Emma Törzs’ Ink Blood Sister Scribe (William Morrow 2023) is a unique and propulsive novel about magic and family, and it was one of my biggest surprises of the year!
Ink Blood Sister Scribe follows Joanna and Esther, the most recent generation of the Kalotay family, who are tasked with their family’s mission: guarding a collection of rare and ancient magical books. These books, sourced by their father from all over the world, allow a person to manipulate the world around them if read in the right way and by the right person.
When the novel begins, however, the sisters have been separated for years. Esther lives on a remote base in Antarctica with her partner, while Joanna is trapped in comfortable rut at their family home in Vermont, guarding the books and warding the house against intruders. After their father is killed by a book and Esther’s partner’s life is threatened by unknown forces who seem to know what the books can do, the two sisters must work to confront the mysteries of their past, the conflicts they intentionally buried, and uncover magic’s darkest secrets.
I bought this book when it came out, but I waited to read it for far too long! I don’t know what I expected from this novel, but I was pleasantly surprised by this story. Contemporary, high stakes, and compelling, Ink Blood Sister Scribe has a thoroughly unique magic system and packs a lot into a single standalone book. I loved this world and its intricacies; all the pieces of the plot slowly began to fit together in a way that felt both carefully crafted and effortless. I had no idea where this story was going to go from one moment to the next, and each character and their perspective was vivid and engaging.
It was refreshing to read such a diverse novel with an original magic system and characters who stayed with me long after I finished. I truly could not put this book down and I recommend it to anyone looking for an original, diverse, and queer contemporary paranormal/fantasy novel!
Please add Ink Blood Sister Scribe to your TBR on Goodreads.
Content Warnings: violence, death
Rachel Friars is the co-author of Neo-Victorian Lesbians on Screen (Anthem Press, 2025) and completed her doctorate in English Literature Queen’s University in Ontario, Canada in 2024. Her current research centers on neo-Victorianism and lesbian literature and history. Her work has been published with journals such as Studies in the Novel, The Journal of Neo-Victorian Studies, Queer Studies in Media and Popular Culture, and in The Palgrave Handbook of neo-Victorianism.
