Manga: Magus of the Library

Magus of the Library Vol 1
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review! 

In the small village of Amun lives a poor boy named Theo. Theo adores books, but because of his pointed ears and impoverished life, he isn't allowed to use the village library. As he endures the prejudice and hatred of the village, he dreams of going where such things don't exist: Aftzaak, City of Books. But one day, Theo chances to meet a Kafna--a librarian who works for the great library of Aftzaak--and his life changes forever... 

Not only the title and synopsis for this one attracted me to it, but the completely gorgeous cover art did as well and I have to say the art on the inside is to the same standard! I really enjoyed the art style for this one, the character designs were beautiful but so were the backgrounds and settings...the detail was truly wonderful. 

Theo is very easy to empathise with as he's picked on because of his ears, and with all his talk of heroes I was waiting for his own hero to show up...and then came Sedona! Who happens to be hilariously dramatic. 

I was fascinated by the world of this series, and the city of books and what the Kafna get up to and there's a lot of background to get out of the way first in this, including a short history of books and how the written word developed from tablets to scrolls and so on. I loved the description of books being like portals to new worlds and some pulling you in no matter what, it was so accurate! 

Despite the large amount of background to go through, and the build up to things actually happening there is a fair bit going on in this volume, a search for a grimoire, a sacred beast of legend and then the story really starts to get going and we have Magi and fire spirits too! 

This first volume does a fantastic job at introducing us to Theo, connecting us to him, as well as introducing the world of the book and what the Kafna are and what their duties are, as well as the library, all alongside a little adventure! This volume does nicely at highlighting the joys of reading, which as a bookworm, I appreciated immensely! Of course once things have been set up and introduced we have a nicely handled time skip before Theo heads out to take the test and the real adventure can begin. 

Of course, we can't just end with a happy adventurer vibe, oh no. We've gotten background on the world and its history as I've said, and that combined with the narrative at the very end of this volume makes for an incredibly ominous feel...but also has you leaving the volume with a sense of anticipation.