So, to begin this review, let me restate the synopsis: Nora, her best friend and his friend are all working with a professor to break the code and decipher the Voynich Manuscript. Then the professor is attacked, her best friend killed and things go south from there. There is a journey to Europe, hopping from city to city, midnight rendezvous, hooded people and lots of scrumptious danger. Throw in betrayal and heartbreak and you’ve got the marvelously addictive The Book of Blood and Shadow.Got that? The Voynich manuscript actually exists and a little bit of Googling will give you more information about it.My purpose is to talk about the book and what a book, you guys. This book is like The Da Vinci Code for young adults. It’s well written, well paced and there are no gaping holes in the logic that makes you stop for a moment and scratch your head. Nora’s voice is strong, relatable and her grief, while sincere, is not the kind that overwhelms you entirely. This is a dense book and takes time to read and absorb but the payoff is amazing.While the pacing is slow, out of necessity since this is a standalone novel (can we please scream gleefully and pump our fists for a rare addition to standalone novels?) and it needs to develop fully, there is never any moment of information dumping that threatens to overwhelm the reader. I like how the history is interspersed perfectly with the narrative. Also, I like the insertion of humour because it would have been so easy to get swamped with the desperation and grief that follows our protagonist.I think we need more books of this ilk around in the YA genre. It has not sparkly beings or things that go furry. What it has is a lot of history, a lot of imagination and all of it coheres into a fantastic story that you won’t be able to put down. Recommended.
