Elizabeth Knox

Taryn Cornick believes that the past is behind her her sisters death by violence, and her own ill-conceived revenge. She has chosen to live a life more professional than personal. She has written a book about the things that threaten libraries insects, damp, light, fire, carelessness and uncaring. The book is a success, but not all of the attention it brings her is good. There are questions about a fire in the library at Princes Gate, her grandparents house, and about an ancient scroll box known as the Firestarter. A policeman, Jacob Berger, has questions about a cold case. There are threatening phone calls. And a shadowy young man named Shift appears, bringing his shadows with him. Taryn, Jacob, Shift three people are driven towards a reckoning felt in more than one world. The Absolute Book is an epic fantasy, intimate in tone. A book where hidden treasures are recovered; where wicked things people think theyve shaken from their trails find their scent again. A book about beautiful societies founded on theft and treachery, and one in which dead sisters are a living force. It is a book of journeys and returns, set in London, Norfolk, and the Wye Valley; in Auckland, New Zealand; in the Island of Apples and Summer Road of the Sidhe; at Hells Gate; in the Tacit with its tombs; and in the hospitals and train stations of Purgatory.

The Absolute Book

An epic fantasy about ancient treacheries that span worlds, a mysterious scroll box that has survived centuries of fire, and the undying power of stories. Taryn Cornick believes she has put her sister's violent death and her own complicity in an act of retribution behind her. But her successful book about the perils that threaten libraries mentions an ancient scroll box--called the Firestarter--that has inexplicably survived numerous fires, including one at her own grandparents' estate, and now powers in both this world and beyond are looking for her. DI Jacob Berger has questions about Taryn's past and his dogged interest means they both suddenly find themselves in a mysterious land of peace and plenty, carried there by a shadowy young man named Shift. The land, home to a beautiful people who long ago bargained a terrible price for their idyllic existence, is now threatened from the precincts of Hell itself, and Taryn is of great interest to the rebels. But Shift is key to both the unimaginably precious scroll inside the Firestarter and to the outcome of the threatened war, and he has an ambitious plan of his own. The Absolute Book is a sweeping novel of journeys and returns, from contemporary England to realms beyond ours, from New Zealand to Purgatory itself, intimately weaving together the stories of vivid characters who face a reckoning that could change the future of all of these worlds.

Mark Wadley

On paper this book has everything I look for in speculative fiction — libraries, mythology, demons, etc. — so much so that I accidentally bought it twice during a book buying spree a few months ago.

There are a lot of interesting ideas here about the nature of the supernatural, morality, heroism, even environmental stewardship, packaged as a far-ranging adventure. The best parts are the ones that highlight the ideas through dialogue; the action sequences get kind of murky.

It’s a thick book, a pretty quick read, and I generally enjoyed it. But I didn’t get a whole lot out of it — it’s more of a beach book for middle aged mythology nerds than the stranger/more literary stories I’ve been into lately (see Aiken, Crowley, Jackson, et al for that). If you’re into urban fantasy, Welsh/Norse/Arthurian mythology, demon boners, and faerie types doing wild magic shit, it’s definitely a good time.

The Absolute Book

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