I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Library of the Dead was a pretty interesting book to dive into. I'll admit that I was a bit bored and confused in the beginning because I didn't know where this book was going to take me. Then there was this one moment where things just switched for me. I was starting to get pretty invested in the everything. Plus, the narrator's accent helped as well.

In it, you will meet Ropa. She has Zimbabwean magic and can talk to ghosts. Which, I don't know about you.. sounds kind of fun and mysterious. She's also pretty damn likable due to her sarcasm. That's probably my favorite thing about her because I speak that fluently.

The adventure she went on kind of gave me Enola Holmes and Nancy Drew vibes. It also gave me tons of questions and not a lot of answers. It was kind of chaotic but I couldn't look or walk away from it. I'm honestly intrigued what the next book will bring me and will probably dive into that whenever it comes my way.

In the end, I think I need to book a trip to Scotland.

I want to start by saying that this book leaned way more YA than I was expecting from the blurb. I really liked the setting of the novel. I liked the main character but knowing in the back of my mind that she was 14 kept throwing me off. I found the story to be slightly lacking. Everything gets solved way too conveniently. I found the main characters habit of not completing thoughts or idioms to be a little frustrating.

I'm guessing that the publisher chose this narrator because she has a Scottish accent. Other than that, she has a very flat delivery and reads in a monotone. She does not add anything to the story.

Don't go into this book thinking that it's about a girl who finds a magical library and her whole life is changed. Ropa does find The Library of the Dead, but it's just another place to go to between speaking to the dead, taking care of her family, and finding out what happened to disappeared children.

I love Ropa. She works very hard with little help to protect everyone around her. She has the weight of the world on her shoulders, but she still tries. She listens to audiobooks of philosophers as she walks to get the most out of her day.

My big problem is the setting. This is post-apocalyptic, but I have so many questions about what caused the world to devolve and what rose in its place. There is no universal healthcare, and police are corrupt. There is a king, but how the people act he probably seized power of Scotland? Britain? The world? Ropa makes random pop culture references that I don't know how she discovered. For instance, she refers to an episode of a Mortal Kombat tv show.

The audiobook is very well done. I liked the narrator, but there were times when I didn't know who was talking.

This book needs more lore.

This review is based on an advanced reader copy provided through Netgalley for an honest review.

The narrator is awesome! The book is ok. I think the title is misleading. The library of the dead is a minor part of the book. I found this to be disappointing. The book is inclusive, which is a good point. Overall I am glad I read it, but being teased with a secret library and then it barely being in the book was disappointing. I love the strong female lead raised by her grandmother, but I would have liked more backstory. What happened to the mother? Lots of holes in the story.

The audio of this was extremely distorted. This could have impacted my enjoyment. However, I will be DNFing this for now at 20%. I just did not jive with the writing style. I felt it was very tell not show and I was never able to fully immersed in the story. At 20% the plot hasn't even really started, and instead we've had that much of a trying to be street smart teenager who hasn't done anything or gotten into any trouble to make her need to be "street smart" and overly sassy.

Ropa is one of my favorite characters now!

This was such a fun, adventurous book to read full of magic, great characters, and culture. Ropa is the perfect mix of loyal and sassy. She's become a ghostalker in order to provide for her family, but she encounters a ghost who is going to change her whole world. When she visits the occult library for the first time I thought Huchu's descriptions were amazing because I felt like I was standing in the library with Ropa.

I loved everything about this book and I can't wait to read the next one in this series.

#NetGalley

I wanted to love this book so much, but it fell completely flat. The synopsis sounded amazing but there was so much “stuff” thrown in, the story became convoluted. There was no explanation of what happened to Edinburgh, if it effects the rest of the world. The library seems to have little to do with the actual story, other than introducing Ropa to Priya. There is no explanation of the magic system. There are so many questions left unanswered. Why is it called the Library of the Dead? What was up with the house? The author could have had a rich story based on Scottish/Celtic and Zimbabwean folklore and magic but instead this felt like it was just a mashup of multiple, random folklores, sci-fi, and dystopian ideas.

The one good thing about this book was the narrator. Her voice was beautiful and fit the characters age and background well.

DISCLAIMER: I received this book free from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

The Library of the Dead is a wonderful start to the series, Edinburgh Nights, Tinashe Warikandwa did an outstanding job narrating this book. Tinashe conveyed the street smart, distinctive voice of Ropa beautifully. It was easy to listen and stay immersed in the world that was presented. Tinashe portrayed the Scottish and Zimbabwean accents called for by the characters believably.

Ropa Moya is 14 year living in a dystopian Edinburgh. Roya lives with her Gran and younger sister Izwi in a caravan, struggling with poverty. In order to pay the rent, Roya has dropped out of school to earn a living delivering messages from ghosts to the living. Ropa has responsibilities, so when a ghost ask for her help in finding her missing son, she doesn’t want to get involved. Soon, however, Ropa gets tangled in finding the boy and figuring out what is happening to other children around Edinburgh. As Roya get deeper into the mystery, she is helped by her friend Jomo, who introduces her to the library of the dead, and Priya, a wheelchair bound healer.

I found this story to be entertaining and engaging. This was an engaging listen.
Thank you Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for the audio version. This is my honest review.




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The Library of the Dead has such a fascinating premise - one that has, in execution, been better appreciated by plenty of other readers already. It is with sadness that I am choosing to call it quits at the 17% mark. I am not remotely into this story and am a bit confused about what is going on.

It's possible I would have liked this a bit more if I hadn’t listened to the audiobook, although I’m not sure the story would have saved itself for me in a different format. But, the audio narrator did not seem to understand the importance of inflection or changing voices for different characters. There are pauses in the middle of sentences that completely break flow, making a confusing beginning even more befuddling. There was nothing within the reading that truly brought the story to life for me and that was disappointing.

I am immensely grateful to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for my audio review copy. All opinions are my own.

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for an advanced audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

4 stars

Tinashe Warikandwa did a superb job narrating the book.

Ropa is a young teen living in Edinburgh with the ability to see and speak with ghosts. She supports her grandmother and younger sister by delivering messages from ghosts to their families for a fee. A new ghost gets Ropa to investigate the disappearance of her young son and other missing children in the area.

I liked Ropa a lot. She is tough and resourceful and works hard to support her family. I loved how she listens to books and podcasts in order to continue her education after she had to drop out of school to work. Her comment about being productive while listening to books adds so much time to her day while when you are reading its the only thing you are doing rang true for me.

Advanced Reader’s Copy provided by NetGalley and Macmillan Audio in exchange for an honest review.

In this first book in the new Edinburgh Nights series, readers are dropped into a future dystopian Scotland where we meet 14-year-old Ropa. She's a kid that's learned how to survive on the streets but she also enjoys learning through audiobooks. Oh, and she's a ghostalker. Using her Zimbabwean magic and Scottish pragmatism, she makes a living by delivering messages from the dead, to the living. Until one ghost implores her to find her missing child. This takes Ropa into the underbelly of Edinburgh where she discovers that someone is stealing children.

Ropa is feisty and can handle herself. She also has a fox named River that keeps her company. Huchu's writing style is different from what I normally read and I loved the concept of this novel. Overall it was entertaining, but I think my expectations where too high because I was expecting to like THE LIBRARY OF THE DEAD more than I did.

Tinashe Warikandwa does a solid job with the audiobook narration.

Ropa speaks to the dead of Edinburgh, a role she dropped out of school to fulfill. She brings their final words and wishes to those left behind. The job seems to bring comfort to many and Ropa believes she’s doing good works until the ghosts tell her that someone is possessing living children, draining them of all life and personality. Our intrepid heroine feels honor bound to investigate, using all the powers she possesses. This eerie, dream like book is brought to full and vivid life by Warikandwa, one of the most effective narrators I’ve ever heard

Having read and reviewed the physical galley, I wanted to test out the narrator for this one. Although I was not the biggest fan of the story, I did think the narrator understood the world and the characters well, and this is a great way to enjoy THE LIBRARY OF THE DEAD.

Thank you for the e-arc!