[I received a free electronic review copy of this book from Netgalley and Dial Books in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]
Summary
Twins Page and Turner love going to the New York Public Library. In fact, one day they take their father’s rare copy of Dracula to the library for some research. Page feels like their dad spends more time with his collection than he does with his kids. Taking his book feels like “revenge.” But when the rare – and expensive – book CRAWLS away and disappears in the library, the twins need help.
They meet the Night Librarian and discover that books, especially old books, have magic. And their characters can sometimes leave their stories! And Dracula, and others, have done just that.
Page and Turner team up with some other book characters to see if they can find the escapees, especially Dracula, before their parents get home.
Review
I loved the artwork in this graphic novel, and the magical library premise is a lot of fun. I was frustrated at times, though, when the main plot – the lost book and escaped characters – took a long backseat to establishing the world building. In addition to significant world building, the author is also trying to establish the character dynamics for the twins and their parents. It’s an ambitious undertaking. I loved it in principle, but didn’t always like it in execution.
Page is hard to like, and Turner’s negative self-talk and low self-opinion even makes him hard to root for at times. The escaped book characters are mostly fun, and the choices of books to highlight in the story were good. There’s one moment where the storytelling hits a hiccup – a twist in the story that is “told” rather than “shown.” It felt abrupt, and like a missed opportunity to develop Turner’s character a bit more. Thankfully, the final solution, while similar in it’s suddenness, was laid out in a more satisfying way.
So this was uneven for me in a lot of ways. Would I suggest it to kids? Sure. Graphic novel fans, book lovers, library lovers, and fantasy lovers may all find something enjoyable here. But I personally didn’t love it enough to pick up a sequel if there ever is one.
Rating: ♥♥♥*
*♥♥♥ = Good, solid, fine