Thirteen Storeys unravels the mystery of Banyan Court; a large luxury apartment complex designed and built by billionaire Tobias Fell, who was brutally murdered during a dinner party he was hosting. The case is officially unsolved, but through the stories Fell's 13 dinner guests, of the events that lead to their unexpected invitations to the billionaire's penthouse dinner party, the details and circumstances of Fell's demise slowly start falling into place.

Trust Jonathan Sims to go, "a haunted house, but it's a luxury apartment building. Also fuck rich people"

Thirteen Storeys had all the qualities of Sims' writing that made The Magnus Archives sing. From the cast of characters who all felt and sounded different from each other and wholly their own, to the slow, creeping dread and deep seated feeling of discomfort and unease that he wields masterfully.

The individual stories weren't all on the same level in terms of quality. There were a few in the middle that didn't quite hold my attention away the rest did. But overall, this book was riveting and an incredibly fresh take on the haunted house sub genre. Sims also toyed with the ancient burial ground trope in a way that I personally thought was *chef's kiss*

The Magnus Archives may be over, but this book is solid proof that Jonathan Sims is just getting started. I'm so excited to read whatever he puts out. Just give it to me. 

The first half of this book had me commiserating with Sisyphus.

It wasn't the book's fault - in my personal experience, rebuilding a country after a magical war doesn't really make for the most riveting read at the best of times, and the slow build at the beginning of this book really felt like I was pushing a boulder up a hill with no real hope that I'd ever reach the top. But my God, the instant we hit The With In The Wood, that boulder just went careening down that hill at full fucken throttle. I really enjoyed it. Gimme the next one.

ALSO, side note:

I know there are some naysayers here, but I genuinely like the Zoya/Nikolai pairing. They work well. Feel like Nina met her potential LI a little too soon after burying Matthias but that's none of my business I guess.