I first came to TL Huchu’s writing through Ben Aaronovitch doing a live stream over lockdown ahead of the release of the first book in the The Edinburgh Nights series, the Library of the Dead. As a big fan of Ben, it felt like a good fit for me especially as it was set in a city that I used to live in and I know well. I really enjoyed it, but I did feel that it didn’t quite hit the height for me that I felt the Rivers of London series had, but then again that is one of my favourite series. I enjoyed it enough to buy the second one when it came out and that one clicked more with me. This means when I heard the third one was due out, I got quite interested, and quite excited. When it arrived this week I went straight into it and I have to say it’s my favourite one of the set so far. Over the past few books I have come to know the characters and enjoy them, and I think seeing how they interacted with each other outwith Edinburgh added a dimension that I really enjoyed.
Ropa Moyo is no stranger to magic or mysteries. But she’s still stuck in an irksomely unpaid internship. So she’s thrilled to attend a magical convention at Dunvegan Castle, on the Isle of Skye, where she’ll rub elbows with eminent magicians.
For Ropa, it’s the perfect opportunity to finally prove her worth. Then a librarian is murdered and a precious scroll stolen. Suddenly, every magician is a suspect, and Ropa and her allies investigate. Trapped in a castle, with suspicions mounting, Ropa must contend with corruption, skulduggery and power plays. Time to ask for a raise?
I really enjoyed watching had a relationship between Sir Ian Callander and Ropa had grown over the last while, and how against the background of quite a lot of prejudice she seems to have found her place and her tribe. It felt like this book went more into the background and history surrounding some of the people and things that we had heard about in previous books and I loved the world building.
If you have read the previous books, there is going to be much for you to enjoy in this. Ropa has such a strong voice and the whole book is told from her inner monologue and perspective and over the course of the three books I really have come to like the character, whereas I think at the end of the first book, I was a little unsure as to how much I liked her, now I really enjoy what the writer has done with the character and she’s really grown on me.
One of the things that was quite interesting in this book is that she is taken away from her normal support group of her sister and her grandmother, and even her pet fox, and she is now reliant on herself, her mentor, Sir Ian Callander, and of course her friends.
For those who don’t know this is set in the near future after some unnamed catastrophe which has obviously changed the course of Scotland and the UK, and we assume the World. Ropa is a Ghost Walker, a type of magic that is often looked down on by much of the mainstream magic practitioners. However, over the course of a few last few books, we’ve come to realise that she comes from a long line of powerful and respected magicians. Her grandmother is well known and respected by many of the top magicians but she seems to have turned her back on that world and now she lives in a caravan on the outskirts of Edinburgh without a lot of money.
Ropa has a brilliant personality and is sassy and is not beyond using some really fun pop culture references that very much tickled my fancy. Some of the references in this book also crossed over with one of my other favourite fandoms in that she specifically mentions and quotes several times from the movie, Highlander, this does make sense as she is working with several members of the clan McCleod. There is so much to enjoy in this book from almost a murder mystery vibe to the fantastic, including a magical duel, and the fae and all sorts of really interesting things just add a bit of layer to the mythology.
As always, I do try to keep spoilers to the absolute minimum but I will say it does end on a kind of cliffhanger!
Conclusion
This is the third Book in the series, but I think that TL Huchu might be coming towards the end of the series – though I hope we might get further series with the same character – it feels like this is the beginning of the end game. The extra layering on the characters that we’ve come to know worked really well for me and the setting is a place I have visited and again I really like that. This is a great fun, often funny, action, magic mystery adventure and that’s a lot of different genres all together and it makes it all work. I think the series is going from strength to strength. I think if you enjoy things like Rivers of London or if you enjoy Daniel O’Malley’s Chequey books, then I think there is a lot here that you would like. I think the very strange take on rugby is worth the price of admission alone!
If you haven’t read the previous ones then maybe isn’t the best place to start, but if this interests you at all and I think it should, go to the library or the bookshop and start at the beginning because it’s quite possible like me you’ll really come to love the characters and you will be very invested in what’s going to happen next! I think this has now hit the highs of Rivers of London for me, a rare accolade indeed!