The Society of Unknowable Objects – Gareth Brown

Published By: Bantam
Pages: 352
Released On: 07/08/2025

The world of unknowable objects – magical items that most people have no idea possess powers – has been quiet for decades . . .

But three current members of a secret society have remained watchful, meeting every six months in the basement of a bookshop in London. They are pledged to protect their archive of magical items hidden away, safe from the outside world – and keep the world safe from them. But when Frank Simpson, the longest-standing member of the Society of Unknowable Objects, hears of a new artefact coming to light in Hong Kong, he sends the Society’s newest member, author Magda Sparks, to investigate.

Within hours of arriving in Hong Kong, Magda is facing death and danger, confronted by a professional killer who seems to know all about unknowable objects, specifically one that was stolen from him a decade before. Magda is forced to flee, using an artefact that not even the rest of the Society knows about.

Returning to London, Magda learns hers is not the only secret being kept from the other two members. And that the most pernicious secret is about the nature of the Society’s mission. Her discoveries will lead her on a perilous journey, across the Atlantic to the deep south of the United States – not in pursuit of an unknowable object, but an unknowable person: the killer she first faced in Hong Kong. In doing so, Magda begins to understand that there are even more in the world who are chasing these magical items, and that her own family’s legacy is tied up in keeping all these secrets under wraps.

Magic has always been too powerful to reveal to the world. But Magda will learn there might be something even more powerful: the truth.

*****

Thanks to NetGalley and Bantam for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.

I won’t lie, I requested a copy of this book before I’d even read the synopsis. I had no idea what it was about, but I knew that I’d love it because of the author. Gareth Brown wrote one of my absolute favourite books – The Book of Doors. It was so impressive and I’ve been so looking forward to what he produced next.

This has adventure, secrets, lies, magic, a flirtation with some romance, lost friends, old friends and new friends, it’s got danger and sadness, love and loss, and hope.

On reflection, I would say I enjoyed Book of Doors more. But I think that’s because it was so new and fresh, but this is still a very enjoyable book.

It’s full of fantasy and magic but it’s rooted so deeply into reality that it almost becomes familiar.

I worried at first that there were too many characters and I’d get confused but he’s written them so well, they’re so full of depth, and they all play a key role in Magda’s story, as well as their own.

There were a few different POVs in this book, which generally I like, but I found they didn’t balance well. Magda is our protagonist, and then we have a couple of “baddies” who we hear from, but it’s neither one thing or another. I would say you either have to have the main voice through most of it, with just a couple of entries from other characters, or you need to be one chapter for character A, the next for B, and the next for C, and repeat. This fell somewhere in between. It wasn’t sparse, but nor was it consistent.

I found it got better as it went along and the final 30% or so is really exciting. I’d have just liked to to have been paced a bit better. At least the first half, if not more, is mostly conversation and explanation, and the excitement doesn’t ramp up until near the end, so whilst I understand the need to lay down the foundations of the story, it would have been nice if the goings-on had come in a bit earlier.

It is it’s own story and can be read on its own but there are hints that it’s linked to The Book of Doors, and he does touch on the third book at the end, so I’m excited to see how this world comes together.