Ajax Penumbra 1969
Ratings25
Average rating4.1
San Francisco, 1969. The summer of drugs, music and a new age dawning. A young, earnest Ajax Penumbra has been given his first assignment as a Junior Acquisitions Officer - to find the single surviving copy of the Techne Tycheon, a mysterious volume that has brought and lost great fortune for anyone who has owned it. After a few weeks of rigorous hunting, Penumbra feels no closer to his goal than when he started. But late one night, after another day of dispiriting dead ends, he stumbles upon a 24-hour bookstore and the possibilities before him expand exponentially. With the help of his friend's homemade computer, an ancient map, a sunken ship and the vast shelves of the 24-hour bookstore, Ajax Penumbra might just find what he's seeking...
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1 primary book2 released booksMr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore
Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore is a 2-book series with 1 primary work first released in 2012 with contributions by Robin Sloan.
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This was cute! Felt much more heisty than the first one. I loved getting to see beloved (??) characters starting off and where it all began. Probably much less enjoyable if you don't already have context, but I am not sure.
Not as good as “Mr. Penumbra's 24-hour bookstore,” but quite fun nonetheless. The core ideas are there but aren't as developed as in the “main” book.
It is a quick read that somewhat lays the groundwork for the story and characters we come to know in the later book.
If you've heard about “Mr. Penumbra's 24-hour bookstore” and haven't read it yet, I believe that reading this one first will enhance the experience and set the scene for the main book. Since it is around 70 pages, it's a fast-paced read, and you have literally nothing to lose.
I hope that Sloan, in the future, may write more stories in this setting. However, if I'm being sincere, I would prefer something more developed like “24-hour bookstore” than a “short story” like this one.
This was a pleasant look back at the 24 hour book store. I read it too far away from the other story to really connect with it, but it was a nice little visit with these characters again.
