First of all, apologies for the delay in posting. It’s been a busy few weeks on both a personal and work level, so I have not been able to post much. Anyway, here I am! Some of the books I’ve read recently have led to some natural comparisons. Two of these are Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan and Libriomancer: (Magic Ex Libris Book 1) by Jim C. Hines. These both have in common a theme of magic and mystery being hidden within books, a love of reading, and also a setting which couldn’t be anywhere other than in the present day, within the last few years. There were references to the dot.com crash and Google and the Twilight series. Personally, that second point is something which irritated me. I feel it limits the books’ durability. While Libriomancer was more of a traditional good vs evil fantasy, Penumbra is more of a mystery in which the protagonist attempts to resolve an ages old mystery hidden within books. I found it a fresh and entertaining concept. I had a few issues with the magic system in Libriomancer. Brandon Sanderson, considered one of the better contemporary developers of magic systems, wrote…