Ink Blood Sister Scribe by Emma Törzs

In this spellbinding debut novel, two estranged half-sisters tasked with guarding their family’s library of magical books must work together to unravel a deadly secret at the heart of their collection–a tale of familial loyalty and betrayal, and the pursuit of magic and power.

For generations, the Kalotay family has guarded a collection of ancient and rare books. Books that let a person walk through walls or manipulate the elements–books of magic that half-sisters Joanna and Esther have been raised to revere and protect.

All magic comes with a price, though, and for years the sisters have been separated. Esther has fled to a remote base in Antarctica to escape the fate that killed her own mother, and Joanna’s isolated herself in their family home in Vermont, devoting her life to the study of these cherished volumes. But after their father dies suddenly while reading a book Joanna has never seen before, the sisters must reunite to preserve their family legacy. In the process, they’ll uncover a world of magic far bigger and more dangerous than they ever imagined, and all the secrets their parents kept hidden; secrets that span centuries, continents, and even other libraries . . .

Published by William Morrow
on May 30, 2023

Review:

We all know (and love) the power of books. I’ve loved them since I was very young. They’ve always had a magical hold over me, and this one turns that power and magic into something quite literal.

Sisters Joanna and Esther grew up in a family who for years have collected and taken care of a set of books with magical properties. Each book contains words written in blood that, when read aloud, can make something happen. For example, Joanna has a set of books that contain the text that provide a protective ward around her property so that no one can find her home – protecting not only Joanna but also the prized books that she collects and now protects. Her father has always instilled in her the importance of protecting the books, and since he recently died after reading one of the books, she’s afraid that there may be something sinister at play.

Meanwhile, Joanna’s older sister Esther left home without a warning several years ago. Unknown to Joanna, Esther is unaffected by the magic in the books, and she found out that for her to stay in her family home, it might make the wards ineffective, opening her family up to attack, so she took her father’s advice and moved away, and every year on November 2, she packs up and moves again so that she can’t be found – until one year, she decides to not move as she was told, and that’s when she inadvertently kicks off a chain of events that puts her life and potentially Joanna’s life in danger. Someone has been looking for Esther because unbeknownst to either of the girls, Esther holds an important key to the magical puzzle and someone will stop at nothing to get it.

I was completely hooked on this book after only the first few chapters. I had no idea what was going on at first, but I loved the idea that books written in blood held very powerful magic. The pacing is perfect and with each step a new revelation appears as we grow to understand the complexity around the magic, those who wield it and those who protect it and why it is so important.

Not only do we see things from Esther and Joanna’s points of view, but we eventually meet a young man from England named Nicholaus who is a scribe. He is kept under lock and key because it is his blood that is used to write the spells in these books. It appears that someone is after Nicholaus – I mean obviously – if you’re blood is magic and can be used to make things happen I would expect that pretty much everyone in the world would be after you for their own personal gain.

But when Nicholaus is attacked, he fears that maybe those who have sworn to protect him might actually be his biggest threat – can he really trust anyone? Eventually Nicholaus and the sisters connect and it’s up to the three of them – along with Nicholaus’s bodyguard – to figure out the real source of danger so as to protect not only themselves, but the precious books as well.

The action in this one was non-stop and I was pleasantly surprised by several of the nice little twists that the author threw in. One I suspected about halfway through the book, but one was completely unexpected and I loved it. I managed to get through this one very quickly which is saying something because it’s over 400 pages long. It certainly didn’t feel like it. I was hooked from the beginning and didn’t want it to end.