Thank you to Kelly Link, Random House Publishing Group - Random House, Random House, and Netgalley for this free advanced reader copy of "The Book of Love: A Novel" for an honest review.

This was my very first Kelly Link read, but recommended by so many familiar names, I couldn't help but take the plunge. The Book of Love is a dark fantasy novel set in the current day, in a town called Love's End, where magic has suddenly sprung afoot in the reappearance (/resurrection) of three missing children who are brought back but must take part in an esoteric and unrevealing game to win themselves the chance to stay alive.

The characters in this book feel so real—in their strengths and growths, but especially their humanity, complexity, and flaws. I fell a little in love with all the characters in it, even the ones you aren't supposed to like, and I was interested in all of their lives off the page, both before and after the novel takes place. I am definitely looking forward to more books by Kelly Link (and maybe even crossing my fingers for a sequel).

I'm not sure I can review this in a way that others haven't already. Yes, it's long, but it takes the time it needs to set up the characters and the action. It just didn't click for me, so I'm probably not the right reader (which makes choosing a star rating difficult).

What a puzzling book from Pulitzer finalist short story writer, Kelly Link. The story follows three teenagers who come back from the dead and are given supernatural tasks they must complete in order to remain among the living. Reading this novel felt like watching a season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and I know Link must be doing that intentionally. There was something nostalgic about the feel of the book, even though the story was completely new to me. Like Buffy, Link is using supernatural terrors to comment on the terrors of teenagehood and the traumas of humanity. It’s well-written, funny, and occasionally profound, but it’s also muddled by its own length and the sheer moments of weird Link packs into it. Her weird is wonderful, don’t get me wrong, but when the Scottish heroine of a romance series materializes into the story around page 550 for seemingly no reason, I started to feel like it was overstuffed. Still, for all of my complaints, I great enjoyed this unwieldy tome and found Link’s themes truly moving.

Wonderful story, great character development, great writing! Highly recommend this book. I thoroughly enjoyed it

I did love this book, though it took me a bit to get through it. I found that there were sections I couldn't read fast enough, but also sections that I struggled a bit to finish. All in all, it's a beautifully written book.

Got really close to DNFing this at 66% and honestly kind of wish I had.

It's full of chopped-up POVs that constantly take you out of the action and repeat details to you over and over again. Similar to Fourth Wing, this feels like YA that's been stretched and (oh-so-mildly) sexed out to be branded as "adult" fiction instead.

There are some fun ideas here, so that saved it from 1 star — just barely, it's probably around 1.5 for me — but if you really want to read gods-messing-around-with-humans weirdness, then [book: The Library at Mount Char] will do that in much better fashion.

OH MY GOD WHAT A BOOK. This is EVERYTHING, EVERYTHING, EVERYTHING I had hoped for in a full novel from Kelly Link. It's magical, it's heartbreaking, it's probably the best book of the year.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group - Random House, Random House and NetGalley for an electronic ARC of this novel.

Susannah is feeling out of sorts. Her sister Laura and her on again, off again boyfriend and fellow band mate Daniel disappeared a year ago, along with her friend Mo. Resigned that they are dead, she tries to get on with her life, only to have them re-appear after a year "studying music abroad in Ireland".

This is a fiction readily accepted by everyone but the three people in question, who are aware that they have been brought back from the dead and had spent that time in a shadowy realm, that they somehow escaped from and do not wish to go back to. A high school music teacher is not who he appeared to be, who tells them mysteriously, "2 will remain, 2 will return."

The Book of Love, by Kelly Link, is a strange but compelling novel. I wasn't sure where it was going to go. There's a lot of magic going on, and teenager angst and music. It was good but probably not to everyone's taste.

When I found out Kelly Link was (finally) publishing a novel I knew when I got it I would devour it. I definitely did just that but very slowly. I savored her exquisite dialogue and characters. I truly adored this book! I do think YMMV. This is not your typical fantasy book. It’s very slow and pretty long (over 600 pages) but to me every word, moment and character was necessary for this story to be told. The beginning is a bit disorienting, we open in a classroom and students have been brought back from the dead. How did they die? Why are they back? What is happening? However, if you’ve read Link before, then you know what you’re getting into and to enjoy the ride she will take you on. This book is beautiful and glorious and heartbreaking and I recommend it wholeheartedly to everyone willing to take risks and be patient in their reading.

I’ve been trying to get through this book for months.

I’m finally giving up.

Like most readers here, I love Link’s short fiction and was eagerly anticipating her debut novel. Unfortunately for me, THE BOOK OF LOVE reads a lot like a Joyce novel: it’s weird, far too long, and you don’t always know what’s happening.

At first I found the vignettes of each character (even the most minor characters, and the setting, which is a character, too) charming and inventive. But the character sketches kept coming, and the plot (thin as it was) never really went anywhere.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

“Everything we do is music. There are many kinds of love, and not all of them are built to last past the span of one romance novel, let alone a thousand years. But imagine a rose garden, winter, the sky clear and bright. Snow can’t keep falling forever.”

The Book of Love tells the story of Mo, Laura, and Daniel, three New England teens who have come back from the dead. Those around them believe they have been at a music school in Ireland; they are the only ones who remember that they have been dead for the last year. In their resurrection, they solve puzzles, meet several immortal beings, discover magic, grapple with love and loss, and make music.

Kelly Link’s foray into the novel is sprawling, beautiful, and unique. At 640 pages, this novel is longer than one might expect from a short story writer, and to be honest, a bit longer than it needs to be. As other reviewers have noted, the pace is slow, but it isn’t for a lack of things happening. It is more the writing itself, which is so lovely that it makes you want to stop and soak it in. There are several points, however, where it is overwritten, so overdone and quirky that it verges into the bad sort of weird. The plot can become this way as well, especially toward the end, including so much strangeness that it moves away from interesting and unique into too-much territory. But the good points of Link’s style overwhelm the negatives, creating vivid characters and descriptions that will stay with the reader for quite some time. I really enjoyed this one, and I think its characters will be difficult to let go. Four stars.

Huge thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the advance copy.

This book has a captivating premise and the writing is gorgeous. The plot however, is so meandering that I can barely read a chapter at a time. It keeps switching POVs but we aren’t making any forward progress with the main premise. I might slowly keep reading as time allows, but that remains to be seen as I haven’t picked it up in a week and don’t feel like I want to either because reading it makes me tired.
I love books that are a mix of character driven and plot driven, especially those that allow for a lot of character growth. With The Book of Love, I don’t have enough information about one character to truly get invested before we are thrust into a separate character’s stream of consciousness. I was working hard to gather plot crumbs and I’m left with cute anecdotes that don’t seem to do anything other than show that individuals have deep inner lives. Nice. But what about the whole ‘OMG we’re back thing?’ Nothing yet? Great. -_-
I read other reviews in hopes to be encouraged, but sadly a lot of other readers feel the same way. So, it’s goodbye for now Book of Love. I want to know what happens, but not bad enough to fight my way through plot brambles.

Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of this book for review.

Thank you Random House, NetGalley, and Kelly Link for the honor of getting to read this amazing first book. I was honestly blown away by the storytelling and the incredible characters that inhabit the setting Kelly Link has created. The story centers around three teenagers who disappeared a year ago and have suddenly reappeared in the middle of their music teacher’s classroom late one night. But that is just the beginning of many weird and unexpected things that start to happen in this delightful supernatural book about life and death and love. When they are told they have to find a magical item and only two of them will remain living things really get intense, especially when a goddess comes to town demanding that said item belongs to her. Even worse, she has no qualms about destroying their family and friends to get what she wants so now it’s a race to see who can find the magical item and save everyone. I definitely recommend this book to everyone that enjoys fantasy and books about friends beating the odds.

I really wanted to like this book better than I did but this book is a slog. The problem is that it would have made a much better short story than the bloated, overstuffed novel that it became. There is little actual plot, the characters are paper thin with no development and they keep repeating the same plot points over and over with no new information added each repetition (for example we hear the story of what happened on the night the three kids disappeared about five or six times without learning anything new). The writing reads more like YA than adult fiction. The mythology reads like gibberish. The depth and nuance is just not there. No idea what motivates these characters, Why, for example, does Daniel not want to use magic only to realize 600pg later that maybe he didn’t have a good reason to begin with.?Why do the sisters hate each other so much when they don’t seem to do anything that terrible? Why does Mo keep his music secret? Overall, it’s not that this book is fundamentally flawed. There are some interesting concepts here that could’ve been excavated through some focus and editing.

This story is about a group of friends tries to remember how they died and how they can keep living while navigating their return from the dead. Also describes the difficulties these young people face as they fight to reclaim their lives before they died.
The plot of the book centers on Laura, Daniel, and Mo. Who are three high school classmates who passed away but have been brought back to life by their music teacher, Mr. Anabin. Alongside with Bogomil, a man-animal hybrid also known as Anabin. These two come up with a game for the teenagers to play, as a form of entertainment...? The children should go on a mission to sort out some way to utilize the enchanted they have been saturated with as vivified figures. Two of the friends will be allowed to live, while the other two will be returned to the afterlife.
To tell you the truth, this book didn't have to be this long. It is around 600+ pages, yet it felt long and got hauled at specific pieces of the plot. I also wished that there was more indept with the characters. They were quite interesting at first. It has lgbtq rep

Beautiful writing, but I just couldn't connect with this story. Unfortunately, this was not a story for me. Also, it is SUPER long. That is not normally a huge turnoff for me but I found myself zoning out so many times due to pure boredom. I'm sure this one has a target audience, but I'm sorry to say I'm not part of it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for providing an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.
2/5 stars

Thank you Random House and NetGalley for the opportunity to review this book. All opinions are my own.

Magic, death, reincarnation and music. In this debut novel by author Kelly Link we follow a group of young adults as they must solve the mystery of their disappearance (or death?) all while doing the bidding of a power hungry goddess from another realm. This story features multiple points of view and while definitely fantasy, takes place in a very real New England town.

Initially I struggled to get into this story, the writing style is not linear and the multiple POVs didn’t help. For the first half of the book it felt like I was reading snippets of characters’ dreams that happen to align and attach themselves to the same plot line. But once I became acclimated with the beautifully strange writing and prose I really became invested in the storyline and the characters. I do feel this book could have been shorter, at times it felt like I was slogging through a continuous cycle and the plot was not advancing towards a conclusion.

I will definitely check out some of the authors earlier short stories because I really did fall in love with her unique writing style and character development.

Full of Link's signature and singular magic, this debut novel of the estimable and long-lauded short story writer is at once beguiling, surreal, and mind-altering. Yes, it's long and detailed, as many reviewers have remarked, but there are many riches and surprises within.

The premise of this book is what initially drew me in. It sounded so exciting! The Book of Love follows three teenagers who died after disappearing one day. The characters are then in their high school classroom with their music teacher who tells them about a chance for them to return to the world of the living. As the teens complete their tasks and the plot thickens, we get to be a part of a fun, adventurous journey! The fact that the book is 600+ pages was daunting and the content could have been a bit more concise. The characters are written very well and humanness is just embedded in them. The world building and dialogue are amazing! There’s a very whimsical and fairy tale aspect to this book and I really enjoyed that.

Three high school students, Mo, Laura, and Daniel died almost a year ago. Now they find themselves back in a classroom with their odd music teacher after being held in a strange realm by a man with strange abilities. They are tasked with completing requests and challenges in order to keep themselves alive. They must keep everything secret from the people they love in their lives, and must work together to figure out what is truly going on, and how to save each other.

This book was so wacky, I loved it from start to finish. I thought this book would get tedious being or 600 pages, but honestly it was such a joyous, outrageous adventure urban fantastical time I did not mind in the slightest. There was such a great balance of serious topics, and campy humor I did not want to put it down once i really got into the story. You root for the characters but also get very annoyed by them, but their flaws made them so relatable. It is hard to get into too much detail, but this was just masterful in every aspect.