasionally kind of funny). The characters all have their own specialties and distinct personalities, and I found getting to know them all to be really satisfying. The authors also took the time to build characters with truly diverse backgrounds: the fighter is Chinese, the hacker is Irish, the librarian is African (I want to say Nigerian, but my memory has faded), the priest is Salvadoran (I think? It's been a few weeks since I finished...), and the cop is from the states. Their experiences and backgrounds matter to their character, and it's one of those elements that makes for a richer reading experience. The story is filled with action and peril, and is informed by lots of different types of world religions and mythologies, which was also really fun to read.
Be brave! Ignore the massive size of this book and give it a try. There are so many things that make it fun, exciting, tense, scary reading. It's a cinematic reading experience, and one it would be a shame to miss if any part of my description sounds interesting.
As for the story, it's kind of like those Librarian movies with Noah Wyle, or National Treasure. With demons. It's about a crack team of specialists who work with the Vatican to collect and secure dangerous (read: possessed) books and artifacts to keep them from endangering hapless readers by spewing out demons or stopping time or turning everything nearby into toxic black mold. The demon stuff is dark and creepy (and occasionally kind of funny). The characters all have their own specialties and distinct personalities, and I found getting to know them all to be really satisfying. The authors also took the time to build characters with truly diverse backgrounds: the fighter is Chinese, the hacker is Irish, the librarian is African (I want to say Nigerian, but my memory has faded), the priest is Salvadoran (I think? It's been a few weeks since I finished...), and the cop is from the states. Their experiences and backgrounds matter to their character, and it's one of those elements that makes for a richer reading experience. The story is filled with action and peril, and is informed by lots of different types of world religions and mythologies, which was also really fun to read.
Be brave! Ignore the massive size of this book and give it a try. There are so many things that make it fun, exciting, tense, scary reading. It's a cinematic reading experience, and one it would be a shame to miss if any part of my description sounds interesting.
August 11, 2021
A large part Wheel of Time with a dash of the Chronicles of Narnia and a smidgen of Harry Potter. That's my best description for what turned out to be a very engaging book. The central story-line revolves around the Vatican and their (supposed) efforts to control the influence of magic in the world. Beyond that, I can't say much without giving away key parts of the book. If you loved any of the above mentioned series, you'll probably enjoy this one as well.
October 2, 2018
3.5 stars. Good paranormal suspense about a secret organization funded by the Vatican who travel the world confiscating dangerous magical texts. This was originally released serially - I would've hated to read it that way. I also think the serial thing contributed to this book's heft (800 pages) - it could definitely stand to be trimmed down a bit.
August 11, 2018
So, it’s the book version of Warehouse 13, mixed up with a bit of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and written like a tv-series, with monster-of-the-week chapters, a mythology and seasonal arc. At first it doesn’t work, but then, at the middle of the “season” it does. And isn’t that exactly how a lot of tv-series work too?
June 17, 2018
There is nothing new and too many cliches in here.
This book was written in order to promote a new publisher and (ideally) to pay the authors. None of that is bad, but there should be a different answer to the question “Why was this book written?”. There is nothing new or innovative here, the stories follow the episodic character of the cheap TV-shows copying more successful other shows.
The book could have profited from more stringent control, leaving the single authors more room to expand. Instead we get the same plot dished out again and again, sometimes with added drama. That rarely works, because like every mediocre show, this one fails to develop interesting characters I care about. Instead I got bored by the most intense sequences simply because I wasn’t invested in these characters survival.
Ultimately I was drawn in by the name of Max Gladstone. This is far from his better work and I only hope it pays well enough that the authors can do something better.
This book was written in order to promote a new publisher and (ideally) to pay the authors. None of that is bad, but there should be a different answer to the question “Why was this book written?”. There is nothing new or innovative here, the stories follow the episodic character of the cheap TV-shows copying more successful other shows.
The book could have profited from more stringent control, leaving the single authors more room to expand. Instead we get the same plot dished out again and again, sometimes with added drama. That rarely works, because like every mediocre show, this one fails to develop interesting characters I care about. Instead I got bored by the most intense sequences simply because I wasn’t invested in these characters survival.
Ultimately I was drawn in by the name of Max Gladstone. This is far from his better work and I only hope it pays well enough that the authors can do something better.
September 8, 2017
Sal Brooks is a Manhattan cop, used to all sorts of trouble, especially when it comes from her younger brother, Perry. So when he comes to her door late one night under suspicious circumstances, Sal knows he's done something stupid. Unfortunately, it's not the usual trouble she's grown accustomed to; Perry has become possessed by a demon called the Hand and disappears. Right on Perry's heels are the Bookburners, a motley group consisting of a priest named Menchu, a hacker named Liam, and an almost supernatural fighter called Grace. They explain to Sal that they work for the Vatican collecting and storing books that contain demons and fighting the ones that escape. Sal joins up with them in order to hunt down and save her brother, but she quickly finds herself in over her head in this new world full of magic and monsters.
This massive tome contains "season 1" of the Bookburners series, separated into 16 episodes. And the authors did indeed treat the episodes like a television series: short, fast-paced, some episodes not adding much to the overarching storyline. I was worried for a while that that was going to be the case for the entire read; the first half of the season just seemed to be trying to build the setting and give the reader greater insight into the individual team members. Safe to say I was bored for the first three or four hundred pages. But then the main arc began to take off and that really picked up the pace. I have to say, that definitely kept my interest, and I finished the second half of the book in half the time it took me to slog through the first part. It did also manage to end the season like one from a TV series: it left me questioning and deeply unsatisfied. So many things were left unsettled: Perry's "mission", Sal and Liam's relationship, Liam's feelings about Grace's "condition" and his own internal battle, as well as the snapshot incident that occurs at the very end. I know that's meant to keep readers wanting more and eager to read the second season, but it elicited no such response in me. I just wasn't a huge fan of any of the characters; Sal was a little too emotionally detached, Menchu held too tightly to his dogma, Grace was a little too cold, Liam too stubborn, and Asanti (Vatican archivist and part of the team) was simply too underdeveloped for me to get a true feel for her character. I did think she could be too arrogant, though. And the team overall just didn't mesh. There was too much constant friction, and when the time came for them to actually come together as a team, it felt forced and kind of thrown together at the last minute; any time someone expressed a sentiment similar to "I have your back," it didn't really work.
For what it's trying to be, the series is actually pretty good. It simply isn't my cup of tea.
This massive tome contains "season 1" of the Bookburners series, separated into 16 episodes. And the authors did indeed treat the episodes like a television series: short, fast-paced, some episodes not adding much to the overarching storyline. I was worried for a while that that was going to be the case for the entire read; the first half of the season just seemed to be trying to build the setting and give the reader greater insight into the individual team members. Safe to say I was bored for the first three or four hundred pages. But then the main arc began to take off and that really picked up the pace. I have to say, that definitely kept my interest, and I finished the second half of the book in half the time it took me to slog through the first part. It did also manage to end the season like one from a TV series: it left me questioning and deeply unsatisfied. So many things were left unsettled: Perry's "mission", Sal and Liam's relationship, Liam's feelings about Grace's "condition" and his own internal battle, as well as the snapshot incident that occurs at the very end. I know that's meant to keep readers wanting more and eager to read the second season, but it elicited no such response in me. I just wasn't a huge fan of any of the characters; Sal was a little too emotionally detached, Menchu held too tightly to his dogma, Grace was a little too cold, Liam too stubborn, and Asanti (Vatican archivist and part of the team) was simply too underdeveloped for me to get a true feel for her character. I did think she could be too arrogant, though. And the team overall just didn't mesh. There was too much constant friction, and when the time came for them to actually come together as a team, it felt forced and kind of thrown together at the last minute; any time someone expressed a sentiment similar to "I have your back," it didn't really work.
For what it's trying to be, the series is actually pretty good. It simply isn't my cup of tea.
January 26, 2018
I listened to the original audio from SerialBox for this. I have a pretty bad record with audiobooks, but this worked really well for me! I really enjoyed the narration from Xe Sands. I thought she did a really great job with conveying emotion through the season, and I truly enjoyed listening to her, which is not something I can always say about the audiobooks I've listened to before.
I will say, I picked this as an attempt to try out Max Gladstone, only to find out that the majority of it is actually written by other people! (Mur Lafferty, Margaret Dunlap, and Brian Slattery, to be exact.) I believe that only 3 episodes of the season were actually written by Max Gladstone himself. Which ended up being fine. I had no problem with any of the authors involved in the project, and I greatly enjoyed their work. It just wasn't quite what I expected with the author situation.
That aside, I really enjoyed the serial format. I think it made the audiobook easier for me, because each episode is about an hour long, and each episode could theoretically stand alone. You might not understand everything if you came in to the story in the middle, but you could get by, and you would get a full rising and falling action arc. That was really nice. I also think that the format lent itself really well to delving into ethical questions a bit earlier than might have happened in a conventional book. That was nice, as the ethical issues were very clear from the beginning.
I also enjoyed the characters. I think Grace was my favorite, although I quite liked everyone. I think my favorite episodes were the ones that really showed the team fighting and growing together. Even across the different authors, the characters remain very true to themselves, which was what I was worried about when I realized that there would be different authors throughout.
I was worried that the season would end on a huge cliffhanger, but thankfully, that wasn't the case. Although there's certainly a hook to keep you interested, it wasn't anything like the craziness that I was expecting! I was really glad that there was some kind of closure to the first season. I am definitely looking forward to listening to the second season when I get a chance!
I will say, I picked this as an attempt to try out Max Gladstone, only to find out that the majority of it is actually written by other people! (Mur Lafferty, Margaret Dunlap, and Brian Slattery, to be exact.) I believe that only 3 episodes of the season were actually written by Max Gladstone himself. Which ended up being fine. I had no problem with any of the authors involved in the project, and I greatly enjoyed their work. It just wasn't quite what I expected with the author situation.
That aside, I really enjoyed the serial format. I think it made the audiobook easier for me, because each episode is about an hour long, and each episode could theoretically stand alone. You might not understand everything if you came in to the story in the middle, but you could get by, and you would get a full rising and falling action arc. That was really nice. I also think that the format lent itself really well to delving into ethical questions a bit earlier than might have happened in a conventional book. That was nice, as the ethical issues were very clear from the beginning.
I also enjoyed the characters. I think Grace was my favorite, although I quite liked everyone. I think my favorite episodes were the ones that really showed the team fighting and growing together. Even across the different authors, the characters remain very true to themselves, which was what I was worried about when I realized that there would be different authors throughout.
I was worried that the season would end on a huge cliffhanger, but thankfully, that wasn't the case. Although there's certainly a hook to keep you interested, it wasn't anything like the craziness that I was expecting! I was really glad that there was some kind of closure to the first season. I am definitely looking forward to listening to the second season when I get a chance!
September 18, 2018
A priest, a cop, a hacker, an archivist and a kung-fu fighter walk into a library...
Seriously, that's the premise and I ate. it. up.
This series is so much fun and I need other people to read it so I can geek out with them. Sal Brooks is the newest member of the Bookburners (but don't call them that to their faces), a black ops team run out of the Vatican with the mission to find and collect (or destroy) magic books that have the power to hurt regular people. It's a little X-Files, a little Welcome to Night Vale, a little Warehouse 13, a little police procedural, and a lot of awesome. I'm in love.
Seriously, that's the premise and I ate. it. up.
This series is so much fun and I need other people to read it so I can geek out with them. Sal Brooks is the newest member of the Bookburners (but don't call them that to their faces), a black ops team run out of the Vatican with the mission to find and collect (or destroy) magic books that have the power to hurt regular people. It's a little X-Files, a little Welcome to Night Vale, a little Warehouse 13, a little police procedural, and a lot of awesome. I'm in love.
October 13, 2018
This book is fun - good characters and I love a good versus evil demons story. It was rapidly moving to 4 stars when the momentum came to a halt during the last third of the book - and this is a book with 800 pages. The "Sal issue" just took too long to play out. So I dropped it to three stars. That said, I am planning on reading Season 2.
April 23, 2021
This was a fun, fast-paced read. Given my allergy to religion I was wary of the "Vatican-backed squad" but it is delightfully religion-free. Instead, it is full of interesting characters with interesting backstories and unexpected twists.
In case it isn't clear, each chapter of the book is written by one of the four authors but they do a really good job of writing with one voice. Some chapters are better / more engaging than others but there was zero correlation to which writer wrote it.
In case it isn't clear, each chapter of the book is written by one of the four authors but they do a really good job of writing with one voice. Some chapters are better / more engaging than others but there was zero correlation to which writer wrote it.
June 13, 2023
This is the story of a cop who joins a secret Vatican special ops group that secures evil tomes to save her brother who has been possessed by the demon he released from one such book (big breath!). Folks, this is character-driven urban fantasy at its finest. The story progresses episodically through 16 2-part chapters, but the writers are a well-knit bunch (full of big names in contemporary genre fiction: Max Gladstone, Amal El-Mohtar, Mur Lafferty, et al.), and these arcs weave seamlessly into a well-planned tapestry. There is plenty of action, drama, and enough plot twists to keep you guessing. The last episode drops a bombshell that motivates the next season. In all, thoroughly enjoyable! I caught this first volume on Realm's free podcast, expertly narrated by Xe Sands.
July 14, 2018
3.5 Stars 🌟
January 9, 2019
This is a great book where the action doesn't stop. It is about a secret society that tries to fight and contain magic that is found in ancient artifacts and books. It is a great interesting story with countless twists and turns.
March 22, 2017
This is the equivalent of a season of television in book form. See my review at http://www.sfrevu.com/php/Review-id.p...
May 23, 2018
Took a while to find its stride but got pretty good towards the end. Some stories were definitely better than others and the format takes a little while to get used too... Overall I liked it but didn't LOVE it the way I hoped I would.
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