Penumbra sells used books, and they are in such uniformly excellent condition that they might as well be new. He buys them during the day--you only sell to the man with his name on the windows--and he must be a tough customer. He doesn't seem to pay much attention to the bestseller lists. His inventory is eclectic; there's no evidence of pattern or purpose other than, I suppose, his own personal taste. So, no teenage wizards or vampire police here. That's a shame, because this is exactly the kind of store that makes you want to buy a book about a teenage wizard. This is the kind of store that makes you want to be a teenage wizard.
-Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore
Now that I'm writing about them back to back, I'm finding that Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore is an excellent book to weigh against The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making. While the former doesn't have the vaguely timeless nature of the latter--Google is a significant part of the story, after all--it was more inventive and definitely more absorbing, while maintaining elements of the classic quest. I didn't like the love interest as much as I suspect I was supposed to, but I enjoyed the writing quite a bit and would be happy to read more by Robin Sloan.
Up next: Messy by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan
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