Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan

Gut Instinct Rating - 5

Characters - 5 (Can I give it a 6?)

Believability for type and topics - 4

Similarity to other books - 5

Writing Style - 4.5

Excitement Factor - 5

Story Line - 5

Title Relevance - 4.5

Cover art - 5

Dust Jacket Art - 4.5

Goodreads users gave this book a 3.75. I think it was more deserving of a 4.75.

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Published in 2012

Pages: 288

Publishing Company: Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux

Number of books by author: 5 Novels

Genre: Fiction, Mystery, Fantasy (??), Contemporary, Adult

Because this book was so in depth, and the slightest phrasing could spoil the entire thing, I'm going to review this in the simplest terms, and hope to hell you'll read it, because if I were one for back tattoo's, the last few paragraphs may end up there... but if nothing else, it will end up on my Facebook account as a favorite quote... and maybe spoken at my funeral. Yeah, shit got that real. But, I can't even quote it here, because yet again, it'll ruin everything (and don't read just the last page... because as good as it is by itself, it's better with everything else).

Gut Instinct Rating - 5 - This book stands for so much more than the mystery of this 24-hour bookshop. There's an underlying message - two, really, and if it weren't so underrated, I wouldn't be surprised if a teacher got a hold of this and required their junior high students to read it. The things a teacher could teach with this book is incredible... why wasn't this book around when I was in junior high? This book could not only make reading cool again, but it could develop readers and writers.

Characters - 5 (Can I give it a 6?) - The mystery in this book lies deeply in the characters; but two of the characters aren't actually people as you would normally expect them to be. The characters on a basic level, for someone reading for the simple pleasure of reading, you are presented with your basic characters - the main character, Clay, who is your basic millennial at a cross hair trying to find his break into the world. And then there's his boss, Mr. Penumbra, who is older, and quirky, and sees Clay for more than a dried up college student, and wants to teach him more of that. (He's my former boss for sure... and a few former teachers at that.) There's some other character representations, but read the book and see if you catch them... ***

Believability for type and topics - 4 - This is where things got a little loose. There wasn't enough information about the bookstore's backstory (this is where I have to be vague... maybe so vague you decide to read the book and come talk to me about it) that I wasn't all the way on board. It was a bit Harry Potter-esque, and HP was even mentioned, so it was almost too planned in that sense... but without giving anything away, I just couldn't buy into the entire environment, and I think the characters' differing opinions on the subject matter were a great way to vet out the believability aspect, which definitely brought this from a 3 to a 4.

Similarity to other books - 5 - No one can ever say this is similar to anything else. It had -esque themes, of Harry Potter, of Fight Club (which I noted to myself numerous times throughout - the whole, secrecy aspect), of the movie Inception. All of these things felt very connected to this book, but I think you have to have all these inspirations to make something this mysterious come to life. It was really incredibly done.

Writing Style - 4.5 - It was well done; I think you could tell it was his first book, though. Something felt disconnected. Maybe there was just too much going on, or maybe in trying to be so mysterious, there was a lack of ability to connect the dots for the readers? I was just missing some things and holding on to things that really didn't matter (for example, knowing in the beginning intimate details about his roommates' lives... because it never came full circle).

Excitement Factor - 5 - Well, I was never bored. It was an intimate page turner that had me wondering and wanting to know more about everything... (that vague enough for ya?)

Story Line - 5 - Well, let's just see the above and piece it together... helpful, I know.

Title Relevance & Dust Jacket Art - 4.5 - I think this alongside the dust jacket art could've been done differently; while both were fine, I think they were just 'meh.' I, obviously, picked up the book. So, the artwork mixed with the title were enough. But, clearly, this book wasn't as popular as I thought based on the number of reviews on Goodreads, so I'm wondering if it wasn't good enough.

Cover art - 5 - In my book journal, this wasn't originally part of my review score because I hadn't noticed the imprint on the hardcover. Until I took the dustjacket off to remove the library's cover (I bought the book from a library sale). What was there was two things that made this a more catching book than it already was - the logo found on Mr. Penumbra's bookstore doors... and a set of initials. If you read the book, you'll hopefully gather WHO'S initials are engraved on the cover of the book AND why that's so significant... it's kind of a big moment of inception that really makes this author more magical.

***Characters - if you think I'm going to tell you at the bottom of this review, I know how hard it is to resist temptation to cheat... read the book, and I'll talk to you about it... just remember to screen shot this and come back to me... 'cause, this author either knowingly or unknowingly did some deep shit!