I didn't enjoy this as much as I'd hoped I would. The story itself had so much promise but it just fell a bit flat for me. Won't be recommending anytime soon.

This novel contains a lot of ideas – about books, language, national identity – and a lot of plot – identical twins Ana and Nan set out to take revenge on Eben, a critic whom they believe drove their novelist mother Elena to take her own life. Set in the national library of a small, unnamed country with many similarities to Wales, it involves a rogue ex-con security guard, hostage-taking, loyalty, betrayal, birth, death and the mass destruction of knowledge. There are some funny moments, there are some touching moments. There are also some very visual, cinematic moments and some decent writing, but ultimately this failed to gel for me. I really wanted to like this book and pushed on to the end, but unfortunately I found I couldn’t care about the characters or where the largely predictable narrative was going.

Where to start? This was one of the most unusual and imaginative books I’ve read in quite a while. It did take me some time to get into it and I was beginning to wonder where it was all heading. Twins Ana and Nan are plotting revenege on Eben, the man they believe is responsible for their mother’s suicide. He gave unnecessarily harsh reviews of her books and were believed to be the source of her torment. Quiet and anonymous, the twins work diligently at the National Library all the while planning the downfall of Eben. With more than a hint of Big Brother in this book, everything in their small world is monitored and governed by an incalculable number of rules. Written from the perspectives of the twins, Eben, and Dan a security guard, the story gradually weaves together culminating in a disastrous chain of events. Some excellent writing brings characters and scenes to life throughout and is an excellent debut novel. Of course, by the very premise of this book I cannot leave a bad review but my take on it was one of great imagination and one that I will remember because of its rather bizarre nature. Each year I return to re-read the reviews I have submitted to remind myself of each plot. Some I have trouble recalling and therefore they can’t have been that good. This, however, although my first review of the year, will I am sure be remembered and therefore worthy of a good review.

A story from different perspectives set in a time when the government had banned books and paper. This was quite an interesting idea. Unfortunately, I found it quite hard to follow, however, and it became quite a slog for me to finish. I don't think I'd rush to pick up another by this author.

Ana and Nan are twins, their mother, an author, has committed suicide after some pretty brutal reviews from critic Eben. The twins are seeking revenge on the man that killed their mother.
Both of them working at the national library gives them opportunity, Eben wants to clear his name and is writing a biography of Elena, to do so he requests permission to enter her archive to read her diaries. The twins approve his request and start their plan for revenge.

I did enjoy some twists however would have liked them to go further with them. I was a bit disappointed in how it ended, I was hoping for happiness for Ana.

Overall it was a good read,
Thank you netgally for the copy of this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was a very strange book to read. It took me some time because I was not able to go on with it.
So confused that I loved it so much that when I finally decided to start it again I was not able to put the book down until the end.

When Elena, the renowned but controversial writer, committed suicide, no one doubted her motives. Her literature has always been criticised in harsh worlds, but Eban was believed to go too far this time. Years later, the critic decided to clear his name by writing Elena’s detailed and honest biography. Working on this book, he visits the National Library that stores her diaries. This opportunity is used by Elena’s daughters, Ana and Nan, as they plan their revenge on Eban...

I requested the arc of this book because of my love for literature. A crime story about writers that takes place in a library? Count me in! Unfortunately, this novel disappointed me in many ways. It started well with an exciting storyline and fascinating characters, but the action was soon halted by unnecessary detail in most unexpected places. The author slowed down the plot without justification and provided the reader with information that did not bring anything to the story or seemed awkward. Why do we need to read so much about Eban’s need to use the toilet while locked in the underground reading room? Pointless!

In general, the novel had the potential, especially in the problematic, co-dependent relationship between the sisters, but this was spoiled for me by the slow action.

Ana and Nan are identical twins who work at the National Library in a post pandemic world where almost all physical books are banned due to contamination risk. Their mother, Elena, who was a writer, killed herself seemingly following a series of bad reviews from critic Eben. The twins devise an elaborate plot to seek revenge by murdering Eben.

The first half of this book raced along and was fairly lighthearted, despite the subject matter, but the second half I found much harder going, more gory and full of long action sequences that I didn't enjoy as much. Overall a solid three stars

I found this book pretty annoying to read, although I did make it to the end. The two central characters, being twins who were pretty mentally unstable, plus the idea of burning a library, immediately put me in mind of Mervyn Peake’s Gormenghast trilogy. Sadly, this came nowhere near it. I found the actions of all the characters, not just the twins’, were unbelievable, and the twins’ plan, such as it was, was riddled with inconsistencies and illogicalities. To explain these things away by implying that all the characters were, to put it bluntly, mad, is not enough to rescue a poorly conceived plot. All of which is a shame because the writing itself is good.

I have to admit this sounded really good, I loved the concept of the story and I am sure it will be very good for some. I had trouble associating with all the characters and remembering what they were up to, I had it on my Kindle so maybe a book would have been better so I could flick back and forwards.

I always feel so bad not getting into a book but I must stress that we are all different so give it a go yourself before you write it off. I was so disappointed that I couldn’t get into it and enjoy the story.

After reading the blurb for this book I was really looking forward to reading it. However, for me, it did not live up to expectations. I wasn’t aware that this was within the fantasy genre, which is not one of my favourites. Overall I struggled with the style of writing as there seemed to be a lot of unnecessary words and sentences that were far too long. I didn’t connect with any of the characters and only finished it because it was granted as an arc. I sure people who enjoy this genre will love the book but unfortunately it wasn’t for me

Have you ever seen one of those artsy films? You know the type- full of strange camera angles and lighting choices, and with a plot that revolves around a neon duck that's on fire in a fridge as a metaphor for something clever. A film that you have to immediately carry out a deep online investigation to understand what you've just experienced. If you have, and enjoyed it, then this is the book for you.

The synopsis given with this book does it a disservice. It presents this as a twisty story about a building in which the characters are trapped, enabling a set of twins to enact revenge.

However, it is far more literary than it is thriller.

Instead, it's a multiperspective narrative through a decently compelling plot with a frustrating writing style. It meanders through the action, stopping periodically to beautifully explore a character's motivation or a societal circumstance to then lose itself for five pages in memories of childhood or dreams of the future.

Roughly, for every interesting or poignant topic raised, there are five irritating ones. The story is diluted with misandry, personality transplants and a desperate wish to be Fahrenheit 451. Also, the timeline is unnecessarily convoluted; I'm still unsure as to when this Great Sickness was supposed to have happened.

Not to use a cheap escape clause but it feels entirely appropriate in this instance- maybe I'm just not wise enough to appreciate what this book was doing. Although, I will argue that the writing lacked the charm to make me care about the events, even if I didn't understand the nuance or significance of them.

Wow what a book. Lots of twists and turns. Very unpredictable. Fantastic read. I look forward to the next book!

I really struggled to become immersed in this story and although there were some bits I quite liked overall I felt I really had to push myself through it.
The story follows Ana and Nan who are trying to get revenge for their mothers suicide but obviously all is not as it seems and things are never black and white. There were a few twists and turns, it's well written and the concept of the book in general was good .. but it was just lacking something for me.

Huge thanks to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for the review copy.

Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review that is my own.

I found this book a little disappointing to tell the truth. The book is of the fantasy genre which I did not realise and I am not the biggest fantasy fan. The story did not have the effect that I was expecting and honestly left me somewhat bored. The characters did not really have any substance to the in y option also. For this reason I was unable to finish the book.

I haven’t read any of the other reviews of this book, though in discussions I’ve had with other people, they seem to agree that this book was a confusing one to decide where you stand.

The premise is really interesting, and it’s what made me want to read it in the first place. If I hadn’t been granted an advanced read copy, I would have probably bought this book myself when it was released. Suicide is a very tricky subject to write about, so I was interested to see how the author handled this.

The context for the story was lacking, the backstory hazy, and I couldn’t figure out where the story was set for the life of me. Luckily the suicide seemed to be a driving factor for a lot of the characters which brought a lot of meaning to the story instead of being fetishised or manipulated into an ugly characteristic.

The characters; Eben, Ana, Nan and Dan are the main features of this book. However I didn’t form a connection with any of these characters, and found by the 50% mark, I didn’t even care about the outcome. I wanted to love the story and found I still loved the idea of it, but something was missing. I fear that was my connection to the characters. I didn’t care about the outcome and the resolution was lack lustre at best.

I just wish this book did more for me. I wanted to love it, and I may come back to it to try again, but this time round, it wasn’t for me.

Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

In all honesty, I found this book a little disappointing. I'm not a fantasy lover, and I didn't realise this book was of this genre. However, saying this book was an enjoyable and recommended read.

I’m sorry but I had to give up on this book about 40% through. I wasn’t enjoying it at all, the characters were one dimensional and the narrative could probably be pruned down to make it more readable. I guess I just wasn’t the target audience for this one.

I simply cannot get into this. The writing doesn’t work in conjunction with my brain and I’ve not been able to get past the first chapter. There could be a brilliant story in here but I’m not going to find out.

I could not get on with this book. I could not understand or relate to the characters and found the plot a little on the weird side and certainly unbelievable. The story was well written but failed to hit my buttons.