The Absolute Book’ is a contemporary portal fantasy novel of epic scope, drawing in influences from Norse mythology, the Fae, and tales of forbidden books and burning libraries. However, it’s also very much literary fiction, written in a style reminiscent of Dickens and other classics. The combination will work for some readers, but unfortunately I found the fantasy elements unoriginal and the literary elements tedious, labouring too much on tangents and unnecessary description and never allowing the reader to connect to the characters. I suspect this is a book for literary fiction readers who wish to dabble in fantasy rather than established fans of the fantasy genre.

Seeking revenge for her sister’s death, Taryn Cornick – the spoilt daughter of a well-known actor and pampered wife of a wealthy husband – allows a man called the Muleskinner to murder the supposed killer. Her actions draw the attention of DI Jacob Berger – but they also come to the attention of those far more otherwordly. For her family’s library has been hiding a secret, and those in a realm very far away now see Taryn as key to finding it. Thus begins a quest that will span the breadth of the Earth, and several other words as well, to find the secret – and perhaps save all the realms in the process.

There’s very little to say about either Taryn or Jacob, despite them being the protagonists. Knox doesn’t focus on her characters as more than plot devices. Taryn is a spoilt, wealthy woman who’s experienced a great deal of grief – the loss of her beloved sister, and the subsequent decline and loss of her mother. However, it’s hard to feel sorry for her given how insubstantial and selfish she is. She has no clear motivations or drive, no wishes in life. She publishes a book, and seems to have knowledge and passion on the subject, yet has little to no interest in her own life. It’s possible she’s intended to portray someone with severe depression, but she’s so underdeveloped as a character it becomes almost impossible to tell.

Jacob, a police detective who becomes unhealthily invested in both the case against Taryn and Taryn herself, is equally insubstantial. His life before Taryn is never shown – he simply appears, and his life becomes her bizarre story. Once again, he has no motivations – he claims he wants to solve the case, yet shows little interest in pursuing it once the answers become apparent. Almost nothing about the plot would change if he wasn’t in the book at all, which shows how flimsy he is as a character.

The plot is very standard fantasy quest fare – a missing, very powerful, world-changing object must be found to save the worlds. Similarly,world-hopping, with secret passages to worlds beyond Earth, is well-trodden ground in fantasy because it’s a device with huge creative potential. The world Knox creates is intriguing – the inhabitants have very different morals and politics to humans, with the ethics of how they dip in and out of human lives and history mused on in an engaging way – but overall it’s underutilised. Powers are introduced only to be very mentioned again, and ethical dilemmas discussed only to be summarily brushed over and never dealt with again. There are glimmers of brilliance, but none of them come to fruition.

My biggest issue, however, is with the writing. Knox favours writing filled with lavish descriptions and constant tangents, almost like a stream of consciousness. Passages which start as serious conversations meander off into observations on the weather, characters outfits, memories of the past, random and entirely unrelated facts. It’s difficult to keep track of what’s actually happening as there are constant diversions, most of which are entirely irrelevant. The novel could tell the same story with a fifth of the words, leaving some room for developing characterisation and narrative tension. Some people will likely appreciate the wealth of descriptions, but whilst I enjoy descriptions that create atmosphere, I’m less fond of unneccessarily long novels that lack purpose.

My other issue is the sexual undertones that several passages have. There are frequent references to Taryn’s breasts in strange moments, and several times when it is explicitly mentioned a character is getting an erection in an otherwise non-sexual moment. Each of these moments jarred me, throwing me out of the story. This isn’t a sexual story – it doesn’t even have a romantic sub-plot – and whilst streams of consciousness may, naturally, contain the odd sexual reference, none of these felt like they belonged.

Overall, ‘The Absolute Book’ is definitely a literary fiction novel that happens to contain fantasy elements rather than a typical fantasy novel. For those fond of complex descriptions, unreliable narrators, and books inspired by Norse mythology it may hold some appeal – but for those looking for a character-driven novel, or even a novel primarily driven by plot, this may not be the book for you.

In this story what could be a “simple” murder gradually evolves into a multi-layered fantasy novel. Taryn’s older sister Beatrice is hit by a car while out running, abducted and dumped when she dies. The perpetrator will be found guilty, but as “intent” could not be proved he will serve a short sentence and be released. Taryn and Beatrice had spent long stretches of their childhood at their grandfather’s family home on the Welsh/English border and were particularly enamoured of the library – Taryn’s interest in books will follow her through her life. But when her grandfather dies the house is sold and the library dispersed. Increasingly un-tethered to others Taryn marries early. When living in the USA, she will tell the tale of her sister’s death and a man who hears her offers to kill the killer when he is released – and with no further contact.
Years later Taryn’s research will lead to a book on an enigmatic antiquity known as the Firestarter. Reported through centuries, it is believed to hold a secret treasure. But there was a series of fires in the places it was held, albeit it survived them and moved on. Taryn suspects that it was in her Grandfather’s library and tries to track where it went. But she has problems – somebody is stalking her with messages – it seems that her former “helper” is out for revenge. It will be suggested that his dreadful act has allowed his soul to be taken over by a Demon.
When Taryn travels to her old home area she then meets another strange person called Shifter. It is said that the garden of the house once was the site of a “gate” where the Sidhe could cross over from the “other side”. Sifter will take her across. In the nation of the Sidhe she will see another seemingly perfect place that is being carefully managed. A place where illness, damage, environmental pollution and it’s like can be reversed with time. But she then comes to realise that the human population there, though happy, have been gathered by the Sidhe with an ulterior purpose. They have little interest in the welfare of humans. Their land has been seized from the Demons and peace and has been negotiated through the establishment of a treaty – specifically Sidhe can retain their conquered land in exchange for a regular tariff of human souls to the Demons. The Demons are usually weaker than the Sidhe, but they are “controlled” by Fallen Angels who are infinitely stronger.
It seems that Shifter, who is not fully Sidhe, has a limited life. One where at regular intervals he loses memory of his previous years, friendships and loves. He may have some of their powers, but has different ideas of right and wrong and how things should be. He will cross over to human time and lands in search of Firestarter so he can offer it to the Demons to allow the human tariff to be abolished. Taryn will cross back to help him with his search. Once she does cross back she faces two risks – one that a police officer is searching for her believing that she was involved in the murder of her sister’s killer. But additionally the murderer, under increasingly demonic control is trying to trace her and seek his revenge.
Through this novel all these themes will play themselves out in great detail. The lands, habits, histories and beliefs, of all the different life (and death?) forms will be developed for the reader. Taryn has one recognisable human life cycle; the lives of others are much longer and more complex. There is a constant interplay of rivalries, demands, and expectations between the various groups. Taryn will try and wend her way through these to her own ends, building friendships or allies on her way.
So expect a busy and complex book. There will be references to old mythologies and ideas that you will have heard of and others perhaps more obscure, interleaved with the (joking?) asides to places of more modern literary fantasy. Sidhe may be largely unknown to you; but British locations – that might here be endowed with a “gate” to the other side – are recognisable and carry their own mythologies of place. It would be unkind to “spoil” the story with more details, or results. So this is a book that you need to read yourself to see whether you find it possible, believable, entertaining or an overwhelming mish-mash of just too much. As somebody who is not particularly drawn to “fantasy” of this type, I did follow it through to the end. An end where there was a hint not just of eventual “justice”, but that another volume might be in the offing.

I love a good fantasy story and so I was excited to get the ARC of The Absolute Book although I was a little apprehensive as at 650 pages it is a beast. I was therefore really disappointed to have it be my first DNF for NetGalley at 36%.

The story starts out well, there’s a dead sister and a hitman and a family history in a library. Then I’m afraid it all got very confusing for me! The author seemed to be in a bad habit of describing a lot of things in detail but then skipping over something very important that made you feel like you were constantly playing catch up! One example of this is our main character is making food for everyone one night as they lay out their plans and then all of a sudden she is possessed by a demon again in a car going somewhere with no explanation. There’s also theatrical snow in a server farm in a desert somewhere which I did not understand the relevance of. It was disjointed, confusing and I didn’t understand what was going on most of the time. I didn’t really feel anything for any of the characters and felt like I was just skipping through to finish it rather than enjoying it. If the book had been 300 pages or so I would have ploughed through but only having made it a third of the way at page 200 I realised I wasn’t interested where it was going. Judging by other reviews it seems to be a bit like marmite – you either give it 5 stars or abandon it halfway through and I’m afraid I am in the latter camp with this book.

Overall, The Absolute Book is a bit of a mess – confusing and disjointed and not recommended. Thank you to NetGalley & Penguin UK – Michael Joseph for the chance to read the ARC in exchange for a (very) honest review.

Taryn cannot forgive the man who ran down and killed her sister, and finds a way to exact retributive justice. The police suspect she was involved but can't pin it on her. However this and her subsequent fame as an author attract attention further afield. This opens out an adventure spanning parallel worlds and competing interests. The search is on for the Absolute Book - a guide to the language of the Word of God - which may have been hidden in Taryn's grandfather's library. You will be reminded of Philip Pullman but it is a highly original work of imagination pacey and full of action. It's a thoroughly good read, and only slightly let down by the unnecessary epilogue in which the world is transformed into a sort of eco-paradise.

I’ve seen so much hype for The Absolute Book that I couldn’t wait to read it, bumping it up my TBR, but I actually found it really hard to read. This book is like 650 pages and you feel every page, possibly because I couldn’t get into it. This book really is too long and I think could have easily lost hundreds of pages, you learn things you don’t need to know, events are incredibly detailed that don’t push the plot along, and on that matter, I could not tell you what really happened, I was re-reading parts trying to make sense of things, feeling like I missed something.. I have to say that this book is brilliantly written, Knox is truly talented, but it felt overwritten and while books can talk to you, this felt like it was talking at me and it made me feel incredibly stupid (it’s possible I am though). I also found the characters hard to relate to so overall I didn’t enjoy this experience unfortunately. I could feel the book was trying to say something and get somewhere, I just couldn’t make out what and where that was.

Thank you NetGalley for the early copy to read and review.

Although I found the book itself beautifully written, and enchanting for its beauty, it was hard to follow. It was a winding story with characters that always felt removed from you, no matter how familiar you should or could have become with them. I think this might be one of those books that either grabs you immediately or you just don't engage with.

An astonishing book that was at times tense and urgent, and others elegiac and thoughtful. Complex, erudite, skilfully written and full of heart.

I wish I could have liked and finished this book, but sadly I can do neither. I was intrigued by the premise and I did feel the first section had promise - I liked the set-up, and I'm a sucker for historical library stories - but I'm afraid it lost me about a quarter of the way through, when the fairy-land stuff started to happen. I did persevere for a while, but I couldn't get it back.
It felt like a book that could usefully lose 20% of the content - it could do with an honest and fairly brutal developmental edit, tightening everything up and losing some stuff that, frankly, didn't make much sense. (I'm aware that they may have made sense if I'd gone on to finish the book - there's my caveat.)
One of my 2021 resolutions was to not be afraid to DNF a book that isn't doing it for me, and I'm sad to say this book fell foul of that. Two stars for ambition and a promising idea.

Taryn Cornick has lost her sister and arranges for something terrible to happen. Years later, a strange man appears to rescue her, can he help Taryn and those around her before it's too late?

Honestly, the more I think about this book, the less stars I can give it.

I finished reading it last night and I am still totally confused as to where half the characters came from, what the point of them was and what part they play in the story. Taryn's family story is interesting and I absolutely love Shift, Adham and Neve but the rambling nature in the plot makes if full of holes and impossible to follow.

There is a really good book in here somewhere, but at the moment it's struggling to get out alive!

A few chapters into The Absolute Book by Elizabeth Knox I was ready to give up. It didn’t seem to be going anywhere and there was a lot of book ahead of me. One more chapter I thought, and kapow! suddenly the book really lifts off, you start to get an insight into the clever plot threads and then it is a delight.

I don’t know how to describe The Absolute Book without spoiling those first revelations so I will just say, if you enjoyed Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell and American Gods then there is a good chance that you will love this.

I was extremely excited for The Absolute Book by Elizabeth Knox (Michael Joseph, February 2021). But sadly, the execution of the concept was just not for me. The story centres Taryn, a self-absorbed woman who has issues dealing with her sister’s murder. She hires a hitman to take out her killer and ends up being pulled into a supernatural threat. I found the characters superficial, and I was bored by the writing. As this promised to be a book about books, something that I usually adore, I was very frustrated throughout reading it, and would not recommend it.

Intriguing but bizarre and it struggled to hold my attention. Taryn's sister dies as a teenager and this haunts her. When the murderer is released from prison, Taryn organises a hit, and in doing so attracts some bad company. At the same time, Taryn's ancestral home seems full of secrets and mysteries and Taryn is beginning to find out what its all about.

The description of the book sounded right up my ally - mystery, fantasy, tons of creativity. Normally I cant put a book down, and there were patches which were gripping but overall I struggled to get into it and gave up at the 40% mark. I might try come back to this again in time, to make sure I'm not missing something.

Beautifully written, but I fear this book will not be for everyone. It is far too 'literary' in places to appeal to the reader of fantasy, and yet too fantastical and almost childlike to appeal to the high brow. The fairy world that has been created really sucks the reader in, it is so well described that you can almost smell it. Far. Too long in places, e.g. the escaping from the beach which basically repeats how they manoeuvred the tyre and how difficult it was for pages and pages. The purgatory scenes were also too long and added nothing to the book. I also found some things confusing such as how did the protagonist manage to bewitch men when she was human. Ultimately this was a great book which needed a lot of pruning to turn it into the excellent book that it should have been.

I feel like I should have loved this, fantasy with crime, guilt and a mysterious book. It sounded completely like the sort of book I would love and not be able to put down. Sadly this wasn't the case - whilst I wanted to know what happened, I didn't care enough to keep reading it. If it had been a physical book instead of an eBook I'd have skipped to the end to see if it was worth carrying on. Instead I'm afraid I gave up a third of the way through.

There were great aspects to it, the concept is good. It's easy to see why Taryn made some of the decisions she did and the sense of place was very well done. The different myths worked in to the story were very cleverly done, but it just wasn't quite enough for me.

Decades ago, Taryn’s sister was murdered. Now a successful author, the past continues to haunt Taryn.

The Absolute Book is an absolute epic. It journeys from this world to others, referencing the myths of many cultures. We meet the Sidhe and talking ravens. And we follow the mystery of an ancient scroll box known as the Firestarter. Threaded through it all is a love of books, storytelling and language.

Hugely imaginative, hard to capture.

Rewards careful reading and, no doubt, re-reading.

My thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Michael Joseph UK for the ARC.

Fantastic read. I have been completely unable to put this one down. I cannot wait to read more by this author.
Full review to follow on publication.

I really struggled with this book and I'm sorry to say I couldn't continue with it, which is rare for me. There was some lovely, descriptive language but I found the plot hard to follow and I didn't care enough about the characters to motivate me to continue.
Perhaps it's just not for me, or I picked it up at the wrong time.

A magical fantastical journey filled with demons, gods, talking ravens, gateways to other realms, the sidh, and a shapeshifter. It start with the murder of Taryns sister, but this is just the gateway (hah) into a much bigger story that comes full circle.

This is beautifully written book with a story so rich and well thought out that when I tried to describe it to someone they went "... It sounds complicated... That's a lot". And now I've read it, it is a lot - but when you're reading it it's so well done that it doesn't feel like it.

Sometimes it felt a few of the characters fell too easily into the new world they'd discovered - after a time of them being there I was like "wait they're not surprised by this? Or having any signs of shock/a nervous breakdown??". But then maybe they're avid readers, and used to these sorts of things happening! And to be fair I'm not sure my reactions would be too different.

Also there was one thing that was a bit anticlimactic for me, and felt kind of like" oh that was easy and sudden", in retrospect. On the other hand, when I read it it was just plain satisfying! The experience of reading it was better than I'm remembering it to be, if I'm making any sense at all.

But really, I loved this book. The ending was beautiful and had a perfect quote about humans and the planet that I can't use here bc its a vague spoiler!

So instead here's a non spolery quote I also loved about friendship:

"I love meeting people I know I love - it's like the sun coming out. Bigger and bigger skies inside me"

*read a free ARC via net galley in exchange for an honest review*

I tried hard with this book but it’s not for me: the plot is confusing and convoluted, there is little action and the story staggers between various styles. I'm not sure what sort of book the author thought she was writing.

This book has everything!! From modern day characters to all things wonderfully mysterious and mythical.

It’s such a wonderful story and one which will stick with me for a long while. If you love dark whimsical stories with grit then this is for you!

Sure to be a favourite of 2021