I found the multiple POV jumps to be too much and the plot suffered for it. While I love books with multiple POV's the way this book kept constantly jumping between them without ever really flushing out the plot point or theme before switching to another POV drove me insane.

Multiple POV, Female Friendships, Love, Loss, Forced Proximity, Found Family

I'm formally asking for someone to take this book and edit it.

I bet that going from short stories to a full book of this dimension can't be comfortable, and when you have an idea of what to do with your story is not easy to cut things off, but where was the editorial team?
The writing is here, the purpose is clear, and the story itself is kinda intriguing.

BUT if magic realism is not your thing, just put the book down. It's not particularly complicated, but it's a mess of characters and thoughts and feelings and abstract phenomenons.
Also, I'd like to underline that it's not boring per se, but it gets confusing pretty fast.

Thanks to Random House Publishing Group - Random House and NetGalley, who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest opinion.

Dnf at 25%. We’ve gotten no where with the plot. Everything I’ve read has been so over written. I’ll repeat the sentiment that this book could have been condensed down significantly. I’m actually disappointed, the premise was good, but I’m 25% into the book and I still know nothing more than I learned in the second chapter.

This was a big disappointment for me. I had not read anything by Kelly Link before but have heard great things about some of her earlier books so I was really looking forward to this one. Unfortunately it did not work for me. This honestly felt like a jumbled mess, I don’t know if her editor took a long vacation but this felt completely convoluted, & redundant. There were way too many POVs that popped in and out at inconvenient times, & we often would experience the same event multiple times from different POVS which is a trick that never seems to work well for me. Characters that I finally started caring about would fall to the wayside for a new character that I didn’t give a 💩 about.

CONVOLUTED. That was the perfect word for what it was. The layers and cast of characters felt messy & confusing & structurally it was all over the place. Major bummer, but I will still give Kelly Link’s earlier books a chance.

Kelly Link did an amazing job. The story was so immersive, and the prose was beautiful and atmospheric. There were times where it did seem to drag a bit, but it picked up again.

Enjoyed it. Not entirely my genre so I struggled with getting into it in the beginning but once I did, I was IN.

The Book of Love is an enigma piece of writing. I have never read anything by Kelly Link, but being the fan of Holly Black that I am, I simply can't be upset at a book for going outside the scope of my imagination. Let me be clear: this is not a book for everyone. But for the ideal audience this book discovers, it will be everything to them. You will have to let The Book of Love settle into your mind, heart, and soul. It may be a bit of a challenge - a bizarre journey into the unknown and lessons taught - but you will be rewarded if you take your time and nurse Kelly Link's story and prose.

The premise was so interesting and promising. The first half of the book I loved BUT I thought it would be tied up shortly soon. But to my surprise I still had half of the book left. Which was a defeat within itself. I am more frustrated with the editor of the book than the author because this could have been a great story there was just so much detail. The prose was written beautifully. There was a slow build up until 1/2 way and then I thought pieces would start to come together but instead another 5000 puzzle pieces were introduced.

I enjoyed Susannah, Daniel and MO’s storyline and characters.

I think the changes I would’ve made were:

Thomas/Kristopher/Avelot and Malo Mogge should be a prequel.
Mo’s mom and grandmother should be a novella.
The first 2 challenges omitted and go straight to the 3rd.

The book was never ending and absolutely no direction after 50%. However I did become more found of Laura after this point.

Thank you NetGalley for this advanced ebook copy in exchange for an honest review

An interesting take on magical realism. A little slow-going to get through, but there is an audience for everyone.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

My Selling Pitch:
Do you want to read a purposely confusing story about teenagers dabbling in magical realism that is more preoccupied with its quirky prose than narrative coherence? It reads like a modern fairytale retelling, but it’s just not satisfying. Points for style though.

Pre-reading:
I loved Kelly Link’s Stranger Things short story collection, but didn't love White Cat. But I heard this book takes place in Mass, and I am nothing if not a local-biased hoe.

Thick of it:
And that's on ocd.

Ha, I’m eating milk duds. This is getting eerie. (All of my recent books have featured foods that I’m actively eating while reading them.)

I am confusion.

If I need theater to understand this book, I won't get it. (I don’t think you need theater knowledge, and even if you have it, you probably still won’t get the book.)

I am confusion. This is punishing to read.

voluptuary

I like self-aware characters. Good humor.

Oops, Bog is sexy.
It’s not my fault if you give someone charisma and tell me not to touch them. That's catnip.

So Daniel is an echo? What does that mean? (Dropped plot point or Sam reading too much into prose again? Take your pick.)

I’m so confused, but I’m so invested. (I tried to like this book, y’all.)

It sounds like they may have escaped hell?

oubliette

Bowie reminds me of Noah from the Raven Boys.

Laura gay.

This book FUNNY.

I’m assuming those are cars, but I don’t know. (They are guitars.) ((Like when I say I’m a dumb bitch, I’m not exaggerating.))

I’ll loophole that right now. Two living things can return from hell and two living things can remain right where they are. (It’s adorable that you tried to solve this book. There was no hope.)

I'm getting Ninth House and Warm Hands vibes.

Boston, you're my home🎶

Lit fic loves piss sin

This book has brought up sandwiches an awful lot.

Vertiginous

Harry Potter sin

It's got Stranger Things the show vibes. (It doesn’t. It’s got American Gods and Good Omens vibes.)

Wow, absolutely roasting Genevieve.

Presentiment

Is it like a cattle ear tag? (No, but I still like this more.)

I'm getting a little pissy to be this far in and still this confused.

It's getting a little too flowery with the metaphors. And like yeah, yeah, atmosphere, but like fuck off and go back to the humor and the plot. Give me more Boggy Doggy.

Grandma’s story is so sad.

The tonal shifts make it so obvious that she's a short story writer.

Grandma’s chapter reads like a good short story. (I’ll argue that this is the best chapter in the book.)

There’s a lot of repetition of this coin and bunnies business. It’s interesting. (But for naught.)

I hate that they named the dog Fart.

Lotta pop culture in this book.

I don’t know how I feel about a white lady commenting on a black lady working for representation in publishing.

Daniel’s a good boy.

Sam, don’t you usually hate when a book has young characters that have sex lives? Emphatically yes, but in my brain, they went to Irish college, so they’re in college, so they’re older, so it’s fine.

Who are they, the four Horsemen of the apocalypse? Because he’s starving, Laura’s war, Bowie’s dead, and Daniel is the protector of his family which I guess is conquest?

I feel a little weirded out though because I thought the Horsemen were pestilence, famine, war, and death. Google taught me otherwise.

Oh never mind. They’re literally all hungry.

Nacreous

Cicatrices

Promontory

aileron

desultory

Daniel’s a Cap? Where?

Malo Mogge means bad morning? Like red sky morning? Sailor’s warning? I’m still so confusion.

The writing is good and quirky, but I need it to turn the corner of explanation now. I’m getting pissy.

Listen, I am a girls’ girl through and through, but the boys’ chapters are way more interesting.

What the fuck is happening?

What is it with lit fic and piss?

Ha ha, I think the dialogue in this is fabulous.

Magic is like asparagus pee is a wild quote.

I LOVE KESHA.

I’m not a music girly, so I don’t really care when they’re waxing poetic about it.

Lol, when you’re literally a Christmas baby.

I am frustrated.

Harry Potter sin again.

HA. Cinnamon and pine are my romance cliche smells, and that's what the romance author’s house smells like.

Dirk

I love Daniel. He's a good boy.

Book summarizes itself for the audience sin. Normally I hate this, but I’m so lost. It’s necessary. But I’d rather your book just not be THIS confusing.

Enough about the pee already, omfg.

scrofulous

impolitic

The writing is very fairytale, but im pissy with how little is being explained.

I love Betrayal the game haha.

Fuckin Princess Bride.

latfiol

succor

varlet

Provender

This is just the Crescent City alien plotline. Are you kidding? I hated it then too.

Perfidy

This book is very diverse. Don’t think I didn’t catch that lactating parents language.

I do think kale is delicious, but not steamed kale.

I’m starting to really dislike Laura.

prurient

Oh no, I hope Jenny’s not made of magic. I like Jenny.

I would assume it’s Jenny, Carousel, and I don’t know who for Laura. She doesn’t interact with anyone. Oh, maybe her dad. Yeah, I would guess her dad. (If I can guess who’s not real the second you introduce the idea that characters aren’t real. It’s not a reveal. It’s not a plot twist.)

censorious

melisma

I love Heart of Glass.

I’m bored.

I’ve hit dnf territory. I just don’t believe we’re going to get any payoff. (And I was right.)

Oh, that’s Daniel. That’s why Mo hates Daniel? Mo, you’re stupid.

The fake people are not reveals. It was so obvious. It’s just annoying that I have to wait for the characters to catch up to me.

This book really fell off.

Welter

Numen

This book is too long.

I will say this book makes me crave pizza like nothing else.

inimical

I know they’re trying to explain it right now, but it’s not making sense.

So no resolution and fuck everyone for having things they didn’t wanna do. We can just force them to do it anyway. GR8. Love this ending. Not pissed at all.

Post-reading:
What a frustrating book.

Here’s the thing: the writing itself is good. It’s quirky. It’s genuinely funny at times. It’s got some excellent horror beats. It is effortlessly fairytale.

The plot sucks.

It is so punishing to read. You really have to push through half the book before you even start to get any answers. This is a long book. Asking an audience to hold tight for 300 pages is rude. And if you do stick it out, you don’t get any payoff. There’s basically no net change from the beginning of the book. Characters don’t mature. They don’t grow. It has the same sin as a bad romance book of ignoring a character’s hard limit, and pretending that it just doesn’t exist, so that the book can have a happy ending.

Some of the chapters read like really good short stories, which doesn’t surprise me given that this author’s previous works have been short story collections. I feel like this should’ve been a short story collection of interwoven styles kind of like How High We Go in the Dark, or In the Dream House. I don’t think it works as a novel. It’s too long. There’s so much nothing that you can take out of this book without losing any of the plot. But those nothing scenes usually have a better style than the rest of the book. They’re stronger than the plot, so, if you remove them, you take out the parts of the book that I was actually enjoying.

I think the book had a lot of potential, but it ended up being a muddy, indecipherable mess. I think it had a hard time picking what it wanted to be. Did it want to be found family? A love story? Religious commentary? Horror? A fairytale? And books can be all of the above, but that’s really hard to do well.

I think what’s most annoying to me is that this book clearly pitches itself to the reader as a love story. It’s called the Book of Love. There’s not a single satisfying romance in this book. I love a sexy devil character. Bogomil should’ve been that. His horror bits especially when he’s a cat that turns itself inside out, or an undead dog, WORK. But you pair him up with the most boring milquetoast man. You don’t let him seduce your audience. What’s the point, then?

The book waxes poetic about music a lot. I’m not a music girlie, so none of that worked for me, but I also don’t think I’m the ideal person to speak on it.

The book is diverse, but it never comes across as virtue signaling. I don’t know how I feel about the appropriateness of the social commentary. You have a white author campaigning for black representation in publishing. You have a white author writing a brown character who hates a white boy solely and unfoundedly for his privilege. Those two characters’ differences didn’t sit right with me. Trauma isn’t a competition. But I don’t think this book reaches any inappropriate conclusions about racism. I just also don’t think it had anything nuanced to say. I don’t think it added anything to the discussion.

Ultimately, the story really didn’t work for me, but I think there’s some gorgeous quotes in this book that make it worth reading if you like the author’s style. I just don’t think it’s going to be a satisfying read.

Who should read this:
People who appreciate quirky prose and aren’t concerned with plot

Do I want to reread this:
No.

Similar books:
* The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab-Demon deals, magical realism, romance
* The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden-deal with the devil, ensemble cast, gay, social commentary
* Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo- Scooby Gang VS Hell, social commentary, magical realism
* Crescent City by Sarah J. Maas-big bad aliens, urban fantasy, ensemble cast
* The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater-magical realism, ensemble cast, no plot just vibes
* Masters of Death by Olivie Blake-demon deals, ensemble cast, gay, urban fantasy
* Starling House by Alix E. Harrow-magical realism, doors, fairytale retelling, modern gothic
* The 10,000 Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow-magical realism, doors, no plot just vibes
* The Unmaking of June Farrow by Adrienne Young-magical realism, doors, purposely confusing
* Ink Blood Sister Scribe by Emma Torzs-magical realism, ensemble cast, gay
* The Last Tale of the Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi-magical realism, fairytale retelling, modern gothic
* White Cat, Black Dog by Kelly Link-short story collection, fairytale retellings
* How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu-interconnected short story collection, dystopian
* The Merry Spinster by Daniel M. Lavery-short story collection, fairytale retellings
* The Wilderwomen by Ruth Emmie Lang-magical realism, sisters, family drama
* Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi-magical realism, family drama, interconnected short story collection
* Piranesi by Susanna Clark-purposely confusing, magical realism
* In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado-love story told through writing style experimentation

Three schoolmates are returned from the dead and are tasked with finding out why in this marvelously absurd, weirdly beautiful debut novel from Kelly Link, who writes in the strange, dizzy, poetic, just-on-the-verge-of nonsense language of someone trying to describe their dream to you while they are still, in fact, in the middle of the dream. This is an author who writes like no one else today--or ever!-- and when I finished the story I found myself furiously weeping, thinking, take me back. I want to go back.

Kelly Link is a national treasure. Her stories have entertained readers for years. And now she has written a novel. A wonderful novel that falls into the category of speculative fiction where Ms. Link reigns Queen as far as this reader is concerned. With love, and abundance of insight on the doings and actions of teenagers, Ms. Link gives us the tale of three dead teenagers who return to their families in exchange for doing magical feats. This quote from Today sums it up beautifully: "“Imagine a ring of David Mitchell and Stephen King books dancing around a fire until something new, brave, and wonderful rose up from the flames.”—Isaac Fitzgerald, Today (Spring Pick!).

There is a sister who is still living. There are malevolent beings who want to interfere. There are love stories, family stories, stories of derring do and ones of compassion all written with Ms. Link's extraordinary talents of a first rate magician of words. You will love this book.

Three students return from the dead and must complete a series of magical tasks if they want to remain with their family and friends. As they settle back into their lives, they find things have changed since they left and something seems off for each of them even though they can't quite place what it is. They try and figure out how the magic works and look for a way to separate themselves. Overall, an ambitious concept that dragged on a bit as there were many characters to keep track of. If it had focused on one or two of the students, the story may have been more clear.

Though the book is slow paced - 600 pages and the action takes place more or less over 4 days - I did enjoy it. I’ve seen criticism of the book’s overly complex plot but it really isn’t if you pay attention. In turn magical, funny, surreal and in parts horrific, the cast of diverse characters take you on a ride showing love in all its many facets. I look forward to reading more from Link..

I really really wanted to like this book. It had a pleasant style of writing and was such an interesting concept. It reminded me even of American Gods- a book I absolutely loved. However The Book of Love just completely lost my interest early on and I had to force myself through the book. After halfway through (which is still 300 pages), I started skimming some of the chapters. Especially ones that didn’t appear to really add to the main plot. I feel like there was so much that could have been trimmed out, especially the tangents that go on of other characters. Overall, this gave the potential of being a great book but was lost in its verbosity.

2-2.5 stars
This book is about 3 teenagers who die but then somehow come back to life, mystifying those beings in charge of death. It was imaginative but seemed to lack purpose. I didn't find the characters to be particularly well developed and I didn't care for any of them, which pretty much guarantees I'm not going to love a book. Additionally, the book was SO long; I think it took me 2 weeks to get through it. Just didn't work for me.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a free e-ARC of this book.

Regrettably, I had to discontinue reading at page 100. While initially intrigued by the premise and eager to delve into the story, I found myself disappointed by the lack of substantial plot development. Even after reaching a significant milestone in the book, the narrative failed to advance, leaving me disengaged and struggling to maintain interest. Despite the eloquent descriptions of the setting, the excessive focus on scenery failed to alleviate the monotony. Much of the content seemed extraneous and could have been condensed considerably, contributing to a sense of irrelevance.

I extend my gratitude to Random House and Netgalley for providing the opportunity to read this book.

The Book of Love is very ambitious - attempting to tell a tale of magic, love, grief, decisions and consequences, and the general difficulties of the day to day lives of quite a varying cast of characters. Three high school kids return from the dead with no idea how they got there or how they've returned and are greeted by their music teacher who gives them magical tasks. During this undertaking they can return to as normal a life as possible with their families and friends, but they aren't allowed to tell them what has happened or what they're doing now. From that point forward, each person takes the reader on an emotional roller coaster back through their past and present lives, relationships and decisions, attempting to make sense of it all.

This story had far too much of everything; too many characters with too many separate agendas and too much erroneous detail. The parts that were good were really good - I wasn't expecting to be thoroughly creeped out but Link does an amazing job at crafting a creepy ambience when the situation calls for it, which was great. The overall mood was mostly bleak but when characters like Mo sprinkled in some humor it was much appreciated. All in all, I feel that with a third of pages removed the plot would have been more clear and concise and felt less like it was dragging along, but the almost painfully slow pacing really kept this book from reaching its true potential.

Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

Nearly a year after they disappear from Lovesend, Massachusetts teenagers Laura, Daniel and Mo, and a fourth person appear in one of the town’s high school classrooms along with their high school music teacher Mr. Anabin. And, well, the three teens are dead. Mr. Ana in proposes a sort for f bargain, if they perform certain tasks they can return to their lives but they can’t reveal the truth about where they’ve been or what has happened. And it all might not last. And things just get stranger from there as the teenagers try to solve the mystery of their deaths.

Fantasy is not really my favorite genre, but I couldn’t really tell from the description of this book that this book was going to be so fantastical…of course “the distinction between the real and unreal is more slippery than you think it is.” The book is often clever, but I think Link made that have been going for funny and I felt she often didn’t quite make it. That said, I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough for the first half of the book, and overall feel like it was well done, even though reviews seem to be fairly mixed. Loved “it would explain a lot about the world if magic was a white people thing. Like hockey.” Nice first effort at a novel, and definitely recommended for anyone who enjoys literate fantasy.

While this was a little hard to get into (each chapter, the narrator differs), ultimately it was a masterpiece. Incredibly fantastical, but with so many human elements. The writing style was exquisite - as a librarian in a high school, these characters could have been any of my students. But then you have the other characters and the fantastical elements tossed in, making for a brilliant read.

Three teenagers disappeared a year ago only to suddenly reappear one night, in their high school music teacher’s classroom no less. They are unclear about where they were or why they are back, yet their music teacher seems to have some inkling. Coupled with their return, there is magic in the air and creatures arriving in their small town who bring mystery and trouble with them.