I had high expectations of this book after the first and third short stories. And now halfway through the book (12 stories), reading & skimming, I have given up for the time being. Some of them are actually horror stories having little to do with the library. Some just aren't appealing ( )

I had high expectations of this book after the first and third short stories. And now halfway through the book (12 stories), reading & skimming, I have given up for the time being. Some of them are actually horror stories having little to do with the library. Some just aren't appealing ( )

3 1/2 stars overall
The stories run from a low of 2 stars to high 4 1/2


In the House of the Seven Librarians by Ellen Klages 4 stars
The Books by Kage Baker 3 1/2 stars
Death and the Librarian by Esther M. Friesner 3 1/2 stars
In Libres by Elizabeth Bear 3 stars
The King of the Big Night Hours by Richard Bowes 3 stars
Those Who Watch by Ruthanna Emrys 2 stars
Special Collections by Norman Partridge 2 stars
Exchange by Ray Bradbury 4 1/2 stars
Paper Cuts Scissors by Holly Black 4 stars
Summer Reading by Ken Liu 4 stars
Magic for Beginners by Kelly Link 2 stars
The Inheritance of Barnabas Wilcox by Sarah Monette 3 stars
The Midbury Lake Incident by Kristine Kathryn Rusch 3 stars
With Tales in Their Teeth, from the Mountain They Came by A.C. Wise 3 stars
What Books Survive by Tansy Rayner Roberts 3 stars
The Librarian’s Dilemma by E. Saxey 4 stars
The Green Book by Amal El-Mohtar 3 stars
In the Stacks by Scott Lynch 4 stars
A Woman’s Best Friend by Robert Reed 4 stars
If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler by Xia Jia, translated by Ken Liu 3 stars
The Sigma Structure Symphony by Gregory Benford 4 stars
The Fort Moxie Branch by Jack McDevitt 4 stars
The Last Librarian: Or a Short Account of the End of the World by Edoardo Albert 4 stars
( )

(2.5 out of 5)

I ended up not really caring for this anthology. It's not bad, per say. But it's not really that good either. A few of the stories are nice, particularly the first one, "In the House of Seven Librarians", but the rest failed to leave any kind of real impression on me. The quality of the shorts varied greatly, some being much better than others. But overall, the anthology itself was a bit of a trek to get through. It wasn't as enjoyable as I'd hoped it would be. Perhaps some will enjoy it, perhaps the writing styles of many of the shorts just weren't my cup of tea. But I didn't much care for it. It's not bad, it's just forgettable.

(I received a digital ARC of this book from Edelweiss in return for a fair review.) ( )