Thank you to Netgalley for the audio-ARC!

This novel is a fantastic middle-grade/early YA horror that balances the awkwardness of being a teenager, the complicated ways families can be affected by addiction, and ultimately having a spooky, gothic atmosphere.

Vish is so determined that coming back from boarding school he isn't going to speak to anyone or get involved with anything, that the speed at which he is sucked into his local bookshop's macabre problems is all the more fun. We're introduced to a variety of characters who to me all seemed to be grieving someone or something in their own way - whether they felt that they'd lost a friend through betrayal or family through a tragic accident. This made the friendship and teamwork towards the end all the more sweet, and I couldn't help but be entirely enamoured with goth-girl Gisela and the way the three boys had a healthy amount of fear of her. 

The ending also felt lime perhaps it was set up for a sequel which I would definitely be interested in reading, perhaps that would offer a slightly deeper look into the exciting magic systems and explanations we were introduced to throughout this story (I never tire of when magical characters are entirely dismissive of every other magic system that has come before, trope never gets old).