A review by noriboo
The Bookshop and the Barbarian by Morgan Stang

Did not finish book.
I had a hard time finishing this book.
I picked it up after reading Legends and Lattes (which gets a shout-out in this book) and reading the synopsis, I figured it would have a similar vibe. I was mistaken.

I could understand what vibe the author was trying to create, but I just couldn't get into it. The narration and breaking the forth wall was done in a way that was obviously supposed to be funny, but the jokes fell flat. The "pop-quizes" also took me out of the story and just seemed unnecessary to me as they served no purpose, storytelling, or comedy wise.

The romance storyline.. again, I saw where the author wanted to go, but it just wasn't convincing to me. The only thing these characters have is proximity and no chemistry.
Also, new characters kept being introduced, but at the same time, we don't really get to know any of the characters. Everyone, including the MC, just feels flat. And the narration makes it sound like that's supposed to be the joke, but being cosy and low-stakes doesn't have to necessarily mean that the characters don't have depth.

I wanted to love it, and I kept on reading because I was hoping for it to turn around, but it didn't happen. So in the end... DNF.