A great starting point. [The Library of the Dead by T.L. Huchu]

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?

While I'd been approved through NetGalley to read a copy of T.L. Huchu's The Library of the Dead, I'd not been able to finish it in time. So, I did the next best and smartest thing, I requested a copy through my library. Moreover, it was an audiobook. How spicy! Narrated by Tinashe Warikandwa, the audiobook was something I had to get used to. And yes, it mostly a matter of having to adjust to speed listening with a Scots accent, but the sudden switches to the grandmother's Zimbabwean accent didn't super help either.

But more on the story. Clearly, many ends were left loose. We had an introduction to the secret society that is the titular library and, save for impediments of convenience and character introductions, didn't really do much else respectively. Presumably that was left for expansion in future books.

What kept me most invested was the sense of some ominous underpinnings behind the King's reign and the current state of things. Also, other questions with regard to character backgrounds. Does Priya have the hots for Ropa? If so, is a 19 year old having the hots for a (near) 16 year old the most appropriate thing? This reads like a YA, but wasn't classified as one on NetGalley. That said, where is the forced romanced coming from? Are we going to have Ropa identify as bisexual? Asexual? And most importantly, was or is Gran a part of the library? If so, why are they living like they are now? 

This wasn't a straight 3 star read, it was more like 3.5 stars, but I have qualms about giving it 4 stars. I can't say I enjoyed it to that extent. The villain reveal, while it made sense with the lead-ins, was very random. Random and anti-climatic. At the same time, it's not so neutral that I'm not invested. So, really, this was a 3.5 star read that I'll be rating as 4 stars across respective book reading platforms. 

The Library of the Dead (ISBN: 9781250767769) was published June 2021.