Le Bilbliomancien

Executive Summary: A book whose main strength is the interesting magic system, and not the characters or story.Audio book: Brian Eslik is a good, but not great reader. It's been several audio books now, but my recollection was he didn't really add or detract from the book at all. I think this is one of those books that choosing between reading or listening is more a matter of which works best for you rather more than anything else.Full ReviewI feel kind of bad. I had been looking forward to reading this book for awhile. The concept of the magic system sounded really cool.I was looking for something fun and light to hold me over between books. This seemed like it might fit the bill.Overall however, I was underwhelmed. I blame [a:Jim Butcher 10746 Jim Butcher https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1400640324p2/10746.jpg]. For me, everything seems to pale compared to the Dresden Files.The other problem I had was it seemed like a generic Urban Fantasy series with stock vampires. Or mostly stock. Mr. Hines does work in a large variety based on various popular vampire novels over the year, including the sparkly variety that have pretty much have ruined what little interest in vampires I once had.The main character seems generic too. Well except that he's a librarian instead of private eye or some sort of field agent. This may appeal to the librarians out there, but I'm not sure who else.The second half of the book was a lot better however. Thankfully the whole thing wasn't about vampires. We also got more with the magic system, which is really the only thing that makes this book stand out. Mr. Hines has come up an interesting and certainly unique system. Pulling magic items out of books. My only gripe is that while some things are explicitly named (Harry Potter, Doctor Who), other things are only alluded to (Star Wars). I'm not sure if it's over copyright concerns or what. If so that's yet another negative side effect of copyright. There is no way I'd confuse this book with a Star Wars book, simply because a character pulls a lightsabre out of a book. I mean who WOULDN'T do that if you had the ability?Overall I think this is a book that will largely depend on how much you enjoy Urban Fantasy. If you're a fan, this may be a book to check out. If not, I don't think the strength of the magic system is enough to compensate for the mostly generic Urban Fantasy story.