 Isaac Vainio is a Libriomancer, a member of the secret organization founded five centuries ago by Johannes Gutenberg. Libriomancers are gifted with the ability to magically reach into books and draw forth objects. When Isaac is attacked by vampires that leaked from the pages of books into our world, he barely manages to escape. To his horror he discovers that vampires have been attacking other magic-users as well, and Gutenberg has been kidnapped. With the help of a motorcycle-riding dryad who packs a pair of oak cudgels, Isaac finds himself hunting the unknown dark power that has been manipulating humans and vampires alike. And his search will uncover dangerous secrets about Libriomancy, Gutenberg, and the history of magic. . . . |
This is the first novel by Jim C. Hines I have read, though I've been aware of him as an author and blogger for a few years now. He is humorous and conscientious and in general our views on how the world though be align very well. I've enjoyed his interactions in the group of authors I follow, especially when he has challenged them to a "pose off" for charity. He was re-creating book covers to show how crazy the positions some women are shown in, and how they really weren't at all natural or comfortable, and the results were usually hilarious! Here is the blog post with links to the poses during one of the campaigns if you're interested: Posing for Charity.
As usually happens for us bookworms, no matter how much we find ourselves interested in a book, somehow it never ends up in the roster. I fixed that this time by making Jim by January TBR List theme! You all choose Libriomancer for me, which is the first in Jim's current series, and it was a lot of fun!
I adore the magic system of being able to pull items out of books, sometimes even people, but there are some limitations, and also some ethical concerns which Isaac struggles with. This pretty much allows Jim to give nods to any author (real or imagined) he wants within the story, and he does, which is just fine with me. I'm pretty arachnophobic, but I adore Smudge, except at mealtimes, and Isaac's care for him. We've also got a take no nonsense dryad to help Isaac out, and a couple of historical figures who should have been long gone by now, but aren't. Oh and vampires are after him, because if you've got 99 problems then vampires after you should definitely be one of them, right?
This was an entertaining adventure which exactly matched the impression of the author I had developed, and quite honestly I kept seeing Jim as Isaac, despite the cover picture. I can definitely attribute that to social media and how we can be so much more connected to authors these days if they're putting themselves out there, which Jim definitely does. I'm looking forward to seeing what Isaac and friends get up to next! Thanks for choosing this one for me friends!
