Ciphers, typography and the ultimate good of Google: Mr Penumbra's 24 hour bookstore by Robin Sloan

by Jon Petre

A narrow bookstore next to a strip club in San Francisco. Tall shelves "like a Transylvanian forest". An open book with two hands resting on it. A wizened old Bookman who asks, "What do you seek in these shelves?"

It was hard for me not be excited when I read that, bibliophile that I am. Penumbra is a book about books and the internet, with old school codes and resourceful buddies. One of last year's most promising standalones, Mr Penumbra's 24 hour bookstore was engaging, funny and light, very modern but very interesting like a city break to Bruges.

Clay Jannon is a techie left unemployed by the recession. He gets a night job at a small, strange and dusty bookstore (bookshop) with no clients and no profit, save for the select number of old scholars who browse the aisles at the back, which operates as a tiny library. But the books are encoded, unreadable. Something is afoot.

I'm a book-lover; it'd be hard for me not be at least somewhat one-sided here, unless the writing was truly atrocious. But this was a delight. I usually read two or three books at a time, but for this I  put the rest of my messenger bag library on hold and gave Jannon my full attention, because he deserved it. It wasn't the sort of novel where you can just put it down, oh no; you're missing that bus stop, you're leaving that coffee, because that last page is more important to you. Because the novel is so modern, so contemporary I think it's the sort of thing that anyone could pick up--not to belittle any of you fine folks, but something like Ulysses or The Lord of the Rings can be a bit of a chore for anyone to pick up--and I'm pleased to be reviewing something that's not from the SFF shelf. Penumbra is fresh and original, blending mystery with techie fiction in the same way that it blends the old world of books with the new, open-plan (cough, cough, Google) world of books.

The characters, while not being outstandingly original or particularly deep, were interesting and unique, at least from each other. While there's obviously differences between the book people and the internet people, each group seemed to me a little stereotypical. Sloan's broken no new ground here, but that doesn't mean that what he's got isn't any good. Not by a long shot; just don't expect Tess here. Special mentions go to the characters of Kat and Penumbra himself, who were by far the deepest of the bunch. Everyone in the novel seemed to come with a veneer of shiny optimism, and that got on my nerves a little, if I'm honest. There was no tension between the characters, not really, and it sounds so pessimistic of me but...everyone worked together, and no one got sick of each other. That doesn't happen in real life.

That said, I still enjoyed the novel and I still enjoyed the characters, somewhat lacklustre though they are. It was the plot and Sloan's excellent writing that saved it for me; he can make anything sound beautiful, even cold, heartless machinery and veiny old men/women. It was a pleasure to read if only for the text, and though the novel wasn't revolutionary and it certainly wasn't my favorite thing I've read this year it was still very good.

I had fun reading this, and I hope you will too. Check out Sloan's follow-up prequel, a short novel by the equally-as-intriguing title of Ajax Penumbra 1969, which promises to be much more succinct and just as well written as its 2013 big brother.