An Extravagant Tale..
Supernatural erotica combines with suspense in this extravagant tale of power, tragedy and obsession. Lavishly written, highly descriptive and often extremely graphic. The prose is certainly powerful. A book of investment- if you start then you will most likely finish.

A book with all of life’s answers, if only you can find it...Every once in a while a writer comes along and refreshes our notions of what fiction can do……Buy this book, and prepare to be blasted by the brilliance inside

The Book of the Most Precious Substance by Sara Gran
I began this book but realized it was not really for me. I thought that the main thrust of the book would be related to books and was unaware of how much would be related to explicit sex and the occult. Neither of these are things which draw me to a novel. I am sure that if this was your interest it would be a very good read but unfortunately it was not for me. Thanks to Net Galley, the author and publishers for the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest reiew.

Overall, I did really enjoy this book. I wouldn’t have picked it up if I had known there were going to be so many erotic scenes (or if so much of the plot was going to be based on sex), and there were quite a few places where lines/phrases were repeated from earlier in the novel. A nice read and a good idea, but it fell slightly short of expectations for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamland Books for the opportunity!

The Book of The Most Precious Substance felt like a 300 page love letter to books. I really enjoyed reading a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the life of a book-seller as I’m sure a lot of other readers - ‘book people’ - did (however beyond belief the plot eventually led.) The themes of grief, mourning, and loss were really well tackled in this book, and has left me reflecting on it a lot.

Whilst the book was both erotic and thrilling at times, I would not categorise this as an erotic thriller. I felt it was more of a literary commentary on how money and power can affect people, and how sex is it’s own form of power that we all have the ability to wield.

I really enjoyed this book overall, but there were multiple instances where I could feel myself losing interest. The food descriptions, whilst clearly there to subtly showcase the wealth of the characters as well as Lily’s willingness to spend more as the story goes on, became repetitive and irritating. Something truly exciting would be happening that affects the narrative significantly, and there would be paragraphs about peach salads. There was also the issue of repetitiveness - by the time they had visited the third rich eccentric person who leads a very open sex-life, my frustration was growing.

That being said, I liked the trips Lily and Lucas took and the descriptions of the different cities. I especially thought the ending was fantastic. It really captured the tone of the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Faber and Faber Ltd. All opinions are my own.

This is a dive into a dark adult fantasy. A story of a bookseller’s search for a magic imbued ancient tomb, said to bring everything you have ever wanted; only five seemingly simple bodily fluids needed. If it only it were that simple. But if you find one of the few copies remember greed, money, or even the book itself, may win out. Who knew booksellers had, how shall I put it, such interesting lives? Thank you to Faber Books and NetGalley for the ARC. The views expressed are totally mine, freely given.

At some point while reading this on my phone as I walked around I realised that I was accidentally reading an erotic novel. Around about the time that the protagonist visited the third ludicrously rich person who turned out to be living in a sex festival, I confess I got some Belinda Blinked vibes, but mostly I had a great time. The book is erotica in that it is full of sex and sex juices, but mostly it's a horror-esque thriller about power and money and the lengths people will go to get it all. I read it in two big gulps and had an absolute ball in the deeply weird and bloody world of the antique magical book trade.

Wow, what an adventure! Books and sex, what more could you ask for. This is a beautifully written erotic thriller with an engaging - and not too young! - heroine and genuine heart behind even the more preposterous antics. Highly recommended

Bodily fluids and a rare occult book produce an intoxicating supernatural thriller

Considering Sara Gran’s first book was published back in 2001 and her latest The Book of the Most Precious Substance is only her seventh, nobody could accuse her of rushing her art! Her work is impressively varied, encompassing literary, detective and the very occasional toe-step into psychological horror with the superb Come Closer (2003). Gran’s sole foray into horror was more than enough reason to jump at the chance of reviewing The Book of the Most Precious Substance, with that earlier work concerning a woman who receives the wrong book in the mail which leads her into a gripping tale of possession, insanity, frustrated desire and the places where your deepest darkest fears lurk.

Fans of Come Closer should be purring with The Book of the Most Precious Substance as it has some vague similarities to its predecessor, in that it also involves a frustrated central character and more significantly, another very dodgy book. First up, I love books about books and the protagonist of Precious Substance is a serious collector, who buys and sells rare tomes to make a living. Often purchasing for $2 and selling for $20 or by having stalls at collector fairs, often specialising in obscure non-fiction subjects and I was not surprised to uncover that Sara Gran has some expertise in this subject as her love and interest shone through. If you ever thought the world of antiquarian bookselling was boring and stuffy then this tale will make you think again and is vividly brought to life. There are lots of great ‘books about books’ on the market and whilst there were plenty of rarities on offer in Carlos Ruiz Zafón’s The Shadow of the Wind, none held a candle to Precious Substance and the hunt for perhaps the rarest (and definitely the sleaziest) book in existence! If Abe Books had been around 200 years ago I guarantee even the Marquis de Sade himself would have been trying to locate a copy!

The Book of the Most Precious Substance is not a traditional horror novel which dances around the supernatural and is better described as literary fiction, with erotic overtones. It is not blood and guts in your face horror and moves at its own delicately slow pace, but the 330+ pages are compelling and never boring. Obsession oozes from the page as very sensible bookseller Lily Albrecht is slowly but surely taken on an intriguing dark journey in search for a book which may (or may not) exist and along the way uncovers a few things about herself, as does the reader. Written with a first-person and very sly narrative, follow what Lily reveals very closely as she might well be selective in her version of the story she spins.

The action opens with Lily at a book fair where another dealer asks her whether she could help him track down a 17th century manual on sex magic, rumoured to be the most powerful occult book ever written (if it really exists at all). The dealer has a buyer willing to pay over a million Dollars for the text and if she helps locate a copy will get a cut of the transaction, however, that same night the other dealer is killed in a random street robbery. Now with the scent of money in her nostrils Lily, with the help of a suave librarian book collector begins to search, but the problem is made more complex by the fact that she does not even know who the potential rich buyer is. But Lily is a very resourceful lady.

From those early moments the hunt is on, Lily is obsessed with the book even before she even truly knows it is real and the journey to find it takes Lily and her librarian friend across the globe. The pair’s international hunt for the grimoire was a fun journey, but the tension was killed ever so slightly by the fact that they stayed in the poshest hotels and ate in the best restaurants, rarely have I read a book with so many food scenes! However, the nuanced central character and her gradual change was well worth the admission charge with the odd sorts they met along the way adding to the intrigue. When we meet her, Lily's living a reclusive life without much joy or pleasure, focused on her business, bitter memories and complex relationships. That is until the book enters her life.

Sex and the rediscovery of pleasure are crucial to Lily coming back to life as the occult powers of the book are awakened through X-rated rituals involving consensual sex and bodily fluids which get more extreme the further the participants get into the text. The grimoire did include a fair bit of explicit sex which might turn a few heads, but it was not over the top or pornographic and from the female point of view. The occult/fantastical elements of the story are kept nicely vague and featured some clever touches, such as the fact the book did not like to be copied, photographed or even have passages committed to memory. Along the way Sara Gran builds a convincing picture of the types of eccentric uber-rich bampots who try to buy or experiment with the book taking in references to both the ‘Great Beast’ himself Aleister Crowley (who was into sex magic) and even a French dominatrix.

For some readers the hunt for the book might get slightly repetitive as it remains elusive for just a few pages too long, but I felt it was worth the wait as its descriptions positively crackled with the book being slightly worse for wear with dried up bodily fluids! If the search went on too long the change in Lily from a woman who had given up on sex to something very different was a stark contrast.

The Book of the Most Precious Substance is an addictive erotic supernatural thriller about the lengths we'll go to get the power we need and what we want, even if it involves black magic and kinky sex. Although the supernatural was kept on the backburner the manner in which it was portrayed was very convincing and if the book has you intrigued enough to try Googling ‘sex magic’ then I suggest treading cautiously, or at least choose your partner very carefully! This novel sucked me into its seductive thrall with considerable ease and I sped through it over a couple of days and watch out for the superb ending!

A beautifully written book. Really enjoyed reading this. Thanks to publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to read.

Well, the least I can say is that this book is very different from everything I've read this year. But unfortunately, I can't say it is for the better, alas. Where the story is quite original, the main character, Lily, is someone I couldn't related to.

First, let's talk about the elephant in the room: yes there are some erotic scenes. Only towards the end there are one or two that are explicit, all the rest is a bit of kissing and innuendo, nothing shocking in my opinion. And the scenes aren't gratuitous. After all, the title of the book already points to it, you know you'll walk into that territory. I liked the fact that the whole story takes place around old and rare books, an area I was interested in myself when I was a bit younger, so I found some hooks there that kept me reading. Also the fact that the two protagonists start to travel around the States and then even to Munich and Paris was captivating.

But there were two letdowns for me: first of all the voice of Lily (and I mean the written voice as it wasn't an audiobook), which I found very dull and flat. I guess the writer has written her dialogues and inner monologues as they are because as a person she also is very superficial and dull, but it didn't do any good in relating to the character. And secondly there is the credibility of the story. You have to get past a lot of disbelief to get along with the whole storyline which turns out to be quite ludicrous in the end.

A sincere thanks to NetGalley and Dreamland Books and the author for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

A well written, tense and atmospheric thriller with well developed characters and spicy moments. It was fast paced and gripping and I couldn't put it down. I enjoyed the occult moments in the book but the book wasn't full of them.

Warning story has strong sex vibes.

Sara Gran is a new author for me and her unique story style will have me picking up her books again.

This story is more of a emotional roller-coaster ride with our main character lily rather then a horror.
We learn that lily came into the world of books when looking after her husband Abel who was an academic writer who sadly gets a horrible health diagnosis, in aid of paying for health care lily sells thier rarer books and finds she enjoys it and as life moves forward she develops a well paying career from this.
This book career leads leads lilt being sent on a quest with a fellow book lover to find a book that a colleague is looking for as this colleague has a buyer willing to pay big, the only problem this book has been missing and rumoured to be cursed. This rumour is only made more real when the collegue is killed not 24hr later.

Although this story is emotional it is also classed as an erotica but personal for me this is not fully erotica but sex does play a strong role in this tale.

This story has an interesting and unique take on a theme not talked about and has a good quest plot with a strong emotional core. Sara Gran writes characters that are very relatable and real along with a realistic world even if that world is sprinkled with supernatural elements.

The book of the most precious substance is a heart tugging journey with a twist ending I don't think many people will see coming, although this twist is not predicted I do believe that other readers may either find this a interesting surprise or a little bit of a let down because of this ending I gave this book three stars as it felt a bit anti-climactic but I did overall enjoy getting to know lilly and being her travel companion as we searched for the precious substance.

Lily Albrecht married a wonderful man and enjoyed a successful life as a writer. Then her husband became ill, and everything got worse. Much worse. Having lost her passion for writing, she became a rare book dealer in constant need of money.

At a book fair, a bookseller friend asks her for (paid) help in obtaining an extremely rare grimoire on sex magic. The Book of the Most Precious Substance describes how to awaken occult powers through X-rated rituals involving consensual sex and bodily fluids. All in five steps.

The richest people in the world want it badly and are willing to pay any price for it. With the help of her charming friend Lucas Markson, Lily travels the world to find the tome. The two visit New York, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Munich, and Paris to meet potential buyers and owners of the book. They turn obsessed with it and explore the rituals themselves. As in, they have lots and lots of sex.

Fortunately, The Book of The Most Precious Substance has much more to offer than just the steamy parts. It's a tense, fast-paced thriller with good (effective, economical, and moving) writing and a nuanced heroine. Lily is haunted and lonely, smart but also hot-headed. When we meet her, she's living a reclusive life without much joy or pleasure, focused on her business, bitter memories, and the care she must provide for her husband. Sex and the rediscovery of pleasure are crucial to Lily coming back to life.

The sex here is explicit but not over the top or pornographic. That said, if sexuality bothers you or you don't like reading about it, you may not like The Book of The Most Precious Substance. Suffice it to say that the titular precious substance is a female ejaculate.

The occult/fantastical elements are present but, asked to categorize it, I would say it's a thriller with a dash of supernatural elements. The author makes great use of the book-within-a-book concept. She includes references to dark magic books and authors to thrill readers and give them more material to dig into. Magic in the book works but its effects are subtle. Also:

It works. It's real. You can get what you want. Whatever you think will make you happy. But the problem seems to be that most people are wrong about what will make them happy.

While the plot gets repetitive, the author packs a savage twist near the end. I loved it. In all, I had a blast reading The Book of The Most Precious Substance and I encourage you to try it.

This book is a fairly easy read, and Lily can be a sympathetic character at times, but ultimately this is an overstretched short story with a rushed and disappointing ending. What promised to be something in the vein of The Ninth Gate manages, instead, to be a self-indulgent Fifty Shades of Eat, Pray, Love.
Lily Albrecht, former star novelist turned rare book trader, life ruined by a sick husband she resents and loves in equal measure, falls into an international hunt for a fabled book of sex magic, sought by a small group of fabulously rich half-wits. The pursuit of this book, Lily tells us from the start, was a dark thread being pulled by the demonic book itself, if only she’d had the ability to see the hellish consequences.

There then follows the middle 90% of the book where Lily swans around the Americas and Europe, staying in ever more luxurious hotels, being entertained to ever more delicious meals by terribly interesting millionaires and artists, and having increasingly mind-blowing sex with gorgeous men and women. The magic makes itself readily available, there’s always an easy fix to each vague barrier to getting the book and, while a couple of people die along the way, it’s never important, and even a bit funny when you throw in a couple of inept detectives pulling comedy faces rather than investigating with any kind of intelligence.

The book, we are to believe, makes it all too easy to get to it, but since the vast majority of this book is spent getting following this luxurious, naughty, frothy, tedious path, this is cold comfort to anyone hoping for some real drama, or threat, or real agency for these characters. At one point, nearing the end, yet another convenient ally shows up who bears, we are told, a terrible grudge against the current possessor of the book that would motivate him to help Lily get the book from this final foe. When the moment comes to explain this grudge, the author can’t even be bothered. We’re told it’s a “story too wild to be true. And if it was true, it wasn’t immediately clear what we could do with it.” And at that moment, I thought, this is what’s wrong with this whole book.

The ending is so rushed, the ‘twist’ so obvious and out of character, the fallout so unoriginal and drained of energy, that I genuinely wondered if it had been written by the same person who wrote the beginning. I didn’t hate the book, but I was bored of it from fairly early on and only the promise of the very heavy-handed warnings of horror to come kept me working towards the end.

I needn’t have worked so hard.

I do appreciate being given this book to review. I’m sorry I wasn’t the right audience for it and could not be more supportive. But marketing this as horror is not going to be a good fit, I believe. It’s too slight, too privileged, too sanitised and ultimately too desensitised to arouse much response.