The Library of the Dead

Edinburgh Nights, Book 1

By: T. L. Huchu

Narrated by: Tinashe Warikandwa

Length: 8 hrs and 8 mins

Publisher's Summary

Opening up a world of magic and adventure, The Library of the Dead by T. L. Huchu is the first book in the Edinburgh Nights series. 

When ghosts talk, she will listen....

Ropa dropped out of school to become a ghost talker - and she now speaks to Edinburgh’s dead, carrying messages to the living. 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 life. It’s on Ropa’s patch, so she feels honour-bound to investigate. But what she learns will change her world.

She'll dice with death (not part of her life plan...), discovering an occult library and a taste for hidden magic. She'll also experience dark times. For Edinburgh hides a wealth of secrets, and Ropa’s going to hunt them all down.

©2021 T. L. Huchu (P)2021 Macmillan Publishers International Limited

Critic Reviews

"A fast-moving and entertaining tale, beautifully written." (Ben Aaronovitch)

"Roll on the sequel." (The Times)

"One of the strangest and most compelling fantasy worlds you'll see all year." (SFX) 

wasnt as original as I had hoped

pre ordered this audio book as reviews seemed promising. as a rivers of london fan I found this to be in a similar vein but just not as gripping. the story line had gaping holes in it which may be filled in later books but a little more detail would have been nice. maybe I have read too much so it's hard to find something truly original these days but felt it was a mish mash of other stories. struggled with the narrator and the irony wasnt lost on me when there is a line in the book about narrators and audio books, it was all a little too stilted.

Worst narrator I've ever heard

I was really enjoying the story but the narrator is so wooden and unenthusiastic. I couldn't listen to the whole thing because it was infuriating.

loved it

an odd future with magic is well worth a listen.
I like more and the ending has given a hint of this

Monotone narration

Reasonable story, possibly even good, the premise is certainly interesting, but ruined by *dreadful* narrator

As Good as Rivers of London but for a YA audience

Loved the story, style, main character and narrator. Credible post-apocolypse world with shades of grey. Who is good and who is evil is not easy in the real world. Ropa and her side-kick fox, River, have a journey of discovery to try and figure it all out. Well-written with hints to the series arc but nothing is obvious to the listener. We travel with the Ropa, trying to solve the mystery of the missing boy. Love that Ropa listens to audiobooks as we listen to her, a nod to Hamlet and the listener. This is not a serious listen, humour is threaded throughout despite the life Rope, her Grandmother and little sister live. She does not earn, they do not survive. Life is tough but exciting.

Appalling narration

They picked the wrong person to read the book.

The language used is teenage street language but it's read in a posh voice, at a strange tempo. Pauses in the wrong place and too many pauses......

I have 42 painful minutes left and I do want to hear the ending of what is a good story and then I will return the book because regardless of the story, the 0 star performance makes it not worth the money.

Strongly suggest audible and whoever else is responsible gets this book narrated by someone else.

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3.75/5

Audiobook narrated by Tinashe Warikandwa.

A short but creepy book set in an alternative timeline Edinburgh. We follow Ropa who is a Ghost-stalker (someone who can see and communicate with ghosts) and she is thrown into a mystery involving missing children and the dark underworld of magic within the city.

- I really enjoyed Ropa as a character. Her heritage and situation accurately affected her choices and she often had to strike a balance between several options which would all have difficult consequences for her and those around her.

- The creepy atmosphere of this alternative Edinburgh was great and it was fun to hear about familiar locations in this new light.

- The story felt a little disjointed sometimes. This could be because a some of the places and events currently seem irrelevant or have little to do with the story. However, this is the first book of a series so these things may make more sense when other books are out.

Overall a fun, creepy story that melds modern diystopian, folk tale and academic fantasy in a fresh way. I look forward to the second book when it comes out.

Good story, dreadful narration

Awful stilted narration, it is almost like it was being read in 5 word bursts

Interesting take on an alternative history.

Well written with a different take on history. There has been an unspecified disaster in the past resulting in the population living a mixture of modern life with aspects of an early industrial revolution period mixed in. Magic exists and so do ghosts and mediums. The heroine has a wry wit and the story moves at a good pace. The narrator is ok but does tend to get caught up in the excitement, sometimes reading the story with little shade and at a breathless pace. I enjoyed it enough to want to follow the next story when released.

dreadful

oh I expected so much more from this. narration was dreadful, like a year 5 pupil reading aloud in class. story could have been better, but narration destroyed it. so very disappointing