I really love books that involve the fae, and I was quite excited to read this, unfortunately, I just didn’t click with it. It conflated too many genres - fantasy, mythology, religion, lit fic, and crime - but I didn’t feel like it did justice to any of them.

I spent most of this book being really bemused. At the beginning of the novel, the main plot isn’t that complicated, but so many subplots and characters were introduced that I found it difficult to stay on track. Furthermore, the scenes jumped around quite a bit, and I kept having to go back to see if I missed a vital piece of information to explain where we were. I felt like this was a deliberate ploy by the author to add to the ‘mystery’ of the novel, but it was just too much for me, and at the end when all was revealed, it felt too disjointed and needlessly confusing.

I didn’t really connect with the main characters, Taryn, our protagonist felt like a bit of a cardboard cutout of a person. I understand she is dealing with the loss of a sister and all the grief that brings, but it felt very underdeveloped, almost like her emotions were a plot device within her own story. The other characters felt similarly flat, they just appeared when the author required them, they had no backstory, motivation or consistency, and once they had done their job they disappeared.

The writing was very beautiful, but the descriptions often did not lead anywhere and so it just ended up being unfocused, and sometimes those descriptions seemed a little unwarranted, especially those related to Taryn’s body. I felt like you could describe a character as being hurt or constricted, without randomly throwing in a report about the state of the character’s breasts.

I did like the narration, Anne Marie Duff’s voice made the experience quite enjoyable. She has a soothing quality to her voice and a great range of accents to better vocalise the different characters. But considering how intricate the writing was, I felt like I might have followed it better, if I was the one reading it.

I was given an advanced audio copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately I DNFd this one. It was just too hard to follow on audio. The writing was good and the narration was good, I just got lost at some points when listening. Definitely a book to be read rather than listened to. I may pick it up in print in the future and will hopefully be able to follow the timeline properly.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the audioARC of this book.

This is such a brilliant story full of mystery and folklore and magic.

But it’s so difficult to follow on audio! The jumps between places and times weren’t well enough marked on the audio making it confusing. I got lost and rewound several times!

Having said that, the narration is great and I would love to listen to more audiobooks read by this narrator!

I think this is one that would work better in print for me!

This is a deep, complex and enigmatic book that spans many worlds. It's an epic and intriguing blend of mystery and magical realism that throws in a fantastic mix of various mythologies.
I can tell that Elizabeth Knox put lots of time, effort and research into creating this beautifully written piece of prose. But, I'm afraid she lost me at points. I had to really concentrate to follow the story, or should I say intertwining stories, and felt like I was missing things even after rewinding bits on my audiobook copy. Maybe if there were slightly fewer plots and folklores to focus on, I would have fared better. I would really like to read the book within this book, The Feverish Library, though.
Narrator notes: Listening to Anne Marie Duff was great. I loved her range of accents for the characters and it was so pleasurable and soothing to hear her voice for over 18 hours. I will definitely be trying to find more audiobooks narrated by her.
On narration alone, I would give 5 stars. But unfortunately, the actual book was not as spellbinding as I thought it would be.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this title in exchange for a honest review.

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.

This was my second reading of the book. It is not the easiest to follow, as it jumps back and forth spatially and temporally. Some sections are a little flabby. It is a testament to the originality of the story, that I came back to it.

Given this is a story about an Englishwoman, the use of Americanisms, eg. cell phone, grates.

This audiobook version is well-performed. The narrator inhabits each of the various characters.

Hugely imaginative, hard to capture.

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

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.
The narrator was beautiful and gave her all to the characters she was voicing.