Reviews with content warning for Dementia - The Book of the Most Precious Substance

Lily is a depressed book dealer living solely to care for her husband with Alzheimer’s and dementia. She used to be a famous writer, living luxuriously with the love of her life but now she’s sold everything and struggles to make ends meet for her severely ill husband. Gran does an amazing job of setting the scene for Lily and honestly it was hard to read, her sadness and struggles are too real and I couldn’t even imagine having to live with that tragedy everyday.

Despite her hardships Lily is devoted to her husband and finding a way to help him. So when she’s offered over a million dollars for a rare occult book on sex magic, she teams up with a colleague and friend, Lucas, to find the book. What unfolds is a journey across the country to locate the book and find herself.

This book is very slow paced so if you start it, know it’s a crawl and it’s also very disturbing at times. As Lily continues searching for the book her and Lucas begin attempting it’s magic as well, which leads them to many dark and weird places. Hedonist mansions, sec magic, disgustingly rich men, it’s all pretty out there and unsettling but I loved it.

This book is not for everyone, it’s not fast paced or super exciting, it’s an atmospheric and tragic love story with elements of horror that weave together themes of loss, grief, devotion, and finding a reason to live once yours is gone. If you’re up for that, I highly recommend!

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davidamarion's review

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Lily had been a promising author with a life close to perfection when her partner's mysterious early on-set dementia narrowed it to eking out a living as a rare bookseller to help pay for his round-the-clock care. A search to find a mysterious book that promises unlimited power to the owner breathes life back into her. As she follows the thread, we wonder along with Lily if she's willing to pay the ultimate cost for that power, and if she does, what that might do to her.

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catherinedsharp's review against another edition

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dark mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

A very interesting concept; who doesn’t love books about books? The idea was interesting and I did want to know what happened but the execution wasn’t too great and I found it very dark and disjointed at times.

There were aspects I would have liked to have seen developed more and things I didn’t see coming because they were out of character etc.

Interesting read, not sure if I would re read it though.

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doctor_reader's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

A tense, sex-positive thriller that I devoured in pretty much one sitting. The moral of the story is fairly predictable, but also much more sad than I expected.

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thecatconstellation's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

This book is well-written and interesting, but I didn’t warm to any of the characters. It is a book about sex magic and books, so if that sounds up your alley, I would give it a try.

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cjblates's review

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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