Review: Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore

Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

If I have to describe it in one line I'd call it 'cozy Dan Brown-ish mystery'.

It's like part Dan Brown and part Agatha Christie. It's a good book. There's a setup, a story that's continuously building. A hint of mystery lurking just around the corner, throughout. It ain't a murder mystery or some such story where there is a point of sharp inflection. This is a slow story that is good to be read more like episodes. What I mean by this is this; while reading some books you absolutely need to know what happens next, those books keep you awake, owing to the anxiety they generate in the reader, ala Dan Brown. This book isn't like that. Because of its slow pace you can take a break and come back to it and resume, since the mystery is always around the corner but not there yet.

As a story, a lot is happening throughout. Although it happens in a relatively small time-frame there are a ton of details. It almost reminded me a little of Erin Morgenstern’s Night Circus, the way the story was built, although language in the Night Circus was an absolute delight.

Also for you to enjoy this you need to be at least aware of the latest technology. Not an in depth knowledge, but at least mildly aware. Also you need to be one of us, people who enjoy reading about books. The language felt good at a couple of places, but otherwise it was mostly drab. At the same time the language was funny at times with phrases like "The way he says it, I can hear the capital letters," peppered around.

It's a good read. I have a feeling that this would work better as an oral story more than as a story that's meant to be read.

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