When a magical book kills both their parents, sisters Esther and Joanna are forced to live apart. Joanna stays home to protect herself and their magic book collection, but Esther is forced to change jobs and move location every year by a specific date without fail, otherwise the hunters will find not only her but her sister too. However, when Esther defies her father's warnings to move on, she immediately puts them both in danger, and they come for them. What transpires are their attempts to stay alive, and in doing so unravels all the family secrets.

Although it started off slow, it later picks up with a lot of action. Great world building, and once the secret character is introduced, certain characters become more sinister with horrifying antics, no-one knows who to trust. The author did a good job intertwining magic with mystery, fantasy, survival tactics and even elements of horror.

📖 REVIEW

Now this is my kind of magic!

Would you like to be a spell user or a spell creator?

You can only be one! I think I would definitely want to use the spells!

This book is told from multiple points of view. Nicholas is the last living scribe and held under constant protection by his uncle. Joanna is living alone, hidden in a house of rare books, continuing to protect them, even though one killed her father. Her half sister, Esther is estranged from the family and constantly has to move house every year. But when Esther falls in love and refuses to move anymore, she puts everyone she knows in danger.

This book drew me in and I didn’t want it to end. The author creates a vivid picture of each character’s situation and you watch how their lives become entwined with each other. The chemistry between each character slowly develops, showing how easy it becomes to trust a total stranger. I thought the whole plot was really clever and the continuous twists that came throughout, left me amazed by the author’s talent. In this book, you can trust no one!

This is magic with a difference. Spells can only be written in blood and there are very few people left with the ability to write them. I love books about magic and spells, but this felt like something new and unique to the genre.

This is one of my favourite reads this year.

A huge thank you to @penguinrandomhouse @cornerstone_press & @netgalley for the review copy.

Not my usual genre at all so felt a bit out of my comfort zone and therefore struggled to follow at times. But it was an enjoyable read and still manageable for me despite being different to my usual reads.

I really thought I would love this book but unfortunately it just didn’t work for me. The premise is so interesting but the execution fell short for me. It was so slow that nothing had happened and I was halfway through which made me bored. And even though there was a lot of information I still felt that the magic system wasn’t well explained. The characters also felt flat to me and so I wasn’t invested in what was happening to them.

Ink Blood Sister Scribe follows Esther & Joanna, 2 half sisters racing to unravel the secrets of their childhood home, a magical library.

The first half of this book was pretty slow & it really did take me a while to get into, but then the second half was just non stop action & all the foundations laid down initially really paid off. Getting the background of the 3 main characters set the tone for the rest of the book & raised the stakes considerably. So in hindsight I am glad the first half was slow, but could have still done with a bit more. The second half of the book was fast paced & had plenty of twists & turns to keep you guessing. I initially expected this to be in more of a dark academia genre, but really I think it ends up as more of a fantasy thriller? Either way, it packs a punch & makes it hard to put down!

I absolutely loved the idea of the books being the magic & how the magic in the world worked, it’s so unique & gives limitless possibilities while still retaining that restrictive element that’s required for it to seem believable.

I definitely related most to Esther, even though we have nothing in common, she felt the most authentic & real to me. Both Joanna & Nicholas were great characters too, Törzs has created a wonderful cast & I really don’t think I would change much about them. But obviously the star of the show is Sir Kiwi, Nicholas’ dog!

Overall it was a really great book, but there was just a little something missing for me, I’m not 100% sure what to be honest, maybe it was the style of writing that felt a little young for an adult book or just the first half being a bit slow, I don’t know, but definitely recommend picking this up!

Thank you to Random House UK and Netgalley for the opportunity to review this ARC.

Really enjoyed this book ! Great fantasy with the right amount of urban fantasy without me getting bored and featured books- very enjoyable

“…it's the steps themselves that make a path, instead of the other way round. We are creating even as we believe we are following.”

This was my second attempt at reading this book after being very kindly given the ARC, the first time round I just could not get into it at all - maybe it was just that the books I was craving to read at the time was not this vibe? Either way, I am SO very glad I went back to read it again as a buddy read with some of the sub club girls! As I absolutely loved it!

Ink Blood Sister Scribe is a magical woven tale of three people: Joanna who spends her days caring for her late fathers collection of magical books, whilst trying to figure out what or who killed him.

Esther, Joanna’s estranged older sister, who has been on the run for nearly a decade thinking that by doing so, she is keeping her family safe.

And finally, Nicholas, a scribe who spends all his days locked away and trapped within a library, catering to the demands of his uncle.

We follow them separately until all three are suddenly thrown together on a magical self discovering journey. The authors writing style was captivating and all of us who read it were honestly just amazed it was her debut! The book keeps you guessing (and second guessing!!) and I really found it hard to put down, as I just wanted to know what was going to happen next.

I really can’t wait to see what the author will come out with next as if it’s of the same quality as this, it’ll be great!

Dangerous books and magic, sounds exactly like my kind of read, so I was pulled to this story. The prologue instantly drew me in, so I was hoping the rest of the story would live up to it.

There was this compulsion to read early on, which I can’t quite put my finger on why, despite the characters taking a while to grow on me, even though they are intriguing in parts. But I enjoyed how the characters had a similar overarching theme explored different ways, as well as the slow tension and the developing intensity as we’re introduced to these mysterious people and organisation trying to acquire these dangerous books and not knowing who you can trust.

However, after a while towards the middle, the story felt stagnant because the rhythm of what was happening felt too similar leading up to midpoint, giving me too much opportunity to set the book aside, as well as shifting POV at interesting points that sometimes diminished some of the tension built up. But when the mystery and plot picked up again, the book was unputdownable, and overall was a enjoyable fusion of thriller and fantasy.

Thanks to Cornerstone and Netgalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publishers and of course the author for gifting me this advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Fantastic, magical fantasy following two estranged sisters, Esther and Joanna, who have to guard the family library which contains magical books but they have to work together to get to the bottom of a massive secret that ends up with family loyalty, betrayal, magic and power.

Really loved this book, beautifully written and gets the imagination flowing wildly, brilliant plot and character building.

In Ink Blood Sister Scribe, Emma Törzs delivers a delightful world of books, magic and found family that had me gripped from the start. All their lives Esther and Joanna have known that magic exists in the shape of books that give temporary powers to people. While Esther left home at eighteen and left the world of magic behind her, Joanna remained behind and continued to protect their family’s collection from falling into the hands of those who would misuse it. It is a duty that she takes as seriously as their father, but when he dies suddenly, Joanna is left alone to carry on their legacy alone. When Esther doesn’t return home for the funeral, Joanna is hurt and confused, but Esther was told to stay away and keep moving lest something bad happen. Most importantly, she was told not to tell her sister.

Meanwhile, far away in London lives a boy who has also grown up surrounded by books. But Nicolas’ life couldn’t be more different from the Kalotay sisters. Part of a wealthy family with an even richer knowledge of books, his entire life revolves around them. His legacy is one of blood, and danger, and his life is inexplicably tangled up with Esther and Joanna’s lives.

As two legacies and decades of events come to a head, a group of young people find themselves making difficult decisions that will change their lives forever as everything they’ve ever known comes crashing down.

From the first few pages of Ink Blood Sister Scribe, Törzs had me completely hooked. She has a vibrant and unique writing style that breathes life into her characters. Each of them could have so easily become dull clichés, and yet Törzs’ unique style puts a stop to that. Instead, they felt like individual people to me who had been shaped by their experiences, even when those experiences had been very limited in the cases of Joanna and Nicholas. I particularly liked the way that she juxtaposed the two of these characters. Both have spent most of their time with books, and spent little time with the outside world. While they have similarities, their relationships with other people, especially with family show clear differences. As an only child I especially noted how Joanna having a sister effected her, compared to Nicholas who had no siblings.

Nicholas was an interesting character who could have quite easily have become yet another annoying rich kid. What made the difference for me was the way that Törzs kept bringing Ink Blood Sister Scribe back to books. While Nicholas made the typical rich kid comments about an average house being “small”, he then noted that something being “threadbare”. His thoughts on this instinctively jumped to books and how that was something he had only ever read about in books. On the one hand, yes it’s a very snobby thing to think, but when you think about it, it’s an incredibly sad and lonely thing to only be able to see things through the lens of books. As wonderful as they are, they exist to heighten our experiences not be the only experience.

There were moments in Ink Blood Sister Scribe that were I saw coming, and then there were layers and twists I didn’t. This is a deliciously fun and complex book with wickedly interesting world building, and my only complaint is that it appears to be a standalone that ends on a cliffhanger. It can’t (but sadly does) end like that; I need to know what happens next! So if you’re someone who hates books that end like that, probably best to avoid this one as the fact that the cover says “a novel” suggests that’s all we’re getting from this universe right now.

I really enjoyed this book. I liked the characters a lot especially Esther she seemed so capable and cool headed under difficult situations. I liked the way the magic worked it was quite unique. I would definitely be open to reading more books I'd there were to be any.

Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
A good interesting read, Recommended.

that was good, but nothing's special.

The concept of magical book isn't something new of course, but this book still made me curious enough to see how it ends. half-sisters has been separated "for their own good": Joanna assigned to guard her family's library, not even allowed to have guest in her home sine their father's death. Esther has to constantly moved so she didn't end up like her deceased mother. but danger was approaching and they had to help each other out.

the pace was quite slow because of the occasional flashbacks. Nicholas's life kinda reminded me of The Inheritance Games setting bc of the massive house that brimming with mystery. The dog was adorable, The character dynamics was only so-so. I think I missed out the mystery behind the father's death or was it not explained?? IDK. it felt important o the plot so I ws confused why it's not talked enough. Oh and the climax final battle scene somehow felt... anticlimactic? But okay I guess

What a brilliant , thrilling ride. The world building is superb and the characters rounded. I would definitely tell anyone interested in magic novels to give this one a try!!

Joanna lives alone in Vermont, where she spends her time protecting the collection of books. But this is no ordinary library. These are books of magic & people have died to get their hands on them. A long way from her sister Esther works in an Antarctic base. Usually he moves on every year but this time she has met a woman & fallen in love. She had decided to stay but when she sees blood on the edge of mirrors she knows she is in danger. She has a rare talent & someone wants to use it!

This short summary in no way captures what a wonderful read this was! Like the subject, reading this was like being under a magical spell. It is a fantasy, but not how one usually thinks of that genre. Thank you so much Netgalley & the publisher for letting me read & review this book. It is my favourite read of the year so far- & there have been nearly 150!

When I first tried Ink Blood Sister Scribe at the beginning of Summer, I knew from the first line that it had potential, but I wasn't in the right mood for it. I decided to wait, and I'm so happy I did, because do you know? When I started it again last week, it just *clicked*.

But what is Ink Blood Sister Scribe, really? Is it a book about books? Yes. Is it a mystery? A book about sisters? About family secrets? Yes, yes, and yes.

The book in a glance:
✨Standalone literary/mystery novel with magical elements
✨Magic in the real world: spells written in blood-inked books
✨Estranged sisters
✨Family secrets and legacies
✨Secret organization

Considering it's a standalone novel, the plot was rather contained and I personally enjoyed that: I read so many Fantasy series that it made for a good change. I do think that expectations matter: if you go into it expecting a Fantasy novel with complex world-building and in-depth characterization, you might be disappointed. First, it feels more like a literary/mystery novel with magical elements than a Fantasy book. Secondly, I'm not saying that the characters are one-dimensional, because they aren't, and I did care about them, but they're still sketched in rather broad lines, and some of the relationships shifts were SO abrupt that they didn't make sense to me (*cough* what the second romance even was? Is that insta-lust or whatever? I'm too demi for that haha)(also I had another romance in mind for this specific character, ngl).

As for the plot itself, I did find some of the assumptions the characters made rather *convenient*, and there were a couple inconsistencies, but overall my reading experience was great—it was well-written, I flew through it, and if the "big bad villain" identity was predictable, I enjoyed his demise very much 👀

I'll definitely check out Emma Törz's next books.

I really enjoyed the storyline and writing style of this book, the plot was well paced and the twist really got me, will definitely be following Emma Törzs’ future works!

Really loved this read, loved the building of characters, and loved the big twist, I only saw half of it coming - more adult books about magic please!

What a fantastic read, full of fully rounded characters and a compelling storyline that never disappoints. I loved all of the characters that we were meant to be rooting for and loathed those we were meant to dislike.

Half-sisters Esther and Joanna are brought up to believe in the importance of guarding the family legacy - a library of magic books. The role of each in doing that tears their family apart but that is only the beginning of their story. There is also, in another home filled with magic books, a lonely boy growing up in luxurious imprisonment, the last scribe. How their worlds collide is brought vividly and cleverly to life. Loved it!

With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an arc of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

The absolute definition of a slow burn but once you get past the middle of the book, all the anticipation, build-up, story telling and exposition is more than worth it.

Magic, intrigue, secrets, blood and great characters that are all in some way interlinked. I liked (and got quite attached) to the majority of characters and I was a little bereft as the story came to a close.

The novel is incredibly well written, characters well developed, a satisfying ending and a plot that works very well. There’s plenty of twists as it races towards the finale with an ending that does not disappoint. The plot twists are on point.

The final chapters were admittedly anxiety inducing, the books, the magic and curses make for a wild ride.

4.5 starts – rounded up to 5.

Many thanks to Random House UK, Cornerstone, Century and NetGalley for an ARC in return for an honest review.