Ink Blood Sister Scribe: the Sunday Times bestselling edge-of-your-seat fantasy thriller

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Törzs's debut novel features a wonderfully realized and atmospheric world and a plot filled with unexpected twists...Törzs does a fantastic job creating a gripping and suspenseful story that keeps readers on their toes and wanting more. Fans of The Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo and The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern will love this magic- and suspense-filled novel. Now historically, I have had a hard time enjoying magic in contemporary worlds, but this was a perfect mix. The modern & secluded worlds complemented each other nicely.

Ink Blood Sister Scribe by Emma Törzs | Goodreads Ink Blood Sister Scribe by Emma Törzs | Goodreads

No,” said Pearl without hesitation. She herself worked with the carpenters. “Nerds are always absolute party freaks. I used to go to these kink nights in Sydney and it was all surgeons, engineers, orthodontists. Did you know that people who’re into BDSM have notably higher IQs than their vanilla counterparts?” Emma Törzs is a writer, teacher, and occasional translator based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Her fiction has been honored with an NEA fellowship in prose, a World Fantasy Award for Short Fiction, and an O. Henry Prize. The following is from Emma Törzs' Ink Blood Sister Scribe . Törzs is a writer, teacher, and occasional translator based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Her fiction has been honored with an NEA fellowship in prose, a World Fantasy Award for Short Fiction, and an O. Henry Prize. Her stories have been published in journals such as Ploughshares, Uncanny Magazine, Strange Horizons, and American Short Fiction . She received her MFA from the University of Montana, Missoula.This is a tale that’s so multilayered, so richly woven together that the narrative entertainingly meanders through puzzle solving, uncovering long hidden family secrets and self discovery. Throughout Törzs deliciously blends together contemporary with classic fairytale staples such as various enchantments, magic mirrors, forest animals, a quest, absent parents and even a stepmother. Like any dark fairytale, it is also drenched in blood. There is a fascinating twist on witches and mages as instead of spells just being read aloud and cast, blood is the key to activating the magic or for creating it. There are those who can feel and even hear magic but cannot create it, and there are those who can create it but never feel or hear it. Then there are some spells that are ongoing, that are a work in progress, that hold the power to drain the user’s blood dry. Pearl grinned. She had unusually sharp canine teeth in an otherwise soft mouth, an incongruity that did funny things to Esther’s blood flow. “Can you imagine the variables?”

Ink Blood Sister Scribe by Emma Törzs | Waterstones Ink Blood Sister Scribe by Emma Törzs | Waterstones

Though I can’t mention the identity of the main villain in Ink Blood Sister Scribe, I must mention how fantastically they too are written. Their manipulation is subtle, sugar coated with love and false affection, they hold the power of wealth, privilege and dominance over others, they orchestrate plans on a level to get exactly what they want no matter how cruel, how deceitful. They strive on other’s dependence upon them, they are a true narcissist. I did suspect them from the moment we met their character but this didn’t dampen my enjoyment in any way, I still had a lot of pleasure watching them get discovered and eventually get their comeuppance. In Emma Törzs's Ink Blood Sister Scribe, the first word of the title plays an important role: By mixing blood with herbs, people can make ink with magical properties. In the real world, writing has been done with a variety of materials throughout history — including, from time to time, blood. Set in the modern day, this urban fantasy novel begins with two estranged half-sisters in their twenties. The oldest, Esther, has been moving from place to place every year, and right now she’s on a research base in Antarctica. Calm down, Don Juan,” Pearl said, laughing. “I’m not questioning your technique. You just seem a little nervous.” In the house, surrounded by the remnants of her father's life, books buzzing beneath her feet, she sometimes felt so alone she worried she might vanish like the ink in an overused book. But here, with wildlife all around her and magic sweet in the air like good cider, she felt her lines and colors returning, her edges darkening, her core filled in.In this spellbinding debut novel, two estranged half-sisters tasked with guarding their family's library of magical books must work together to unravel a deadly secret at the heart of their collection--a tale of familial loyalty and betrayal, and the pursuit of magic and power. I love when magic is treated in a new and interesting way, and I got it in this novel. The characters were all distinct and likeable and had their flaws. When the storylines all came together, this book started to sing for me. An adventure, a puzzle, a twisty thriller, and a tender romance.' Alix E Harrow, The Once And Future Witches