The Book of Love is a brilliantly crafted novel that showcases Kelly Link's unique ability to blend magic with deep emotional resonance. The story follows three teens—Laura, Daniel, and Mo—who, almost a year after their presumed deaths, find themselves back in their hometown, seeking answers to their mysterious return. Their resurrection comes with a cost: a series of magical tasks set by their former music teacher, and the danger of supernatural forces with their own agendas.

Link masterfully explores love in all its forms, from friendship to family bonds, while weaving in elements of mystery and the supernatural. The novel balances whimsy with tension, drawing readers into its world of danger, magic, and self-discovery. With a compelling plot and rich character dynamics, The Book of Love is a haunting and thought-provoking read, filled with both joy and terror. A standout story about love’s resilience and the complexities of life and death.

Thank you Random House for the eARC.

Whoa. Normally I fly through super long books like this one, but the 600 page novel this was took forever and I was not invested for most of it. I wanted to love it! I really did! I read so many other reviews that loved it! I thought, this is the magical fantasy book that will hook me, I just know it. Sadly, it did not.
I didn't want to quit reading, so that was good. But, the characters didn't grab me. The ploy was all over the place and the fantasy wasn't feeding me. I got through it and it was ok, but I just didn't love it.
Thankful for the advance copy.

There was much of this book I loved. Frequently, I found myself charmed. But my goodness, it could have been 35% shorter. A number of repetitive scenes/emotional turmoil absolutely killed the momentum.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the advanced copy.

I was intimidated by the length of this chonker and it got such a slow, confusing start that I put this one off. But I kept hearing about how great it was, so I finally tackled it in advance of the paperback release; and while I am late to the party I finally get it. Weird, magical and achingly earnest, this epic really was well written.

Kelly Link, known for her short stories, has attempted a weird Lovecraftian-adjacent quantum horror masterpiece that is haunting, unsettling and takes time to build but when all the pieces interlock you are left chilled. Like Stephen King, she is an expert at taking events that are incredibly everyday and mundane, and infusing them with underlying horror until it finally grabs you after a long buildup.

Yes this book is way too long, and I had to really plow through parts, but I felt it was worth it in the end for the payoff.

Daniel, Susannah, Mo and Laura are high school students who are in a band that has a lot of interpersonal drama. Then they have a final show. People kiss bandmates and make a mess of things. They don't remember what happens next, except they know they died and they are at the whim of their dorky high school band teacher Mr. Anubin, who is more than he seems underneath his dorky t-shirts and mediocre music teaching. He is really the guardian to another realm, and these kids brought together by circumstance must work together to learn to use their magic and find a key that unlocks a door to this other realm.

It's initially laid out as a game, but no one will tell them the rules and they must learn to use their magic on their own, but really they go back to living their every day lives until magic and ancient gods come knocking to disrupt everything they've known and loved. There was a bit of inconsistency in the game bit and the whims of gods; I would have liked it if it had had more structure instead of it not really being a game at all.

Because of the disjointedness and weirdness the whole book felt like going on a very strange and unsettling acid trip, but I had to keep reading because I found these characters so interesting. Daniel, with his incessant need to be liked and his refusal to do magic. Laura, a closeted lesbian who would rather be a rockstar than find love. Mo; with his famous romance novelist mother, who writes songs he never wants to show anyone, and falls for one of the mystical beings chasing them. I found it interesting how their real problems were in fact mostly very mundane, slightly boring and very human, except for the small additional problem of also being dead and able to do magic.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance review copy. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This book was slow to start, but once events started to unfold, I really enjoyed it. Probably would've been a 5 star read if the pacing wasn't so slow. I love this sort of weird, dark, twisty story.

The Book of Love by Kelly Link is one of those books that’s really unique and a little bit strange, but in a good way. It’s a collection of short stories, and each one mixes love with weird, magical, and sometimes eerie stuff. It’s not your typical romance book—each story feels like it’s in its own world with quirky characters and unexpected twists.

Some of the stories are more about discovering what love means, while others take love and turn it into something kind of fantastical, like falling in love with a ghost or a robot. The writing is pretty cool, and even though the stories are short, they stick with you for a long time after you finish reading them.

I liked how different each story was. Some were a bit confusing or left me with more questions than answers, but that’s part of the charm. It’s one of those books where you don’t have to understand everything, but you still feel something deep after reading it.

I’m not really sure what this book is about. A group of young adults die but are brought back to life by magical figures in order to find a magical item?
Writing is lovely and the characters are believable. This book could be shorter, but still makes sense in its actual length. A good reminder that not all books need to be quick and snappy. Nonetheless, I’m glad to get to move onto something else now.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for a free ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was a brilliantly inventive, richly layered fantasy from Link, and I sunk into it like I was entering the world myself. Loved it.

The Book of Love, by Kelly Link

I was nervous about starting The Book of Love. What if my expectations were too high for this novel? What if I didn’t love it? When her last book came out (White Cat, Black Dog), I was that person who pre-ordered a copy, ran to my local bookstore as soon as it arrived, and then took it to a local park to start reading it right away — because I couldn’t wait till I got home.

Because while this is Kelly Link’s first novel, it’s not her first book — she has published four short story collections and won a lot of major awards. So even if you’ve avoided reviews before picking up The Book of Love (as I did), you might already have read her work.

(And even if you haven’t read her short stories yet, you may have heard her compared to people like Shirley Jackson, Jorge Luis Borges, and Angela Carter.)

My own introduction to Link’s writing was “The Specialist’s Hat” — which I discovered after someone in a workshop said her name in that kind of hushed tone that writers use for their real heroes. And it felt world-changing to me when I first read it — it shook me in the same kind of way I remember being shaken when I saw the Blair Witch Project in a theatre back when it came out. Like that film, Kelly Link’s stories often upend the rules and drop you into a weird world that doesn’t make sense and yet feels believable, where surprising things happen quickly and without explanation, where you are left feeling unsteady and uncertain: what just happened?

That’s an overall effect thing that I don’t want to try to dissect. But one of the factors may be a craft decision that so often sticks with me from the stories — a sense that Link is intentionally leaving loose ends and unfinished elements — defying writing “rules” that require stories to be tidy and to hit certain marks.

So her style is subversive and bold. It’s thrilling. But that past experience also made me a little anxious about picking up this novel — because what if the rule-breaking didn’t work in a longer format?

Or worse still — what if The Book of Love didn’t break the rules at all?

And I am reporting back with good news. Very good news: The Book of Love does break a lot of the rules I hoped — especially the ones I’ve seen in well-known instructions to novelists, the types that would make the story predictable.

It also follows the rules that matter more (at least to me): the characters are treated with respect (and yes, love).

And where details matter, Link takes them seriously. As a former campus radio kid who used to play in bands, I can be pretty sensitive about music details (probably far too sensitive). Would a kid in X type of band really play Y kind of guitar? Does the author really understand about the complicated relationships in bands?

And I’m happy to report that the answer to both of these questions is yes: while the kid’s band in this novel is probably not one I’d want to listen to in real life, their passion for it feels very authentic — and so does their taste in guitars and amplifiers. (At least Link is speaking the language of my music friends and past bands, having a character yearning for a Gretsch; even a Gallien-Krueger bass amp makes an appearance.)

You can read other reviews if you want to know more about the plot — but I hope you won’t. (Or you can go over to Cory Doctorow’s review, where he calls this book “A deceptively quirky tale with rusty razors at its core,” and carefully avoids spoilers.)

And I won’t say anything at all about the story, because I hope you will experience it the way I did, without knowing what to expect, except that Kelly Link is definitely a writer who knows what she is doing, and that she cares a lot.

As for me, yes, I did love, love, love The Book of Love. It’s a book that will stay with me for a long time and I have already recommended it to a lot of my friends. I hope it’s the same for you too.

*Notes and more info*

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

Looking for more info about Kelly Link? This interview with Helen Oyeyemi feels very relevant! Horror Stories Are Love Stories [https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/horror-stories-are-love-stories/]

This book is brutally unfocused, so many characters thinking, saying and doing things which are unrelated to previously done, said and thought things.
Pseudo-explanations for post-magical situations seemingly added after the fact. A lot of talk about magic but not a lot of magic happening.
Characters are quirky in the extreme. Awkward teen moments. Lots of texting and casual sex, usually taking place in an odd location, while being rough, as most aggressive, spontaneous cinematic scenes tend to be, without tenderness or reason or any attention paid to gender.
Some confusion as to who is imaginary and who is real, who can use magic and who cannot. No rules for the magic system, no constraints, but characters don't use it or explore the fact that they are all aware of the magic, and are not doing anything except using it to clean the stains off their horrifying bedsheets. Sinister villains who don't do anything evil, but who are very dastardly, and can apparently turn people into animals all of a sudden, but when they are animals they always get turned back relatively quickly and without much fuss or comment.
A lot of social commentary at the expense of plot and observations about the absurdity of the situations they find themselves in. Kids moving from one pleasure to another, aimless, encountering death, dreaming while awake, feeling no pain and handling objects we are supposed to believe are symbols.
But still constantly clever, as Kelly Link is, infusing the mundane with an ounce of menace and an easygoing atmosphere. Fluffy prose, and hilarious in places, and incredibly idiosyncratic, nonsensical, fun. A talking cat. The fluidity of physical forms and the flowing nature of the characters' sexuality, and their preternatural jadedness, uncomfortably adult children and childish adults. Adults who cannot adult. Some major exposition dumps, implanting backstory for debonair ancient immortals, who don't act or speak like they're from the 1600s. They are just in touch with the times and up on their slang. Can relate to the new generation, whom they are manipulating for no particular reason.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publishing Company for this Advanced Readers Copy of The Book of Love by Kelly Link!

This book is a captivating and immersive read that hooks you from the first page. The writing is beautifully crafted, with vivid descriptions and strong character development that makes the story come alive. The plot is well-paced, balancing moments of tension with quieter, reflective scenes that allow the characters to grow. The themes explored are deep and thought-provoking, resonating long after the final page. Whether it's the emotional depth, the twists and turns of the plot, or the unforgettable characters, this book is a must-read for anyone who enjoys rich, engaging stories. Highly recommended

Another story of magic piercing reality that captivated me this year! I love when a story catches my attention right off the bat- in this case with the realization that the three main characters are dead. With their resurrection, they must face love, loss and the supernatural in order to stay alive. A unique, engrossing read.

Teenagers Daniel, Laura and Mohammed “Mo” have died but don’t stay dead. They are not quite sure what happened, nor where they were after whatever happened occurred. They know it was a terrible place, a nothingness, a prison and they do not want to go back. Though they have materialized, something is off, even their skin feels wrong. When they learn they died a year ago, it is 2014 now, and their bodies weren’t found, they return to lives that moved on in their absence and they must cope, fit back in. This is a strange and unique story.

Thank you Netgalley for this eARC!

The first thing you need to know about this book is that it is LONG. Maybe too long? Although I found the story, writing style, magic system, and characters very compelling, the length felt a bit unnecessary and I think the vast number of characters made it a bit hard to follow at times. I honestly think this would have been better as a trilogy or series instead of tying to cram all of the info into one book, and if a standalone was the goal I think this could have been edited down a bit and been just as impressive a book.

Other than that, I really enjoyed this one! I found Link’s writing so refreshing and whimsical and weird and emotional that I would find myself getting lost in the language. The story was inventive and unique and the magic system was so cool! I loved that this floated somewhere between magical realism and fantasy with a story firmly rooted in our world.

This wasnt for me. The beginning was too drawn out and I never could get into it. I wish I could have had the ability to finish it.

THE BOOK OF LOVE is a doorstopper, but I loved every second of it! This YA, scif-fi novel was super unique and had me turning the pages faster than any other book I've read in a while (plus can we talk about that gorgeous cover?!?).

The book of love is long and boring indeed. Sorry, I can never resist the low hanging fruit. In all honesty, I think the middle 50% was engaging - but it was hard to get into and the ending dragged for miles. I think the biggest issue is that the book lacks any real emotion or feeling - there’s not a lot of introspection and big emotional moments are brushed away quickly. The second biggest issue is Laura.

I tried a couple of times to get into this book, but I ended up needing to put it down and come back later. I did enjoy the writing but the story wasn't gripping me in the way I needed it to in that moment. I have loved many books I've soft dnf'd and then come back to later so I still have high hopes. I think it's just one of those books that I have to be in the right headspace for!

The Book of Love opens with three friends who have just found out they’re dead. They don’t have to stay dead though - if they complete three tasks they will be saved. Overall this book was a bit of a struggle for me. I’ve read many of Link’s short story collections, and I really like their unique ideas, storytelling, and writing style. The beautiful writing and unique premise were definitely here, but I found myself struggling to stay connected to the story. We get to know the main characters very well, but I found this to backfire a bit here as the plot progression is quite slow. While I was entertained, by the halfway point I kept struggling to pick this back up.

While this one didn’t work for me I will definitely continue to read Link’s work, whether they be more short stories or another novel. If you also struggled with this book, but liked the writing definitely check out the short story collections White Cat, Black Dog and Get in Trouble.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a review copy.