The Library of the Dead
Written by T. L. Huchu
Narrated by Tinashe Warikandwa
4/5
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Family
Friendship
Supernatural
Survival
Adventure
Urban Fantasy
Coming of Age
Reluctant Hero
Supernatural Creatures
Wise Mentor
Supernatural Abilities
Forbidden Knowledge
Haunted Locations
Power of Friendship
Hero's Journey
Mystery
Ghosts
Fear
Supernatural Beings
Magic
About this audiobook
"Narrator Tinashe Warikandwa gives dimension to the featured character, Ropa, as she makes her way in a harsh environment. Warikandwa captures the spirit of a young teen who quit school to become a ghost stalker to support her gran, sister, and self." -- AudioFile Magazine
Sixth Sense meets Stranger Things in T. L. Huchu's The Library of the Dead, a sharp contemporary fantasy following a precocious and cynical teen as she explores the shadowy magical underside of modern Edinburgh.
WHEN GHOSTS TALK
SHE WILL LISTEN
Ropa dropped out of school to become a ghostalker – and they sure do love to talk. Now she speaks to Edinburgh’s dead, carrying messages to those they left behind. A girl’s gotta earn a living, and it seems harmless enough. Until, that is, the dead whisper that someone’s bewitching children – leaving them husks, empty of joy and strength. It’s on Ropa’s patch, so she feels honor-bound to investigate. But what she learns will rock her world.
Ropa will dice with death as she calls on Zimbabwean magic and Scottish pragmatism to hunt down clues. And although underground Edinburgh hides a wealth of dark secrets, she also discovers an occult library, a magical mentor and some unexpected allies.
Yet as shadows lengthen, will the hunter become the hunted?
A Macmillan Audio production from Tor Books
"A fast-moving and entertaining tale, beautifully written." – Ben Aaronovitch, bestselling author of Rivers of London
"An absolute delight . . . kept me totally hooked." – Genevieve Cogman, bestselling author of The Invisible Library
T. L. Huchu
T. L. Huchu has been published previously (as Tendai Huchu) in the adult market, but the Edinburgh Nights series is his genre fiction debut. His previous books (The Hairdresser of Harare and The Maestro, The Magistrate and the Mathematician) have been translated into multiple languages and his short fiction has won awards. Tendai grew up in Zimbabwe but has lived in Edinburgh for most of his adult life.
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Reviews for The Library of the Dead
64 ratings2 reviews
What our readers think
Readers find this title very interesting and look forward to the next book. They appreciate the unique storyline and futuristic setting, but some had difficulty with the narrator's lack of emotion and accent. Despite this, the book keeps readers engaged and eager for more.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5
Sep 26, 2023
The Library of the Dead
by T.L. Huchu
This is the first book of a young adult series based in Edinburgh, Scotland. I listened to the audio version through Scribd and while I know the characters are Scottish and have accents, the narrator's accent was somewhat hard to understand especially through a phone's speaker. I had to restart because I couldn't understand, and slowed down the playback for a couple of chapters so I could 'learn' the accent and understand it. But that wasn't the big issue I had with the narrator, I felt as if she had no emotion for the story, and she read it like she was reading the back of a cereal box.
But for the story in general, about a girl in a future Edinburgh, (what happened to it and the rest of the world is very vague,) who can talk to ghosts and relay messages from them to their families for a price, was good. There were a lot of 'history' lessons, the MC reading out of books, including the formal that makes magic possible, that was the most boring part of the book, and I was about ready to stop listening but I only had an hour left. Plus I had the mystery solved, the who done it, by halfway.
It seemed as if the author was also trying to shove in a bunch of short stories to add to the drama, but even though they did connect to the ending and to the who and why, for me, they took a lot away from the main idea of the story because those shorts were rambled, without a lot of detail. They needed more substance. The main one could’ve made a really interesting story on its own, it could also come back and ‘haunt’ the MC in later books.
And the title of the book doesn't have anything to do with the main plot, it has to do with a side plot. Not a lot of drama takes place in the Library.
Honestly, I'm not sure how readers would take to this story, especially with the general tone of the writing, there's not much flare, and what is there sometimes is too forced, but there are some good ones that fit really nicely.
2 stars - Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
Sep 26, 2023
Very interesting. I look forward to book 2 when it comes out
