The Bookshop at the Back of Beyond by Amy Sparkes

Title: The Bookshop at the Back of Beyond

Author: Amy Sparkes

Genre: Fantasy

Publisher: Walker Books

Published: 4^th January 2023

Format: Paperback

Pages: 256

Price: $14.99

Synopsis: Adventurous, magical and brilliantly funny next book in the House at the Edge of Magic series.

Nine and her friends have cured the house’s hiccups and are off to the strange and utterly unpredictable Back of Beyond in search of Professor Dish – Spoon’s best friend and partner in all things alchemy.

When they find Dish trapped by the greedy witch Ophidia in the basement of a particularly marvellous shop, it soon becomes clear they’re going to need something more than Flabberghast’s dicey magic and Nine’s quick thinking to triumph this time. What they really need is a rather clever witch – one particularly good at curses…

~*~

Nine and her friends, Eric the troll, and Flabberghast the Wizard, are back, and this time, they’re in pursuit of Spoon’s friend Professor Dish who is trapped by Ophidia, a greedy witch who has a link t someone they know well. As well as that, they need to find the bookshop and make sure that they can save the day from curses – but for that, they need a rather clever witch whose identity might surprise them.

This is the third book in the series, and each one builds on the previous ones, but the characters are still who we know and love, though they are all growing and evolving across the series, and there is an ongoing mystery about Nine’s true identity and her family being threaded throughout each of the books. As an orphan pick pocket, Nine has been on her own until she joined The House at the Edge of Magic and its occupants – Flabberghast, the High Wizard, Doctor Spoon, and Eric, their troll housekeeper. Now, they al l live together and this time, are after a hidden key and a shop filled of secrets – where one has to trade a secret to get a secret – and the mystery is about what the secret Nine obtains is – and how it will affect them all as the novel progresses. It creates a backbone to the story that is exciting and one that I found to be an excellent addition, as it gives insight into some of the characters.

The House at the Edge of Magic series is lots of fun, and one that I have been following since the first book in the series was released in January 2021. For me, I have found it a fun series, and one that I think needs a little more attention – it’s one of those series that flies a little under the radar, one of those books that is more likely to be sold by hand than widely promoted – at least here in Australia where I am writing from, and perhaps that is what makes it special. Whilst I do think it deserves more attention, at the same time, the books that don’t get hyped and are more likely to be sold by hand at bookstores have a magical quality about them – like those of us who read them are in a fun little book club where we can connect over these fantastic series and books. It is something that readers can come together over as well – a book that shows us as readers that we don’t need to read the ‘in’ or ‘hot right now’ stuff.

I also love the characters, especially Eric, in this book. I like that they all shine through exquisitely, because they are what makes the novel so unique and special. I love that they are always learning and growing over the series and that we are slowly finding out about them, especially Nine, who is the focal point of all these stories in the series. I am looking forward to seeing where the rest of the series goes, as this one ends on a bit of a cliffhanger, and whilst I had a bit of a guess about what happened, I can’t wait to see how Amy portrays it in the next book! Another great book in the series!