Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read.

Start by marking “Libriomancer (Magic Ex Libris, #1)” as Want to Read:

Other editions

Enlarge cover

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Open Preview

Libriomancer

(Magic Ex Libris #1)

Jim C. Hines (Goodreads Author)

3.80 · Rating details · 12,049 ratings · 1,794 reviews

Isaac Vainio is a Libriomancer, a member of the secret organization founded five centuries ago by Johannes Gutenberg. Libriomancers are gifted with the ability to magically reach into books and draw forth objects. When Isaac is attacked by vampires that leaked from the pages of books into our world, he barely manages to escape. To his horror he discovers that vampires have ...more

Get A Copy

Hardcover, 308 pages

Published August 7th 2012 by DAW

More Details... Edit Details

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Reader Q&A

To ask other readers questions about Libriomancer, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

Science Fiction & Fantasy Titles for 2012!

645 books — 1,524 voters

Best Urban Fantasy SERIES

608 books — 3,556 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

Showing 1-30

Average rating 3.80 ·

Rating details

· 12,049 ratings · 1,794 reviews

More filters

Sort order

Start your review of Libriomancer (Magic Ex Libris, #1)

May 13, 2012 Patrick rated it it was amazing

I love it when I pick up a book and it surprises me.

What's even better, is when I pick up a book and it's got some sort of fresh idea, something I've never read in a book before.

Even more than that, I like it when I pick up a book and it's clever through and through.

When a book does all three of these things.... well.... Then I end up telling my friends and writing gushy goodreads reviews.

Now I'm not surprised that I liked Jim's book. I've read some of his other stuff, and even got a little ...more

flag 184 likes · Like · see review

Aug 04, 2012 carol. rated it liked it

Recommends it for: arachnophiliacs

Recommended to carol. by: book o'month

Shelves: fast-and-fun, urban-fantasy, vampires

I'm enchanted by the idea behind Libriomancer--really, what book lover wouldn't be? Mass reading/belief in a book enables specially trained book-loving readers, known as 'libromancers,' to bring parts of the book into life. Widely-read readers will be further amused by multitudes of book references, creating a little nudge-wink action.

Short summary: Isaac is in the library cataloging books when he is attacked by angry Sanguinarius Meyerii (aka 'sparklers'). They're looking for information behi ...more

flag 78 likes · Like · see review

Aug 08, 2012 Julio Genao rated it really liked it · review of another edition

i read this because the author wrote this: https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog...

and because I thought I'd quite like to read a fantasy written by someone who isn't blind to white, het, male privilege.

well, i'm glad i did.

a hyper-dense, info-dumpy start turned out not to be much of an impediment to my enjoyment at all; this thing went up like a rocket, and never came back down.

great action, great nods to great books, and a heroine who isn't an emaciated underwear model.

what's not to love?

and t ...more

flag 49 likes · Like · see review

Jan 11, 2013 unknown rated it liked it

Shelves: audiobooks, 2013, urban-fantasy

In our crazy, ranking-obsessed world, it is sometimes hard to remember that those three stars up there are not absolute, but a loose representation or summation of many different factors, and that three stars here and three stars there does not necessarily mean that all of those factors line up. I have given books I enjoyed a lot more than this one the same ranking, and books I liked a lot less a better one. Because context matters.

And in this case, that context included, perhaps, the worst prof ...more

flag 38 likes · Like · see review

Mar 20, 2018 Celeste rated it really liked it

Shelves: urban-fantasy, books-about-books

Full review now posted!

Is there anything that appeals to bookworms more than an ode to books themselves?

Not in my experience. Does that mean that every book about books or libraries or bookshops is going to fulfill my expectations? Nope. Thankfully, this one didn’t disappoint.

We all know the magic that can be found between the covers of a book. But now, imagine that said magic was literal, and that you could actually reach into a book and pluck out an object if your imagination was strong enoug Full review now posted!

Is there anything that appeals to bookworms more than an ode to books themselves?

Not in my experience. Does that mean that every book about books or libraries or bookshops is going to fulfill my expectations? Nope. Thankfully, this one didn’t disappoint.

We all know the magic that can be found between the covers of a book. But now, imagine that said magic was literal, and that you could actually reach into a book and pluck out an object if your imagination was strong enough. That’s the kind of power that our protagonist, Isaac Vainio, has found and given up and found again. He’s a libriomancer; as long as it will fit through the page, Isaac can draw both mundane and magical objects from the books that contain them. What an amazing idea for a magic system!

In Hines’ series, so much of our world has been impacted by the power of books, and yet little of the population is aware of these changes. Werewolves, vampires, and more have been shaped by the collective imagination of readers worldwide. The Porters, a guild of libriomancers and other magic wielders, are tasked with protecting the world from magical interference unleashed by this collective imagination, as well as keeping the mundane population ignorant of magic.

My favorite part of this book besides the book-based magic is Isaac, our main character. At first, Isaac seems like a carbon copy of our average urban fantasy male protagonist: down on his luck, hunted, more powerful than he knows, fan of long coats with lots of pockets, in possession of a strange magical pet, and seemingly controlled by his libido. Isaac is all of these things, but he’s also joyful and transparent and emotional and has somehow maintained an innocence that is incredibly sweet. What makes Isaac so powerful in his imagination and belief, both of which are aided by that aforementioned innocence. His innocence isn’t all-encompassing, however. Isaac is joined on his adventure by Lena Greenwood, who is magical in her own right. And man, does Isaac ever have the hots for her. This causes problems that I’ll leave you to find for yourself.

Lena was a fascinating character, but sadly one I can’t say much about without spoiling some of the side-plotting. What I can say is that she is fierce and loyal with a voluptuous beauty that belies how dangerous she can be. Besides Isaac and Lena, my other favorite character was Smudge, the fire-spider Isaac plucked from a book but was unable to make himself return. Smudge is one of the most adorable pets I’ve come across in urban fantasy, even if he is a spider. His mannerisms and loyalty to Isaac was just so incredibly cute!

This book was a fun, quick read. The only reason it’s not a five-star read for me is the weird love-triangle aspect. Love triangles are a pet peeve of mine, so its inclusion diminished my enjoyment of the book. However, I’ll definitely be continuing with the series, and I heartily recommend it to any urban fantasy fan who loves books in and of themselves.

Original review can be found at Booknest. ...more

flag 24 likes · Like · see review

Jun 06, 2015 Phrynne rated it really liked it

I picked this book up in a book sale because it looked interesting although I had not previously heard of the author. Well I am very glad I did because it was really good. It has many similarities with the Dresden Files except this magician is a librarian and all his magic is drawn from books. That aspect of it reminded me of the Thursday Next books by Jasper Fforde. So this book reminds me of two of my favourite series - of course I liked it! There are lots and lots of literary references throu ...more

flag 20 likes · Like · see review

Jan 13, 2013 Mogsy (MMOGC) rated it liked it

Shelves: books-about-books, science-fiction, vampires, magic, fantasy, paranormal, urban

Originally posted at The BiblioSanctum.

This was a book I had high hopes for, ever since finding out what it was about. At some point in our childhoods, I'm sure all of us bibliophiles have wished that the worlds in our favorite books were real, and wondered what it would be like to interact with with its characters and objects.

This book features a magic system that plays around with the general basis of that idea. The protagonist Isaac Vainio is a Libriomancer, a member of a secret organization Originally posted at The BiblioSanctum.

This was a book I had high hopes for, ever since finding out what it was about. At some point in our childhoods, I'm sure all of us bibliophiles have wished that the worlds in our favorite books were real, and wondered what it would be like to interact with with its characters and objects.

This book features a magic system that plays around with the general basis of that idea. The protagonist Isaac Vainio is a Libriomancer, a member of a secret organization who possesses the ability to reach inside books and pull out objects in their stories. One day Isaac is attacked by a group of vampires, and discovers that they have been targeting other magic users as well. Together with the dryad Lena, Isaac finds himself tasked with solving the mystery of the attacks as well as the kidnapping of Johannes Gutenberg, inventor of the movable-type printing press...and Libriomancer founder and leader.

First of all...ugh, why did it have to be vampires?

Seriously though, this was a good book. Even with the vampires. My issues with is, however, have more to do with my hangups with the Libriomancy magic system. Not to sound disparaging, because I don't deny it's a great idea and sounds awesome on paper (it's what first attracted me to the book, remember) but the application of it here was just...messy.

Don't get me wrong, I understand the challenges here. After all, the Libriomancers' ability to reach into books and pull out objects has got to be like the most over-powered superpower ever. This story must have been a plotting nightmare with all the deux ex machina moments just waiting to happen. It just makes sense that logically with so many books in publication, someone somewhere sometime must have written something that would be able to get our hero and his friends out of any and all troublesome situations the bad guys throw at them.

Apparently, the solution to that is to put in rules. Rules like Libriomancers can only pull out smaller objects, no bigger than the size of the open book which is the magical "window" to the world of the book. Or that certain books with dangerous or disgustingly powerful objects are magically "locked" which prevent Libriomancers to bring them into existence. Hermione's Time-Turner device in the Harry Potter series would be a perfect example.

As a result, every chapter you'll get an info dump, Isaac guiding and explaining the nuts and bolts behind the Libriomancy magic system -- what you can do and what you can't do. It's unfortunately very distracting, and I started to wonder after a while if I wouldn't have preferred to put all that out of my mind and simply enjoyed the story, plot holes and all. I love cool magic systems, but Libriomancy just doesn't seem to be one that lends itself to grow naturally in a reader's mind. Like I said, great idea, but it's not so fun when you're always finding inconsistencies and then waiting for the narrator to explain them.

Other than that, this book wasn't bad. I liked the main character, even though for a smart guy Isaac has a terrible habit of not thinking things through when he does them. He has a very single-minded way of looking at a problem and isn't above threatening his hostages with remotely-activated exploding brain implants in order to get his way. Oh, and he's constantly distracted by Lena and ogling her like a horny adolescent.

Okay, so I didn't like those aspects of him so much. But what I did like was his sense of wonder and motivation to learn new things. When Isaac isn't constantly distracted by Lena, he's constantly distracted by his curiosity and desire to find out why or how things work, which makes him instantly relatable. His love for books comes through, and also reinforces his character and makes him seem more real. When he goes into a bookstore he claims the books "speak" to him, but the way he describes it makes me doubt Libriomancy has much to do with it; every book lover can tell you how walking between the shelves of a store or library and seeing all those books can make them feel giddy and happy. There's no real magic in it, but I think it's something magical nonetheless, and the author captured those emotions very well in his characterization of Isaac.

Anyway, if you enjoy books with plots that are fast-paced and constantly driven forward by a whole bunch of things happening at once, then Libriomancer definitely fits the bill. I'll admit a lot of it was too convoluted and outrageous for me (and this coming from a diehard fan of The Dresden Files series) but if action-packed and bombastic urban fantasy stories are your thing, this book might be worth checking out. ...more

flag 17 likes · Like · see review

Jun 25, 2012 Marci rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2012-goodreads-challenge, first-reads

Taking place in Michigan, Libriomancer posits a new form of magic that appeals to bibliophiles everywhere. Founded by Guttenburg himself, the porters possess the ability to magically reach into books and retrieve items created in the story by the author. What happens when vampires go rogue and begin attacking the porters? Isaac Vainio, librarian to the porters, must find out who is behind the attacks and why they are happening to prevent a war between the porters and the vampires. He enlists the ...more

flag 14 likes · Like · see review

Jan 16, 2013 Moira Russell rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: ebook, on-the-kindle

I really, really wanted to like this....but....

Unfortunately the "cross between Dresden and Thursday Next" is accurate, and I....don't like either of those series. I actually had a similar reaction to reading the Next books: I thought there would be a lot more literary in-jokes, and instead it was sort of focused on geeky cleverness. ...more

flag 13 likes · Like · see review

Aug 03, 2012 TheBookSmugglers rated it really liked it

A man walks into a fight and he is armed and dangerous. His weapons of choice are…books. SciFi and Fantasy paperbacks to be more precise, tucked away inside larger-on-the-inside pockets. His main allies are a kick-ass dryad who can shape any wooden object into a WMD and a devoted spider with…spidey senses and the ability to set things (including itself) on fire.

The man is called Isaac Vainio and he is a Libriomancer, a member of a secret organisation founded centuries ago by Gutenberg (the inven A man walks into a fight and he is armed and dangerous. His weapons of choice are…books. SciFi and Fantasy paperbacks to be more precise, tucked away inside larger-on-the-inside pockets. His main allies are a kick-ass dryad who can shape any wooden object into a WMD and a devoted spider with…spidey senses and the ability to set things (including itself) on fire.

The man is called Isaac Vainio and he is a Libriomancer, a member of a secret organisation founded centuries ago by Gutenberg (the inventor of printing). Any Libriomancer is a magician with the special ability to reach into books and bring forth anything from them: healing potions, ray guns, etc. At the book’s opening Isaac has been working as a librarian after being demoted from the field for his tendency to overuse magic. He loves books and reading more than anything but he misses the ability to use magic – so when he is attacked by a trio of Meyerii vampires (created out of Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight books) and is forced to go back into the field to investigate the reasons behind the attack, he is more than eager to do so. But then his findings lead him into dangerous situations involving all kinds of vampires and Gutenberg’s kidnapping – not to mention that the very future of Libriomancy is at stake.

From the get go, Jim Hine’s Libriomancer is full of awesome imagery and cool shenanigans. I mean, what could you possibly expect from a book where the magic of reading is not only metaphorical but a literal thing? In that regard Libriomancer is any book-geek’s dream come true. It is so much fun and an ode to books, to reading as well as to genre-fiction especially Scifi and Fantasy.

It also has a really clever and thought-out magic system with internal logic and rules that must be upheld. Gutenberg actually created printing so that he could use it to improve his own magic because in this world the more a book is read the more powerful it is. But why can’t someone just reach into a book and draw forth say…a time machine, you might ask? Well, they could, but the most dangerous books are locked away and objects that could potentially destroy the world or alter events are not reachable.

That said, to say that the book is fun and light does not mean that it is frivolous. Quite the contrary, actually. From the creation of Libriomancy to how one can use that power and who gets to decide what is dangerous or not; from the way people interact with stories to how stories are created and how those creations affect the world or vice versa, the book has its really serious side as well.

In that sense, even though I loved the amusing and fun side of Libriomancer what truly resonated with me was its exploration of power and responsibility. That is incorporated into the story in many ways but the most obvious one is via its main female character, Lena, the kick-ass dryad. Lena was brought forth from a book – a book that was part of a series of books famed for its portrayal of sexual servitude. The dryads in those books change their surface appearance according to the desires of their lovers and they exist only to fulfil someone’s fantasy.

Lena is aware of this, accepts it as her reality and tries to cope by not letting this aspect of her personality define her and by choosing her lovers carefully. She is in a relationship with another woman and is also developing another relationship with Isaac – both lovers would inevitably be able to control Lena should they wish to, given her nature (thankfully, this freaks Isaac out as it has freaked her other lover out).

Of course, this could have been extremely problematic but I felt that the author dealt with his own choice of creating such character really well as the text and all characters, including Lena, question this. By writing a character like Lena and questioning the way she was created within the story, the author is automatically questioning a whole history of problematic creation of female characters. It is an interesting conundrum to see Lena accepting who she is and trying to make the best of it, trying to make herself as strong as possible, as in charge as possible but all the time, at the back of one’s mind, there is the question of whether what she has with these two people is real. CAN it be real when Lena does not seem to have a choice? I LOVE the way it ends with regards to this love triangle and hopefully Lena’s arc will progress in a way that will make her completely free at some point as their story is not over yet.

Ultimately, I really enjoyed Libriomancer. It was an uncomfortable read at times with regards to Lena but that made the book less mindless fun and a lot more impacting and affecting for me. I can’t wait to see where this goes. ...more

flag 12 likes · Like · see review

Feb 14, 2013 Anna rated it it was ok

Shelves: fantasy, reviewed, urban-fantasy

I really wanted to like this book. Well, obviously I did, or I'd never have bought it. Jim Hines seems like a good guy, I enjoyed the Goblin books, the premise of this book is fabulous, and the opening sample on Amazon was a lot of fun. But I ended up having two main problems: firstly the characters are a bit shallow, I never had a real sense of who the characters were, what they wanted from life, a feeling that they existed outside of the plot of this novel. This is kind of ironic since this bo I really wanted to like this book. Well, obviously I did, or I'd never have bought it. Jim Hines seems like a good guy, I enjoyed the Goblin books, the premise of this book is fabulous, and the opening sample on Amazon was a lot of fun. But I ended up having two main problems: firstly the characters are a bit shallow, I never had a real sense of who the characters were, what they wanted from life, a feeling that they existed outside of the plot of this novel. This is kind of ironic since this book is all about readers' belief in books causing them to have an independent life of their own, and as a reader I know that feeling & love it, but I never got that sense from this one. Each character was more of a collection of cool abilities & attributes than a living, breathing person (or fire spider, or nymph or whatever). Secondly this book kept raising huge issues of free will & self determination and then doing nothing with them leaving me feeling unsettled and offput.

As I said, the premise of this book is fabulous. The idea is that the binding of words into a settled form (an edition of a book) and then hundreds or thousands of people each reading the words in the same format and believing in the truth of those words causes the worlds of the books to become real. And magically available to libriomancers, magicians who can reach into books and pull anything small enough to fit through the pages of the book into our world to use. Sometimes larger things escape, such as vampires, and the very best part of this book for me was Hines' entertaining discussion of how different species of vampires have evolved over the years from Sanguinarius Stokerus, old school vampires who are fearsomely strong but have many well defined vulnerabilities, to Sanguinarius Mayerii (AKA sparklers) who have fewer powers but are incredibly hard to get rid of. There are all kinds of vampires in this book since the plot chiefly revolves around a war between the vampires and the secret, ancient order that employs the libriomancers, but to be honest I found it kind of hard to care about the plot, it sort of devolved into a lot of frenetic running around.

The main thing that knocked me out of enjoying this book for the cool, light read it could have been was the issue of free will. Two of our main characters were created by the libriomancers magic, that is to say they started off as characters in books and then were pulled into the real world. But like the various species of vampires, they may be living in our world but they need to follow the rules set out in the books they came from. One character is a fire spider, written to be helpful and loyal, who has settled into being our main character's pet, sidekick and watch dog and who has developed a personality of his own. He hates Journey, loves Spongebob Squarepants and just generally gets to enjoy his own wacky fire-spider life. The second one is a nymph from some hoary old 1960s pulp fantasy about sex slaves - she is written such that she needs to submit herself to an owner to such an extent that not only do her personality and tastes change to conform to her owner's, so does her appearance. Having the main female character of this book have LESS FREE WILL AND SELF DETERMINATION THAN A SPIDER raises all kinds of issues that Hines doesn't seem to know what on earth to do with, so mostly he ignores them. And this drove me nuts.

Our sex slave thinks that her owner has been destroyed by vampires so she wants our libriomancer to become her new owner. He goes into a 21st century Nice Guy tailspin wanting the 1960s sex slave without wanting to take responsibility for his desires. So he convinces himself that since the sex slave is not human just like his pet spider and has to follow rules laid out by some pulp fiction writing perv that somehow he can have a consensual sexual relationship with her. I do not follow Hines' logic here. Hines doesn't seem to either since before any such relationship can take place he adds a new wrinkle (view spoiler) and the whole thing is a just a stinkbomb of unexamined issues. ...more

flag 12 likes · Like · see review

Oct 09, 2012 Brandon Zarzyczny rated it it was amazing

I went into this book not expecting too much, when I read the blurb it just sounded really goofy, but since my library had it and I'd read some good reviews I decided to try. It turns out I was pleasantly surprised, as I actually really enjoyed the book. It's definitely very pulpy, but Libromancer is really a love-letter to Science Fiction and Fantasy books, or just books in general. The world in this book is of the normal Urban Fantasy style, it's our world, but with a magical world going on be I went into this book not expecting too much, when I read the blurb it just sounded really goofy, but since my library had it and I'd read some good reviews I decided to try. It turns out I was pleasantly surprised, as I actually really enjoyed the book. It's definitely very pulpy, but Libromancer is really a love-letter to Science Fiction and Fantasy books, or just books in general. The world in this book is of the normal Urban Fantasy style, it's our world, but with a magical world going on behind the scenes. The big difference with this book, is the incredibly unique magic system.

Basically, in this world full magical ability is very rare, but lesser magical ability is slightly less rare, and Gutenberg (the inventor of the printing press and a fledgling sorcerer) learned that belief magnifies their power. This power comes about when multiple people read the same book, and the readers' collective beliefs in the book allow a Libromancer to reach into the world of the book and pull anything that can fit, out into the real world. This ability does not come without cost, as it requires energy to manifest the items, and if the ability or book is overused, the characters from the book can possess the Libromancer and the fabric of reality can be threatened. This concept is really unique, and it's incredibly thought provoking, especially for Fantasy aficionados. While reading this book, I couldn't help but think about the books I'd read previously, and what items would have been of use if this magic actually existed. It just really brings you into the world, and I really enjoyed it. The other bonus that this magic system brings to the book, is that the story is filled with inside comments and cameos from real books big and small (along with a few fake ones), and it just brings the Urban Fantasy World of Libriomancer even more to life.

The characters in this book are also very strong, especially the two main characters, which is important as the cast is very small. There's a really unique interplay between Issac and his Wood Nymph companion (I forget her name, it might have been Lena) that was very endearing, though a bit odd at times. The story is relatively basic, but it's a great introduction to the world and what I'm sure will be an excellent series. To sum up the story, Issac was kicked out of the field and given a desk job as a Librarian and secret cataloger of new useful or dangerous books after his superiors became worried about his mental stability. His now boring life is shattered when a group of Sparklers bust into his library. This part of the story was really entertaining, as there's a whole taxonomy of vampires in this world, where even people that are untrained sometimes sink their hand into the world of the book, graze the fangs of a vampire, and then they themselves become a vampire, with all of the powers and vulnerabilities of the breed described in the book. So the Sparklers, are of course of Twilight fame, and there's a lot of funny stuff surrounding the vampire plotlines. Issac's problems then continue as his friends and colleagues are either being killed or disappearing (including the still living Gutenberg), and with the help of a living wood sword wielding Nymph go out to solve the mystery.

I really only have a few problems with the book, one is that it's relatively short (300 pages in hardback with relatively large type) and the ebook has been overpriced. This also coincides with the curious fact that not once in the book does the author/character mention the emergence of electronic books. Everything else is mentioned, even the existence of self-published books (which is a big part of the main plotline). So I would be really interested to see how the Libromancers powers work with a Kindle. Whether it wouldn't work at all, or what. However, the author could possibly be something interesting planned with ebooks in the sequels.

So overall, I would probably give this book four and a half stars, but I guess I'll round it up to five as I just really loved the concept of the magic system, and it's great as a quick fun read. I'd recommend this book to anyone that enjoys reading, but especially science fiction and fantasy fans. This is definitely a pulpy book that can't be taken too seriously, but I found it to be really enjoyable. ...more

flag 11 likes · Like · see review

Aug 15, 2012 Kelly H. (Maybedog) rated it liked it

Recommended to Kelly H. (Maybedog) by: Laurel

Shelves: what-i-love-books, what-modern-fantasy, what-vampires, what-male-protagonist, what-nerds, what-not-mm

3.5 stars rounded down because I think the ending was a cop-out.

This was an interesting and unique premise which was very welcome. I liked the characters, I liked that although the main character Isaac was sort of on the outs with his agency it wasn't because he had a big mouth or was an asshole. I thought Lena was an interesting character but she was set up in such a way that she will never be free of her burdens which prevent her from being truly real.

Some good things:
Lena is the very beauti ...more

flag 11 likes · Like · see review

Oct 10, 2011 All Things Urban Fantasy rated it it was ok

Shelves: reviewed-by-abigail

Review courtesy of All Things Urban Fantasy

All kids long for special powers like the ability to fly, become invisible, or read minds. And while I dabbled with dreams of soaring into the sky, it’s the ability so lovingly described in Jim C. Hines’ LIBRIOMANCER that stayed foremost in my mind even into adulthood. Libriomancy is the unbelievably cool ability to reach into books and pull out objects. Hines treats this idea of libriomancy with as much realism as possible. For example, it would make s Review courtesy of All Things Urban Fantasy

All kids long for special powers like the ability to fly, become invisible, or read minds. And while I dabbled with dreams of soaring into the sky, it’s the ability so lovingly described in Jim C. Hines’ LIBRIOMANCER that stayed foremost in my mind even into adulthood. Libriomancy is the unbelievably cool ability to reach into books and pull out objects. Hines treats this idea of libriomancy with as much realism as possible. For example, it would make sense that dedicated libriomancers would study books religiously looking for new and wonderful objects. Speculative fiction titles would be of special interest for magical and high tech items. Longtime lovers of SF&F will get a kick out of seeing Lucy’s magical cordial from THE LION, THE WITCH, AND THE WARDROBE, and Paul’s shield belt from DUNE.

The same magic that enables libriomancers to create objects from books has more than a few pesky sideeffects. Reaching into a book with, say, vampires can be dangerous. While reaching for a weapon, the libriomancer is partially made real inside the book which can lead to biting. So not only do vampires run wild in LIBRIOMANCER, but there are different kinds depending on which book they came from. Hines details a number of them including Meyerii aka Sparklers from the Twilight series and a specific Southern variety courtesy of Charlaine Harris.

As much fun as this world was, and as many geektastic Dr. Who references that were packed in, that only really carried my enjoyment for about a hundred pages. After that, the story and characters were on the underwhelming side, specifically the attempted romance. Issac was fun in a beta Harry Dresden way–though not nearly as cool, but Lena was not. She’s a uber alpha dryad that shoulders her way in to rescue Issac early on and unfortunately never leaves. She’s got all the annoying characteristics of typical alpha males, but we’re supposed to be okay with it because she’s a female. Issac gets jerked around by her big time *SPOILER* (view spoiler)

Ultimately, I was left not liking this book. The world and magical ideas were so fantastic, but the story wasn’t anything special and the characters weren’t likable (in Lena’s case) or were too much of a doormat (in Issac’s case) to save it. This will be my first and last read in the Magic Ex Libris series which should see a sequel in 2013.

Sexual Content:
F/F/M Kissing ...more

flag 11 likes · Like · see review

Jun 07, 2015 Marianne rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Libriomancer is the first book of the Magic ex Libris series by American author, Jim C. Hines. Isaac Vainio works in a small-town library, spending the day cataloguing books. But Isaac is no ordinary librarian: while he may be forbidden to use magic, he is a Libriomancer, a Porter and member of Die Zwelf Portenaere, founded by none other than Johannes Gutenberg.

A few remnants of his time as an active Libriomancer remain: a rather special black 1973 Triumph convertible, and a fire-spider named S ...more

flag 11 likes · Like · see review

Jun 14, 2012 Steven rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: writers, fantasy fans, genre fans

Shelves: fantasy, booksbyfriends, books-on-books

Abook for those who love books from any angle!

Highly recommended to fantasy fans and those who just love a fun yarn (with more teeth behind the ideas than you expect).

This book is so much fun that I don't want to say much in this review to spoil the ride for anyone. Let's just say that by page 80 or so, I was hooked.

Also, the idea of a dryad in the passenger seat (and a vampire in the trunk) of a magicked-up sports car with the title character conjured up Kurt Russell's monologues from Big Trou ...more

flag 11 likes · Like · see review

Sep 02, 2016 Christine PNW rated it really liked it

This was completely delightful! A love letter to books and the magic contained within their pages.

flag 10 likes · Like · see review

Mar 20, 2013 Mike (the Paladin) rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: urban-fantasy

Interesting book...I know I say that a lot. The thing is that here we have an excellent idea, a bit of mediocre execution some iffy characters and a decent version of a familiar plot (view spoiler).

I kind of liked much of this book. I think the magic system would fire anyone who's been a li ...more

flag 9 likes · Like · see review

Oct 15, 2016 Wanda rated it really liked it

Shelves: public-library, read-in-2016, halloween-bingo-2016, fantasy

How could I resist Isaac Vainio, the main character of Libriomancer? Not only does he work in a library, but he is a cataloguer like myself, although my job has not yet required me to fight off vampires nor take on the care and feeding of a fire-spider. Isaac has been banished to “just” library work, after having a bit of a “magical incident” and is trying to earn his way back into the action.

Nor is Isaac the only character to enjoy. There are some great secondary characters who also have intere ...more

flag 11 likes · Like · see review

Jan 17, 2015 Sandra (LadyGrey Reads) rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 5-star-favorites, 2015-top-ten, 2015-book-of-the-month, worth-re-reading-again-and-again, recs, ebooks, 2015-2016-reads, series-that-i-have-finished

2015 Book Awards: Hero of the Year Runner-Up
Awarded to Isaac Vaino
(information about this award is available on my profile)

I need more books about geeky heroes!

This story centers around Isaac, a librarian who has the power to pull things out of books. Yes, it's a bit like Inkheart but the rules of what can be pulled and the consequences are different in this story. Anyway; Isaac is a part of a magic organisation run by the real Johannes Gutenberg, though for the past two years Isaac has been sus ...more

flag 8 likes · Like · see review

May 14, 2012 Christine rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy-urban

I've said it once, I'll say it again. Jim C. Hines is America's answer to Terry Pratchett.

I love the world in this book. It's a world any biblophile will recognize and long to inhabit. In this world, you can take things, like say a lightsabre, from books. It's Thursday Next in reverse. Hines has taken what all readers wish and turned it into a good adventure story.

Our hero Issac thought he was retired, but then some sparkily vampires show up. And as we all know, a sparkily vampire is not a good ...more

flag 8 likes · Like · see review

Aug 15, 2014 Amber rated it it was amazing

Shelves: librarybooks

Issac Vainio is not your average Librarian. He has a Spider that can set fire to stuff as a pet named Smudge and he is a wizard that can pull objects out of books and bring them to life called a Libriomancer. When vampires attack him at his library, it is up to him, Smudge, and his friend a tree nymph named Lena Greenwood to find out why the vampires are attacking all the Libriomancers and find out what dark force is behind it all before he loses his sanity altogether. Will he succeed? Definitel ...more

flag 8 likes · Like · see review

Jun 07, 2015 Carolyn rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy

This is a fun book based on a novel system of magic. Isaac Vanio is a libriomancer, which means he can reach into books and extract magic items to use in the real world. This is extremely useful when you are fighting vampires and need a magic weapon or are injured and need a magic potion. Isaac specialises in books from Fantasy and SciFi genres and knows his books well. Libriomancy was founded by Gutenberg at the same time that he invented the printing press and by way of making himself immortal ...more

flag 8 likes · Like · see review

Mar 16, 2013 Desinka rated it it was ok

Shelves: ebook

DNF at 60%.

I'm sorry to say a book I've been really been looking forward to ended up being rather disappointing.

This started quite OK, with a very interesting premise and a promising storyline but somewhere on the way I completely lost interest in the story, so much so I can't tell you what happened in the last half hour! Yes, I'm listening to this and the narration is decent but even it couldn't save the story for me.

I might give it another chance in the future but for now I'm quits. ...more

flag 8 likes · Like · see review

Oct 21, 2011 Shannon rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: color-yellow, male-protagonist, adult, urban-fantasy, michigan, detroit, color-green, ebook, male-author, 2015

I actually finished this a little while ago but I'm slacking on reviews. I started the next book immediately after though so that should tell you something.

One of the most clever ideas for a series I've read in a long time.

Review to come. ...more

flag 8 likes · Like · see review

Aug 08, 2012 Rob rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audio-book, urban-fantasy, own, read-2014, fantasy, author-male

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 Review
I feel kind of bad. I had been looking forward to 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 Review
I 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 Jim Butcher. 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. ...more

flag 6 likes · Like · see review

Aug 13, 2012 Eric rated it really liked it

Recommends it for: Fans of urban fantasy

Shelves: urban-fantasy

A very enjoyable modern urban fantasy with an interesting magic system, where modern day wizards, called libriomancers, can pull fantastical implements out of fictional books, which then work in the real world -- a system that reminded me a bit of the one from Geekomancy due to the protagonist Isaac's penchant for using sci-fi and fantasy books. My only minor complaint is the love story/triangle between Isaac, Lena, and her former lover, which felt included because it is an obligatory trope in t ...more

flag 7 likes · Like · see review

Nov 02, 2014 Chris rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: from-library, 2014, ebook, contemporary-fantasy, done

3.5 stars. Good contemporary fantasy about a wizard whose power is being able to make things from books real. Due to a magical mishap, he's been relegated to working as a librarian in the UP (Michigan's Upper Peninsula) and not using magic... until the shit hits the fan, of course. ...more

flag 7 likes · Like · see review

Jul 31, 2012 Kaila rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy, 2012, book-lovers-never-go-to-bed-alone, urban-fantasy

This was my first foray into the work of Jim C. Hines, but come to find out, after poking around the internet this past week, the guy is pretty awesome. I'll admit to being completely ignorant that there was such a Hugo award as "best fan writer" until Hines won it this year - apparently it's for writers of works related to science fiction or fantasy which appear in low- or non-paying publications, such as semiprozines or fanzines (taken from Wikipedia). Now what's a semiprozine, you ask? Good q ...more

flag 6 likes · Like · see review

Aug 17, 2012 Ranting Dragon rated it really liked it

Shelves: janea

http://www.rantingdragon.com/review-o...

I first heard about Libriomancer a few years ago while attending a panel that included Jim C. Hines at a convention, and I fell in love with the idea of it. As time passed and the book came closer to completion, every time I heard more about it, I wanted it more. It’s an urban fantasy with comic elements from a writer already known for doing excellent comic fantasy (such as Jig the Goblin series and the Princess series).

Isaac Vainio is a small town librari http://www.rantingdragon.com/review-o...

I first heard about Libriomancer a few years ago while attending a panel that included Jim C. Hines at a convention, and I fell in love with the idea of it. As time passed and the book came closer to completion, every time I heard more about it, I wanted it more. It’s an urban fantasy with comic elements from a writer already known for doing excellent comic fantasy (such as Jig the Goblin series and the Princess series).

Isaac Vainio is a small town librarian in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, aka “the middle of nowhere.” In addition to this, Isaac is a cataloger for Die Zwelf Portenaere, an organization which tries to police the magical community and prevent its detection by the mundane world. However, when the troubles of the magical community result in vampires attacking Isaac at work, it’s time to head south and figure out what’s going on.

Unique magic system
If you read this book for nothing else at all, read it for its completely awesome magic system. Isaac is a libriomancer with the power to pull things out of books. Now, there are some limitations to this, like you can only use a book so many times and whatever you use must be able to fit through the book, but there’s still the fact that at one point Isaac fights with a lightsaber. For those who like well-defined magic systems, Hines has done a great job of fleshing it out while still leaving a lot of room to grow in future books. Everything is well thought out and clearly presented, and tailor-made for bookworms everywhere.

Urban fantasy… with a twist
Two things I associate Hines with are comedy and turning clichés on their heads. For such a young genre, urban fantasy has developed a disturbing number of tropes. First, there are nearly always vampires. There’s usually a love triangle of some sort. There’s lots of frantically running around, there’s a broken-down magical government, and deep ethical choices. Hines has happily completed the check-list while putting his own unique spin on everything (and yes, that includes the love triangle). Isaac is not a character who is likely to become darker as the series goes on—at least, not until the lines between good and bad are frightfully thin. Hines has also populated his world with flavors from other books, like sparkling vampires known as Meyerii. This is a highly referential work, and only avoids being an outright parody of the entire genre by somehow being utterly original at the same time.

As for comedy, Hines has a distinct taste for the absurd. For instance, the idea of a Yooper (someone from the upper peninsula of Michigan) vampire who’s an avid deer hunter is just… bizarre. Every once in a while, Hines likes to hit you with something from left field, but he always times it so as not to break the pacing of the book. When things are dire, he’s not going to try to make you laugh, he’s going to keep you invested in the plot.

A whirlwind tour
Hines, like me, is from the state of Michigan, and he literally takes you all over the state in this book. All told, in the course of a week, Isaac drives over 1,000 miles. I’ll be honest: one of the best things about this book, to me, was reading a story set in places I know. I loved all the little things about life in Michigan that poke out here and there, like the sheer terror driving across the Mackinaw Bridge can be. Most urban fantasy is centered in smaller, more densely populated urban areas. I loved the juxtaposition of starting out in very rural Michigan and traveling through the center sections of Detroit after stopping in a college town. I can’t say that any other book I know does that, and it added an incredible layer of depth to the story for me. And luckily for those of you who aren’t from Michigan, Hines did not write dialogue in the Yooper dialect.

Why you should read this book?
If you love urban fantasy, or just love anything to do with books, science fiction, fantasy, or any combination thereof, you will find lots of things to like here. There’s some tongue in cheek, knowing references to a whole list of things, a great story and good story telling. The only thing I don’t like is that now I have to wait for the next one! ...more

flag 6 likes · Like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

topics	posts	views	last activity
#DTReadAlong: Past Book: The Libriomancer	1	3	Jun 24, 2017 01:26PM
Urban Fantasy ser...: September BOTM: LIBRIOMANCER by Jim Hines	9	14	Sep 13, 2016 01:59AM
What's the Name o...: SOLVED. sci-fi/fantasy where the hero (magician?) can reach into published books and pull out items, like laser guns, etc., rivals try to kill him, incl. woman grown from acorn (?) [s]	6	41	Sep 13, 2015 03:29PM
Free but brief short -- how Isaac met Smudge	10	116	Jan 08, 2015 02:40AM
Urban Fantasy Afi...: Cora's November Read -- Libriomancer	18	19	Nov 25, 2014 06:32AM
All things Fandom: What objects would you pull out of a book?	10	28	Jul 11, 2014 08:00AM

Readers also enjoyed

See similar books…

Genres

Fantasy

1,334 users

Fantasy > Urban Fantasy

740 users

Fiction

178 users

Paranormal > Vampires

146 users

Fantasy > Magic

136 users

Fantasy > Paranormal

115 users

Writing > Books About Books

80 users

Science Fiction

61 users

Science Fiction Fantasy

59 users

Adult

44 users

See top shelves…

About Jim C. Hines

Jim C. Hines

2,155 followers

Jim C. Hines is the author of the Magic ex Libris series, the Princess series of fairy tale retellings, the humorous Goblin Quest trilogy, and the Fable Legends tie-in Blood of Heroes. His latest novel is Terminal Uprising, book two in the humorous science fiction Janitors of the Post-Apocalypse trilogy. He’s an active blogger, and won the 2012 Hugo Award for Best Fan Writer. Jim lives in Michigan ...more

Other books in the series

Magic Ex Libris (4 books)

Books by Jim C. Hines

More…

Articles featuring this book

Summer Reading from Sci-Fi & Fantasy Authors

Where do you go for fantastical, must-read book recommendations? This summer we're turning to the experts of illusion,...

Trivia About Libriomancer (Mag...

2 trivia questions

More quizzes & trivia...

Quotes from Libriomancer

“...bookstores, libraries... they're the closest thing I have to a church.” — 66 likes

“This presents a serious question." They both looked at me. "What's that?" asked Lena. "Whether to start you off with a Doctor Who marathon or dive straight into Firefly.” — 19 likes

More quotes…