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grethaleesalles's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Great story but the tranlsation makes it slow and difficult to read
adambwriter's review against another edition
2.0
Plot/Story:
3 – Plot/Story is interesting & believable.
The Library of Shadows by Mikkel Birkegaard is a supernatural mystery thriller, written especially for book lovers. John Campelli, a promising young lawyer in Copenhagen, is brought back to his family’s home town and his father’s elegant, antique book store, Libri di Luca, after his father, Luca, dies under mysterious circumstances. Suddenly, despite John’s better judgment, he is drawn into a vast, dangerous war between factions of “Lectors” – persons who have magical reading or receiving abilities. These Lectors can enhance a story’s potential, simply by reading it aloud. Scenes come to life – imagery blazes in the mind, blurring the lines between reality and imagination. The more powerful Lectors can influence others’ actions, simply by reading aloud to them – from planting subliminal messages to causing one to commit suicide. All of this is news to John but, as it turns out, there is even more to the story, as the two factions of Lectors soon discover. John’s latent abilities are awoken and he proves to be one of the most powerful Lectors in history. In short time, a deep, hidden cult, as old as the ancient Library of Alexandria, seeks him out and hopes to use his powers to super-amplify their own, in hopes of taking over the world by controlling its leaders. John and his colleagues from Libri di Luca must find a way to stop this powerful shadow organization, without knowing who they are, what they want, or where they come from.
Read the complete review at www.roofbeamreader.net
3 – Plot/Story is interesting & believable.
The Library of Shadows by Mikkel Birkegaard is a supernatural mystery thriller, written especially for book lovers. John Campelli, a promising young lawyer in Copenhagen, is brought back to his family’s home town and his father’s elegant, antique book store, Libri di Luca, after his father, Luca, dies under mysterious circumstances. Suddenly, despite John’s better judgment, he is drawn into a vast, dangerous war between factions of “Lectors” – persons who have magical reading or receiving abilities. These Lectors can enhance a story’s potential, simply by reading it aloud. Scenes come to life – imagery blazes in the mind, blurring the lines between reality and imagination. The more powerful Lectors can influence others’ actions, simply by reading aloud to them – from planting subliminal messages to causing one to commit suicide. All of this is news to John but, as it turns out, there is even more to the story, as the two factions of Lectors soon discover. John’s latent abilities are awoken and he proves to be one of the most powerful Lectors in history. In short time, a deep, hidden cult, as old as the ancient Library of Alexandria, seeks him out and hopes to use his powers to super-amplify their own, in hopes of taking over the world by controlling its leaders. John and his colleagues from Libri di Luca must find a way to stop this powerful shadow organization, without knowing who they are, what they want, or where they come from.
Read the complete review at www.roofbeamreader.net
emjay2021's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars.
Entertaining. Elements of fantasy and suspense, but set in a realistic world. I read it on vacation and it was perfect--didn't require too much deep thought, but wasn't insulting to my intelligence and had a fast-paced, interesting story. The translation was really good, too.
Entertaining. Elements of fantasy and suspense, but set in a realistic world. I read it on vacation and it was perfect--didn't require too much deep thought, but wasn't insulting to my intelligence and had a fast-paced, interesting story. The translation was really good, too.
susannavs's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars - good concept, but something was lacking. I'm not sure if that was a translation problem. And I wasn't a fan of the ending...I wanted a bit more...even if it was in the form of a "Jon carried on... Iverson ran the bookshop."
5arah_h's review against another edition
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
0.5
Finished to finish but did not enjoy it
taaya's review against another edition
Let me start with saying that I love infodump.
But not if it's 80 pages of nothing but infodump - slowed down to make it look atmospheric. It's not.
80 pages in still nothing has happened. Oh, well, yes, one death within the first five pages, of a character we never got to know properly and therefore couldn't care less. From there on it's only explanations of the world building and characters, but in a way where you already dread the next sentence, because you already know it still won't be the end of it.
And as much as I like books and reading: What bullshit magic is being able to enhance people's reading or hear what they are reading? (Not to mention that while dyslexia seems to be no problem here, people with aphantasia seem to just not exist if everyone is supposed to be able to see things while reading?)
And maybe if I wouldn't have partial aphantasia, this might be more interesting to me. If the idea of having sensory input while reading (apart from seeing the words) would be on a cognitive level I had access to. But the way I was built this is just... Not interesting to me, as I'm not part of that world.
But not if it's 80 pages of nothing but infodump - slowed down to make it look atmospheric. It's not.
80 pages in still nothing has happened. Oh, well, yes, one death within the first five pages, of a character we never got to know properly and therefore couldn't care less. From there on it's only explanations of the world building and characters, but in a way where you already dread the next sentence, because you already know it still won't be the end of it.
And as much as I like books and reading: What bullshit magic is being able to enhance people's reading or hear what they are reading? (Not to mention that while dyslexia seems to be no problem here, people with aphantasia seem to just not exist if everyone is supposed to be able to see things while reading?)
And maybe if I wouldn't have partial aphantasia, this might be more interesting to me. If the idea of having sensory input while reading (apart from seeing the words) would be on a cognitive level I had access to. But the way I was built this is just... Not interesting to me, as I'm not part of that world.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent
luco's review against another edition
adventurous
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
josie_derosa's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
freesien's review against another edition
4.0
Bei dem Rating hab ich echt Schlimmeres erwartet :D
Das Buch hat Spaß gemacht! Ja, es gab einige Stellen, die nicht ganz schlüssig waren, aber trotzdem.
Das Buch hat Spaß gemacht! Ja, es gab einige Stellen, die nicht ganz schlüssig waren, aber trotzdem.