The Library of the Dead is a lush urban fantasy adventure and an exciting start to Huchu’s Edinburgh Nights series. Fourteen-year-old Ropa is a ghostalker, and she uses her ability to communicate with the dead to hire herself out as a messenger between the deceased and the living. Jaded and already carrying too much responsibility on her young shoulders, Ropa still agrees to do pro bono work for a ghost whose young son has gone missing. Ropa’s investigation leads her to a surprisingly uptight occult library, deep into Edinburgh’s underbelly, and to a nefarious conspiracy much larger and more dangerous than she ever bargained for.

Ropa is an incredible protagonist with a strong and distinct voice. She’s courageous, warm, and whip smart — though she often often hides her big heart under her sarcastic humor and tough exterior. Huchu does an incredible job of letting readers into Ropa's clever problem-solving tactics, giving readers an intimate glimpse into why Ropa makes the choices she does and how she’s able to leverage all of her talents to survive in this post-catastrophe Edinburgh.

The Library of the Dead does get off to a slightly slow start, once it hits its groove it’s tough to put down. The central mystery's big reveal is fairly predictable, but the joy of watching Ropa hunt down clues and grapple with immortal beasts is more than satisfying enough. Huchu weaves between humor, action, and pathos effortlessly, while building an immersive world readers will want to return to again and again.

I wanted to read this book because I liked the title and I was curious about what this kind of library would look like. The book was everything I hoped it would be and I loved that you don't figure out it is part dystopian until you are swept up in it. It's referred to as the "Catastrophe" and Ropa (the main character) for lack of a better word, trips out when her grandmother tells her what life use to be like before.

Ropa reminds of every teen who thinks they know what they're doing and once they are in a bind they realize they should have listened to their elders. I've been guilty of it. She also reminds me of myself who looks to books to learn things. I definitely would be like her, learning magic from a book.

The novel had excellent pacing and who Ropa is comes through in the writing.

I was so happy my request to read it was approved and I can't wait to read the next one.

Eerie and so, so much fun. I think this one will fly off the shelves and I can even see my book club getting into it. Very enjoyable and highly recommended

DNF But Not Bad
I just don't think this is the book for me. The premise sounds cool but I tend to not like when there is a lot of phonetical writing and this had that, plus I couldn't place it. Is it the future? Is it past? It felt almost like middle grade but with swearing so that was a bit jarring to me.

A girl has bills to pay. Rosa leaves school to talk to ghosts, they talk she delivers their words. She soon learns that something has the children under some kind of spell. It takes their strength and joy. Leaving them hallow and empty. Rosa feels dirty bound to get to the bottom . Along the way she enlists help from a mystical man with secrets of his own. She researches through a library dedicated to the occult. It’s all very tricky and this girl is up to the task. Happy reading

Ropa can talk to ghosts.
It’s a family gift. It’s also how she pays the bills. In semi-post-apocalyptic Edinburgh, fourteen-year-old Ropa is supports her grandmother and little sister by ferrying messages from Edinburgh’s recently deceased to their still-living friends and family. She doesn’t usually do jobs for free, but when kids start disappearing, Ropa investigates at her grandmother’s insistence. The ensuing adventures cover everything from faerie houses to underground libraries to the local drug scene.
The Edinburgh setting was why I originally picked this one up, as it’s my favourite city. The tour we got was fascinating. Ropa’s Edinburgh is one transformed. Vehicles and contemporary energy sources are all but gone. Tent cities have popped up, and some areas are flooded. Huchu describes cracked, empty highways and dark streets; the abandoned infrastructure is eerie, and it made me think of seeing traffic jams today and feeling a shiver of fear for the future.
What I didn’t expect from The Library of the Dead was how much I would love our main character. Ropa was my favourite part of the book. She’s sharp, committed to her work, and has a boldness that reminds me a lot of my own little sister. Ropa defends herself when she’s belittled and surprises adults (and sexists, and racists) with her smarts over and over. And she’s hilarious.
Ropa’s nerdiness was both wonderful and heartbreaking. More than once I found myself wishing I could join her for a walk to talk about books and history, yet that a child who loves knowledge so much should have to leave school to work also distracted me from the mostly light tone of the book—sadly, millions of kids today are in Ropa’s position.
As they often are in life, family is what seems to keep Ropa going. Her relationship with her grandmother is full of magic, mirth, and wisdom, and thoughts of her little sister drive much of her moral compass. Huchu also works Zimbabwean and Scottish culture into the novel through the various influences on Ropa.
This was a fun, unique, and subtly dark adventure story. I’ll definitely be watching for the sequel!

The synopsis of this book immediately caught my attention and quite frankly it hasn't let go since! I started this book Saturday,  expecting it to take several days to finish up but dang. It was so good I finished it Sunday morning! It's a wild ride, throwing you into this strange world where talking to the dead and delivering their messages (for a fee of course) is fairly standard practice. It takes a little time to orient oneself and even then, some of the slang used was a bit confusing, but it didn’t detract from the story. I just found myself going ??? occasionally.

The story stars Ropa, a girl who speaks to ghosts and carries messages to those they’ve left behind. Ropa is quite the character, literally and figuratively but while her exterior may catch some off guard, she’s clearly a loving, good person who takes care of those near and dear to her. She lives with her little sister and elderly grandmother and the money she brings in carrying the messages of the dead pays for their lot fee, her grandmother’s medicines, and other such necessities. Ropa’s need to keep her family housed and cared for drives her to work long nights and she doesn’t do charity work for the spirits of the dead, that’s for damn sure. Until one such plea for help continues to tug at her conscience and when she speaks to her grandmother about it, she encourages Ropa to check it out.  Thus begins her quest to find out who is kidnapping children, sucking the youth from them, and leaving their sad little husks wandering about the city. 

The characters in this story are so vibrant and fascinating - not just Ropa, but her family and friends, and those she meets along the way. This story is by turns phenomenally dark, highlighting the terrible things people can inflict upon others, and hopeful, showing the good people can do for others. The fantastical elements in this story just enrich an already interesting alternate version of Edinburgh, where something terrible happened in the not too distant past. The vague mysteriousness of it all kept me reading nearly as much as the main plot! Then there’s the titular Library of the Dead… which wasn’t nearly as big a feature as I thought it would be, though it almost certainly will play a larger role in future books which I am VERY EXCITED for.

I really just couldn't’ put this book down, which surprised me because it sort of just came out of nowhere - this amazing book had such little marketing (that I saw) but it deserved so much more! So I’ll be the marketing - it was amazing! Go read it and immerse yourself in this dark, forlorn Scottish cityscape filled with the paranormal! Also, there is a hugely creepy house and I might be forever traumatized by those chapters, I mean WTF WAS THAT! It was awesome, but I'm still thinking about how disturbing that was...

I saw this book described as Sixth Sense meets Stranger Things and I pounced because Sixth Sense is one of my favourite movies ever.
Ropa is a ghost talker. She sees and talks to ghosts with the help of an mbira and delivers messages from them to loved ones for a fee. She has a family to take her of - her blind grandmother and her sister, so taking on pro bono cases is completely off the table. But when the ghost of a young mother requests her to look for her lost boy she cannot in good conscience turn her away.
Ropa is a precocious, snarky, cynical teen who owned me right from the beginning of the book. She was a stellar, standout character and someone whose adventures I can’t wait to read more of. She basically carried the the whole story on her shoulders because the plot as such was entirely predictable. .
I think this book is being marketed as young adult but for me the story was more middle-gradish than YA. Not to say the story isn’t good but for an older reader like me who mostly reads in the adult and YA categories the plot wasn’t as intriguing as it could have been. I could see the big reveal from a mile away.
But what makes this book worth picking up are the great characters as well as the unique world building. It’s set in this post apocalyptic world in Scotland to be precise. Not much is revealed in terms of how this came to be but a King is in power and and the whole country is suffering as it was on the losing side of whatever happened. What makes this unique and interesting is the fact that magic is now common place. Magic wielders - sorcerers, ghost talkers etc are part of the norm and have jobs that are acknowledged and paid. It makes for a very interesting world and I for one am looking forward to exploring it more in future instalments.
If you are picking this up as an older reader I would say, pick it up for the incredible Ropa and the brilliant world building that is both post apocalyptic/dystopian as well as full of magic. If you are a teen picking this up and then all I can say is hold on tight for an amazing adventurous ride full of mystery with the bestest character ever.
Rating: 3.5

So this book took me a couple of chapters to get accustomed to, but once I did, I was in it for the long haul, and raced through this story in basically a single sitting.

It takes place in an alternate version of Edinburgh. There’s some references to some type of catastrophe, and there’s some elements of dystopia in the story, leaving Ropa, the MC, in a tough living situation. She is basically the breadwinner of her family, at 14, responsible for caring for her younger sister and sick grandmother, by relaying messages between the dead and the living. She sticks to her strict moral code, although her lifestyle exposes her to some dangers. And when she finds herself on the case of a missing child, it puts her in even more danger.

Ropa herself is an interesting character. She’s very young, but the lifestyle she lives makes her seem a lot older. Her snarky, cynical personality, devotion to her family and friends, and intense focus on bettering herself even though she had to drop out of school all combine to create an intensely likable character. It was so interesting to read about how her mind worked and how she never gave up, even when the odds seemed insurmountable. She was definitely the kind of underdog that I love to root for.

The book is more character-driven than plot-driven, and it seemed like the story meandered a bit, but it was still enjoyable. While I’m not generally a huge fan of character-driven stories, it really depends on the character driving the story. When it’s someone that I really like, I don’t mind, and Ropa’s character was enjoyable enough that I liked following her story.

As far as the library itself, I’m intrigued by what goes on there. I would have liked to learn more about that, and Ropa’s journey further into the magical arts. I am absolutely looking forward to reading more of this series as soon as it’s available!

The Library of the Dead is engaging, interesting, and a great cross between mystery and urban fantasy. The story centers around Ropa, a strong willed teen who has inherited the ability to see and speak to ghosts in a world where these skills are licensed by the government. She's established herself as the main money maker for her family of three, including her grandmother and younger sibling. Along the way she encounters a deceased woman desperate to find her child who has been missing. Her son is just one of several strange events happening in Edinburgh. At the urging of her grandmother, she dives into the mystery.

Overall the books is engaging. From the very beginning, the reader gets a feel for Ropa and her motivations. The book is written in a very conversational style giving the reader a glimpse into Ropa's thoughts and approach to her world. At times the writing is not as strong as others, but it's such a minor issue and did not effect my over all enjoyment of the story. Also, the worldbuilding took me a little while to figure out. If you go into the book understanding this isn't modern day, but rather dystopian reality I think it's pretty easy to follow. Definitely an enjoyable read for me and one I look forward to putting in my library.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review The Library of the Dead by T.L. Huchu.

I freaking love it! Advertised as The Sixth Sense meets Stranger Things and it’s totally on point. Ropa would be a PERFECT fit to the Stranger Things gang. She takes no heat from nobody - she's as tough as they come and I loved her character so much! I absolutely loved the dystopian gothic vibes throughout. This is a series opener and I cannot wait for the next installment!

Ropa is a ghost talker. She delivers messages from the dead to their living family members in Edinburgh for a fee. If the ghost can't pay the fee, she delivers the message and collects the fee from the living. It's a living....and she does her best to avoid shakedowns from police and other common problems when dealing the dark, magical underbelly of Edinburgh. But then she learns that something evil is harming children, leaving them broken, empty and drained. Ropa will have to gather her wits and all of the magical knowledge her grandmother has imparted to her to figure out what is going on and prevent becoming a victim herself.

I love Ropa as a main character! She is scrappy and very street smart. Her grandmother is also an amazing character. Those two really make this book something special! The mix of magic, different cultures, and the supernatural really held my interest from start to finish!

I had an ARC ebook and a review copy of the audio book. I read portions, listened to others, and at times did both at the same time. Tinashe Warikandwa narrates the audio book. She does a superb job! The audio is just over 8 hours long, so a nice listening length. Not too short....not too long. The narrator did an excellent job bringing all the characters to life, especially Ropa. Very entertaining listen!

This is the first book by T. L. Huchu that I've read. I'm definitely looking forward to reading more by this author.

**I voluntarily read a review copy of this book (and listened to a review audio book) from Tor and Macmillan Audio. All opinions expressed are entirely my own**

The Library of the Undead is not a book for everyone. It has a unique cadence, which suits the main character, Ropa. It is not the easiest style to fall into, but once you submerse yourself into this post-apocalyptic Scotland, the narration flows by. Ropa isn’t necessarily the head of her little family, but she works hard, pays the rent, and makes sure her little sister goes to school and does her homework. Their blind gran is the center of their world, their conscience, and their refuge. Ropa needs her moral support more than most children - and Ropa is a child at only fourteen years of age - because she pays the rent by talking to the dead.

T. L. Huchu has an amazing way with words, and so many of the detailed descriptions in this book made me pause in admiration. The way he describes music, in particular, is entrancing. For example: “…the sound of the music is now falling cherry blossoms blowing in the wind through a courtyard, curved multi-layer pagodas, and courtiers scurrying about in silken garments.” The imagery is tangible.

Ropa is a no-nonsense girl who stumbles upon the Library of the Dead, and its Society of snobbish magicians and scholars. Her skill at ghostalking - or practical necromancy - isn’t enough to admit her as a member, but she is granted "associate membership with limited privileges" because one such scholar sees her untapped potential. She doesn’t have the luxury of enrolling in one of the four schools and learning magic properly, so she studies books in her limited free time and reaches for that potential on her own.

She’s used to doing things on her own, but when one ghost’s plea to find her missing son shoves Ropa into the midst of a magical mystery, she realizes she’s in over her head.

(3.5/5 stars, my review will go live on June 1 on Thoroughly Modern Reviewer.)
"The Library of the Dead" has a fairly promising premise but suffers from a pretty chronic case of first-book-in-a-series syndrome. It’s not a bad book by any stretch of the imagination. It just tries to be too many different things at once and comes off as unfocused instead of compelling. All of the elements are there, but the plot, itself, feels a bit like an afterthought.

Ropa is a ghostalker—she can see and speak with ghosts and will deliver messages to the loved ones of the recently deceased. For a fee, of course. One ghost, however, convinces Ropa to look into the disappearance of her son. She’s rather concerned since his friend, who disappeared alongside him, was returned to his family as no more than a husk of his former self, devoid of joy, strength, and youth. Something is attacking the children of Edinburgh and Ropa is going to figure out what is happening, and why. Even if her journey takes her to a strange, magical library and an even stranger, dangerous house.

"The Library of the Dead" feels like a novella that’s been expanded into a full-length novel. There’s a compelling mystery at the heart of the book, but you have to wade through a lot of padding that’s masquerading as world-building to get to it. It takes 20% of the book for the central mystery (what’s happening to the children of Edinburgh) to be introduced. Then, it takes another 30% of the book for that mystery to take center stage. Instead, most of the first half of "The Library of the Dead" is devoted to world-building.

We spend a lot of time with Ropa, getting to know her as a character and getting to see her ghostalking adventures. We spend even more time building out the novel’s universe. It’s set sometime in the future, in a vaguely post-apocalyptic world. Magic is an established thing, as are ghosts (and people who can talk to them). There’s even a library hidden underneath a tomb where magical scholars can study their craft. It all makes for a pretty interesting universe to set a story in, but this lack of focus hurts the narrative overall.

You’d be forgiven for thinking "The Library of the Dead" was actually a story about Ropa learning how to use magic. I mean, there are even multiple chapters devoted to Ropa reading books about how magic works. And I’m talking the nitty-gritty stuff about entropy and thermodynamics and whatnot. To be completely honest, I’ve never been a fan of fantasy novels feeling the need to overexplain how their magic works. I am perfectly content with just accepting that the magic works. I’d have gone along with it if "The Library of the Dead" was actually about Ropa learning magic. But it’s not. Not really. Her struggle to master her first spell is part of her character arc, but it’s not like this is a novel about a girl learning magic.

The book is actually about these missing kids, once it finally gets around to exploring that. Unfortunately, it takes so long to start focusing on this mystery that the mystery never really gets developed. The ending is fairly predictable, but not in a satisfying way. There aren’t a bunch of bread crumbs that are dropped throughout the novel, all building up to a climax that combines them into a satisfying conclusion. Instead, it’s just a series of events that happen, without a whole lot of investigation. You’re able to guess who’s behind everything almost as soon as you see them. And then you don’t see them again until the big reveal at the end. Unfortunately, that reveal is done in a rather hand-wavy kind of manner, as though it’s just an afterthought. Even the climax just kind of happens pretty quickly. It’s cool, and it brings Ropa’s character arc to a nice culmination. But it’s just so rushed that it doesn’t land as well as it could’ve.

And that’s down to the novel’s pacing. This is one of those books where everything is happening all at once and it never picks one thing to focus on. So, it’s really hard for any tension to start building. Getting through the first half of the novel is a bit of a slog as it’s just various scenes of exposition and world-building, one after the other. And then, when the cool stuff finally starts happening, it all happens too quickly. We briefly visit the everyThere, a sort of Purgatory that’s looked after by the Voykers, who will devour anyone who doesn’t belong. There’s a house where anyone who enters it never comes back, and Ropa ends up in the house, subject to its horror. Then there’s the titular library, which Ropa ends up a patron of, but otherwise sees little focus. "The Library of the Dead" is filled with so many cool ideas, but it just burns through them. It’s a case of there being too many ingredients in the soup at the same time, so no single one stands out. Any one of these ideas would’ve made for an absolutely enthralling book, but combined? It’s all just a little too much.

Now, all of that being said, I still enjoyed "The Library of the Dead". Once the mystery properly gets going, it is compelling. It’s haunting and creepy and it keeps you on the edge of your seat, constantly wanting to know more. And, best of all, Ropa is an incredible main character. To be honest, I didn’t always believe she was as young as the novel insists she is—she doesn’t really sound like a fourteen-year-old. But it doesn’t matter because she feels so fully realized. A living, breathing person come to life within the novel’s pages. Huchu writes the novel in first-person, present tense and it’s a brilliant choice. You feel like you’re right there, alongside Ropa. I don’t often like present tense stories, but I loved the choice here. Honestly, for as much as I didn’t love the book’s pacing or some of its world-building, I adored Ropa. I was invested in her as a character and I wanted to know more about her. Some of her abilities are a little vaguely defined still, but I’d be willing to read more books with her as the main character.

At the end of the day, "The Library of the Dead" is a bit of a mixed bag. Its title is a total misnomer (the titular library barely appears in the book). The central mystery doesn’t come into focus until halfway through the novel. The pacing is all over the place. There’s a general lack of focus on any of the ideas, resulting in all of them feeling underdeveloped. At times, it feels like a book that exists solely to set up future books. But it’s still a very enjoyable read, once the story finally gets going. It’s a creepy mystery set in an intriguing world. Ropa is a fantastic character, and she’s the real hook for the book. Don’t read the book because you think the mystery sounds cool. Read it because you’re interested in following a well-developed, interesting character who can do magic and talk to ghosts. Ultimately, there’s a lot I liked and a lot I didn’t. I can’t say for certain that I’d continue reading this series, but there’s definitely an audience for it.

T.L. Huchu's latest novel, The Library of the Dead, is marketed as a combination of Stranger Things and the Sixth Sense. Combine that with the name (I'm pretty sure I will read any fantasy novel that hints at libraries or books), the cover, and the color choices I've seen so far, and I never had any doubt about this book.

Ropa is a ghostalker, capable of speaking to the dead of Edinburgh and sharing their words with the living they left behind. She chose this life with open eyes, leaving school to do what felt right at the time.

Now, Ropa is going to have to investigate a missing child, using all of the talents her parents gave her in order to stand any chance of saving the day. Still, she can't turn away. Not when the ghosts have warned her that someone – or something – is bewitching local children.

"Curiosity's killed cats, but they never mentioned kids."

The Library of the Dead is a fun and fast read. This is the first novel in the Edinburgh Nights series, and I already can't wait to see where it goes next. Okay, I'll admit that Ropa's unique personality has helped to sell me on the matter. That and the whole ghostalker concept.

Speaking of, I kind of adore that name. Ghostalker. I know it is pronounced "ghost-talker," but my brain so desperately wants it to be "ghost-stalker." I don't know why, but it defiantly upped my enjoyment of the title, so I'm not going to complain.

Ropa is quick-witted, sassy, a badass heroine in the making, as well as being pretty darn stubborn. Then again, I guess if you quit school in order to talk to ghosts, you'd have to be pretty stubborn.

The world-building is so expansive that it's easy to picture this alternate version of Edinburgh – with ghosts, monsters, and the child-bespeller that I refuse to spoil. It made for a rich backdrop for Ropa's story, and I can't wait to read more.

I wanted to like this a lot more than I did, with an intriguing premise that just didn't deliver for me. There were times that I enjoyed the first-person narration, but by the end of the book I found it grating. There's some amazing specificity in the novel, but I found some of the world-building weak. It's clear that this is meant to be the first book in an ongoing series, and I will keep my eye out for it going forward since there are things here I liked, but overall I felt the book fell short.

Thank you to Macmillan - Tor and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The setting of this book is interesting, it adds a lot to the story and provides so many spooky places. The city is dystopian and magical full of secrets and surprises. That said I do wish some of the history that was alluded to was better explained it is a little confusing at time which distracts from an otherwise wonderful narrative. The magic system is interesting, we get to know a lot about how the dead communicate with the living and make the journey into the next life but are still learning more about the other forms of magic practiced by the library members. The characters are well written and left me wanting more of this series.

THE LIBRARY OF THE DEAD is chock full of great characters and a believable, alt-world. Author T. L. Huchu has created a place filled with ambience, gloom and hope. Our protagonist is able to communicate with the dead which leads her on a mission to locate a missing boy. On the way, all manner of ghosts, ghouls and bad magic will rain upon her. This is a very good book and apparently, the start of a new series. I can’t wait for the next one. I received my copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

The Library of the Dead by TL Huchu is the first in a new urban fantasy series, Edinburgh Nights.

The author gives us intriguing and complex world-building, using a post-apocalyptic city where technology doesn’t work as expected and magic exists. It reminded me a bit of Ilona Andrews’ Kate Daniels series.

Ropa is an incredibly likable character with her green dreadlocks, unstoppable curiosity, and the snark that only a teen can deliver. She’s dropped out of school to support her gran and younger sister as a ghost talker. Able to speak with the dead, Ropa earns cash carrying messages from the dead to the living. Her curiosity is caught when a dead mother keeps imploring Ropa to find her missing son.

What follows is a wild ride of a story as Ropa discovers children who seem to have had their life energy sucked out - leaving them as wizened husks, learns her friend works at a secret magical library, and gets a magical mentor.

Fun, intriguing, and with a great sense of place, I can’t wait to read the next book in the series.

Unconventional dystopian paranormal but not quite what I was expecting. I really just wanted more of the library. Hard to connect with the main character.