What if you could reach into the pages of The Lord of the Rings and pull out the One Ring?

Well, relax, because The Lord of the Rings is one of the books that is sealed by First Libriomancer Johannes Gutenberg himself, and our hero, Isaac Vainio, has been banned from using his abilities for the last two years anyway. Until a trio of vampires attacks him at his library day job, he is rescued by a hot dryad and then nearly put away again by a colleague the vampires have turned. All this within the space of the first day of Isaac’s roller coaster of a life.

Someone is attacking both the vampires and the Porters, that organization of libriomancers sworn to police magic users and keep the existence of magic secret from the mundane world. (Shades of Arthur Weasley.) The vampires thinks the Porters are attacking them, the Porters think it’s the vampires attacking them, and here’s another fine mess only Isaac, self described as an okay mage but a damn good librarian, can get them all out of. It helps that he can reach into a Star Trek expanded universe novel and pull out a Klingon disruptor (at least that’s what I think that was) and into Alice in Wonderland to pull out flasks that say “Drink me.” Isaac, delightfully, has a duster lined with pockets to fit books of every shape and size, the better to have the correct literary weapon to hand when necessary.

Hines includes a bibliography of all the books Isaac uses, real and, er, fictional. Thanks, I needed that. First of so far four novels. Recommended.

My Goodreads reviews here.

Book Review Monday Chatter Uncategorized Jim C. HInes Libriomancer Magic Ex Libris