For generations, the Kalotay family has guarded a collection of ancient and rare books. Books that let a person walk through walls or manipulate the elements—books of magic that half-sisters Joanna and Esther have been raised to revere and protect.

All magic comes with a price, though, and for years the sisters have been separated. Esther has fled to a remote base in Antarctica to escape the fate that killed her own mother, and Joanna’s isolated herself in their family home in Vermont, devoting her life to the study of these cherished volumes. But after their father dies suddenly while reading a book Joanna has never seen before, the sisters must reunite to preserve their family legacy. In the process, they’ll uncover a world of magic far bigger and more dangerous than they ever imagined, and all the secrets their parents kept hidden; secrets that span centuries, continents, and even other libraries . . .

Every word of Ink Blood Sister Scribe had my full attention, and not just because it’s beautifully written. It captured my imagination in a way that few novels can. The experience of reading it felt like a long walk down a secret passageway (of which there is at least one in the book itself). Or rather, three passageways, one for each of our main characters who don’t yet realize how intertwined their fates are.

Esther, Joanna, and Nicholas each grew up surrounded by magic spell books. Esther and Joanna’s father died clutching one in his arms. After his untimely death, Joanna took it upon herself to protect her family’s collection in his stead while Esther ran away to pursue freedom, often at the expense of her own safety. Nicholas, on the other hand, has never known freedom. As purportedly the only Scribe in existence, he has been kept under lock and key since he was a child, writing spells for rich patrons under the watchful eye of his uncle.

A nameless threat surrounds them all. One that would kill to get its hands on the spell books and their authors. Esther can run, and Joanna and Nicholas can continue to hide, but none of them are truly safe so long as this magic exists. I can already tell that Ink Blood Sister Scribe is a book I’ll be recommending for years to come. Consider yourself the lucky first of many.