This is my first review of modular LEGO® Creator Expert set. I will be reviewing LEGO® set 10270 - Bookshop. I hope this review will be informative to all the readers.

The front side of the building looks beautiful with their neo-classical style. There is a Birch tree with a blue bird and its nest located in front of the bookshop which complement this set nicely. Both buildings can be separated because they are built on top of 16 x 32 baseplates.

The bookshop building style reminds me of the townhouses in the Netherlands, while the blue residential building looks more like townhouse in London, UK. On the right side of the townhouses, there is a white lamp post.

Both buildings do not have any windows or feature on the sides along with having holes for the technic pins on left and right sides. Clearly, this set is aimed to be positioned in the middle of other modular sets.

There are a number of excellent details on this set. There is a Moby Brick book which is a wordplay on Moby Dick a novel by Herman Melville an American Novelist, there is a short bookshelf at the front of the store that will lose all the books if done here in Indonesia. Next, there is a small flower patch in front of the blue townhouses with its shingle roof that looks great.

At the rear side, both townhouses have a balcony each. The bookstore has a coffee table with two chairs, while the blue townhouse only have a balcony without furniture. Both townhouses have back door and the blue townhouse has a garden patch with pumpkin and other green vegetables.

The blue townhouse has a basement. There are not many things in the basement. There is only a mousetrap complete with cheese, a folding ladder that might be used to retrieve the aeroplane toy that stuck on the tree, a sack that is sitting on a bench and, lastly, there is a plant shear for trimming the flower patch or vegetable garden.

The second floor consist of a living room. There is a coat hanger with hat and umbrella hanging unto it. There is a table with tea sets and newspaper on top of it with two dining chairs nearby. A cupboard with jars sitting in the corner.

A fireplace stand ready with fire roaring to provide warmth to the weary tenant laying on the comfy sofa bed next to the windows. Above the sofa bed, there is a painting of seafaring wooden vessel. A small plant pot sitting next to the stairs.

On the level above (blue townhouse), beside the balcony, the interior is consists of a double bed, next to the bed is a nightstand with drawers complete with table lamp and flower pot. There is a painting of a bridge near the desk.

The ground floor of this book store consists of cashier and a bookcase. There is a stair going up to the first floor with a bookshelf in the middle of the stairs. It seems there is bookshop is lacking books to sell.

The first floor looks comfy. It is the living space of for the shopkeeper. There is a living room with a single black sofa, a rug, a grandfather clock, small coffee table with red mug and a standing light.

The second floor is the bed for the shopkeeper. There is a vivarium next to the bed with a chameleon inside which is the pet of the storekeeper. Despite that, the designed vivarium is not perfect because there is a hole behind and the chameleon can escape.

This set only provides 5 minifigures that consists of a grandfather, a grandmother, a male, a female and a child. Only the grandfather does not have dual expressions. The expressions on the grandmother looks nearly similar.

Building Experience

All Creator Expert Modular Building are very enjoyable and fun to build. We will always learn new building technique from it. I will say never speed build a modular building where you will miss all the fun. I used to speed build modular sets, but now I just take my time and complete it in several days.

Parts

There are generous parts given for this excellent set.

Playability

I really like this set. The style of the buildings are just different from the other modular buildings. And with all Creator Expert sets, the playability are just limitless. You or your children will enjoy just playing with this set or when it is incorporated into a city diorama. Even playing this with a couple of other modular building sets along with several City or Creator 3 in 1 sets will take a lot of your time. This is a MUST-HAVE set for modular building collector or any diorama builder!

Value For Money

The price is good since this theme is owned by the LEGO Group and does not need to pay royalties. Try to get it on sale or promo from retailers to make it even more worthwhile!

Special Note

Please note that I write this review based on my own LEGO Blog article which is available from: https://indobrickville.com/main/lego-set-review-10270-bookshop.

I hope this insight from me will be useful for all AFOLs out there!

Fantasy & Literature Review

"Call me Ishmael..." - Moby Brick So, let's begin this with a story... Once upon a time there was a little bookshop in a quaint town in England that was the center of every book lovers dream, where strange things happened and where magic comes to life...you never knew when a gnome was hiden in a nook or fairy flew about in an empty shelf...this is where literature came to life.

This set is $180. a Creator Expert, and a modular. This one is probably (maybe besides the Parisian Restraunt) the most peacefull and relaxing modular that has been made and brings to mind a small, well kept, and clean town in the autumn that is quiet and quaint, just the right place for a bookshop.

So I suppose I will begin with the Bookshop itself. Uniquely, this one has a name that matched with the set vibe "Birch Nooks" in shiny gold words printed onto black 2x4 tiles. The birch tree at the front of the store is absolutely one of the best parts of the set with autumn colored leafs and a neatly designed "pot" that the tree grows in. It even features a little blue bird and it's nest! The color of the bookshop is a sandy brown, with a wonderfully designed roof and intricately detailing on the front of the store.

The inside is a very appealing and cozy environment, where the magic of books can come to life. The first floor is the main store with a few shelves of colorful books and the checkout bar. At the back of the room under the stairs is a door that leads to a yard that is empty. In between the first and second floor is a little loft with a low roof and a tiny low shelf of books by a small stair case that leads to the second floor. This loft is probably where the books for the little kids are.

The second floor is the store owners living room with a detailed grandfather clock, a circular green mat in the middle and a lamp in one corner, hanging over the large black comfy chair that reminds me of the "Lazy-Boy" brand chair in my house. It has to neat little windows over looking the tree and the street out side in the front and a t the back is a glass (clear plastic) door that opens onto a narrow balcony that features a small table and two chairs. Even though the balcony reduces the size of the second and third floor, it gives the shop more character and detail.

Then there are stairs inside that are like the first stairs on the first floor that lead to the third floor, which is partially inside of the roof. It features one main large window with a one person turquoise bed below it. To the left of the bed is a small glass case with a little habitat for the storeowners turquoise comealion. (The storeowners seems to like the turquoise color!) The outside of the third floor is greatly detailed and finishes off the bookshop with a wonderful artistic touch of curved tiles.

Next is the town house which is smaller than the book store. Like the tree in front of the bookstore, on the far end of the build there is a white lamppost in front of the townhouse. There is first the basement which includes a workbench with a sack on it, a cleverly built rat trap with cheese, and a maintainence ladder that nicely fits through the white hatch at the back of the house which leads into the yard. The yard includes a small garden bed that backs up to the house and features a full grown pumpkin and two others that are still growing.

In the yard also are three wooden steps that lead to the raised back door of the house. Inside on the first floor is an awesome looking fireplace. a round table surrounded by two chairs with the latest news of "the greatest Lego hero ever" on the table that apparently has intrigued the elder man that lives in the house. There is a plant pot in the corner of the stairs and the basement door. By the front door is a coat rack with a hat and (a pink!) umbrella. Outside of the front door is a nicely designed curved stairway with black railing that lead down to the sidewalk (the house is raised because of the 3 brick tall basement). Then there is a curved window that protrudes out of the house with the new candle piece being used as thin pillars to fill in the gaps. On the inside there is an orange window sofa with the previously mentioned table and chairs in front of it. Then there are steep stairs that lead to the second floor of the townhouse.

The second floor is smaller but very cozy with a queensized bed and long dresser with a lamp made with a pearl gold minifig head and a vase with a plant. There is a glass (clear plastic) door that opens up onto a back balcony that is wider but shorter than the one on the bookshop. On the roof is a a two-stack chimney with small lattice fence decorating at the front. Below the lattice fences are two protruding windows with nice little gables that again use the candle piece as small pillars. The roof is dark blue and attached at an angle by sturdy hinges with 1x1 curved tiles as shingle derailing. Above the front door is a sign with the house number 107. ( I don't know why lego chose those numbers).

The whole completed build is amazing and is the best or second best modular there has been. The only downside are the repetitive builds within the set such as the two stair casses in the bookshop and the stone detailing as a border on the first and second floors of the second building. It takes forever to build, but really it depends on how much time you have. It took me about six days to build because of little time, but I am sure if you have time you could build it in just a few hours.

So overall it is a great set, with special pieces such as the Moby Brick book print. It really makes you feel like, even though it is a modern themed set, feel like putting your fantasy minifigures in all the nooks and crannies of the bookstore, where fairy tales and magical things come to life. This one of a few sets that lego has recently released that I actually really enjoy! I recommend this set to anyone, even if it takes up all the money you have to spend. A great set that deserves a five star review.

I'm going to give this a five-star review to be read in context of the other reviews here. I love this set, but maybe I'm just easy pleased. My only other modular building is the Parisian Restaurant and another building I wish I had bought was the Brick Bank, and I'll explain why in a moment.

I found the build perfectly fine and it was most interesting creating the steps/stoop and then the bay window of the apartment and finally the rooflines of each building. I love the colour choices of the buildings, their architectural details, the white trim of the apartment and the fact there are actually two buildings that can be separated and moved around. I also love the blue chameleon.

My only real negative is around the tree as being a bit anaemic. Even though it is supposed to be in autumn/fall, it needed a bit more bulk in the branch/leaves department. I also take the point by others that there are few amenities in each building, but then the bed builds are pretty cool and I can live with small amounts of internal living spaces given the exterior aesthetics and scale are just so good.

I mentioned having the Parisian Restaurant and also wishing I had the Brick Bank. I'll also mention now, I will definitely get the new Police Station. I bring these other modular buildings into this review because these builds fit nicely together, with a similar aesthetic to the Bookshop, and I think it is important to know your aesthetic preference. For me the Diner and Corner Garage, while very cool sets, are two examples that do not fit with the Bookshop or Parisian Restaurant in the same way. They have more of a throwback retro look whereas these buildings that I have mentioned have more classical architectural lines.

I'm never going to buy all the modular buildings, and the Brick Bank has probably moved beyond my financial grasp, but having the Bookshop next to the Parisian Restaurant has ignited my interest in building a particular streetscape.

I'll finish this review with a suggestion: Flip the buildings. The tree looks much better in the middle. You then have to move the lamp, but that's easy. I also actually removed the yellow foliage and added equivalent green foliage, and more of it, to create a bulkier tree with the yellow and orange leaf pieces still in place, so it is now more like early autumn and ties in better with the green foliage of the restaurant.

Birch Books is both something we have been asking for for years, another building like Pet Shop, while at the same time seeming a bit underwhelming. Which is perhaps unkind to it. It is a Creator Expert Modular, which means it delivers one of the best most satisfying building experiences Lego offers. It's just the bookstore isn't quite as deep or enjoyable as some of its predecessors. But still a worthwhile set.

Box - It comes in a standard 2020 Creator Expert Box. Dark Blue trim just showing the Building(s) on the front. The rear shows it in sequence with other sets. At least it isn't one of those new Black Boxes for AFOL targeted sets.

Minifigs - The set comes with 5 minifigs. Which honestly feels like one too few. We have the bookstore lady, Who looks like a crazy lady who runs a bookstore and has 12 cats. There is a small boy with a toy airplane, a young'ish reader/suitor for the book lady? And an older couple in the townhome who are probably the kids grandparents. None of the torso's are particularly noteworthy. Except the young boy who has a banana print t-shirt on under his coat. The faces are the newer expressive ones. I'm not sure if any are unique. Possibly the book lady?

Parts - Some really nice stuff used in subdued ways. The Birch Tree build is fantastic. The large quantities of 1xX teal is really useful. If you like 1x1 rounded slopes this set has a ton of them in Light Bl Grey and a smaller number in black and orange.

Builds/Model - The set basically builds up as two 16x32 half modulars. The first being the Birch Books Bookstore. Which is a Medium Orange building with a red roofline. Giving it a nice Euro feel. Most of the build is pretty bog standard, until you get to the roof which has lots of greebly technics used and some interesting part usage. The bookstore itself is 2 levels. Which is fine. It makes for a nice quirky bookstore. But what it is lacking in is books. There are barely any shelves. What shelves there are oddly use mainly the same 3-4 colors to represent all of the books. The second and third floors represent the book lady's apartment. The second floor has an easy chair with a small table and reading light. That's pretty much it. The third floor is her bedroom. Which contains her bed and a lizard tank. College students have more furnishings. No kitchen. No bathroom. There is a small table on the balcony with a mug and 2 chairs. The bookstore is also an odd duck. There are some amazingly complicated and fun builds to it. Especially on the facade. But for some reason the building still feels a bit flat fronted. Like it needed a little bit more texture somewhere.

The Teal Townhouse is a better build, and looks gorgeous from the front but there is substantially less to it. There is a small basement/crawlspace below the main floor. But aside from storing a ladder it's just empty space. The first floor is nice, with a kitchen and dining area. But feels like it is missing some living areas. The second floor is a fairly simple bedroom which is done well. But the entire back half is given over to an outside porch. Which feels like a complete cheat. That rear space should have been inside. A bathroom perhaps? It's not just that it is a porch, but there is NOTHING on it save some small plants. A complete waste of available build space.

Overall Impressions - Mostly positive, although this is the weakest of the currently on shelves Modular offerings. It feels smaller and more compact than the last few buildings. But it doesn't have the amazing density and detail that the Parisian Restaurant offers at a similar size. The outer buildings look gorgeous. But there is barely any detail inside. The bookstore has 2 anaemic shelves of books. The living spaces have far less detail and furnishings then we have come to expect. Not even any details like wall hangings.

Good - The facades are gorgeous with lots of creative use of new pieces. The birch tree looks amazing. No stickers.

Not Quite As Good - The interior scenes feel very incomplete. The Librarian Lady has a small room with a recliner and a clock. Her Bedroom is her bed and a Lizard tank. No kitchen, no toilet or shower, etc. The townhouse isn't much better. To put it in perspective, the teeny tiny Lego Enthusiasts one room apartment at the top of Assembly Square has more living accomodations and feels better equipped. As does Lloyd and Misako's tiny one room in Ninjago City.

Overall - A very good set. Just nothing spectacularly innovative if you have been collecting these. And a bit small in size with fewer details than many will like. It is easy enough to do some minor modifications and upgrades to make it feel more lived in. Some pictures and more books on the walls in the bookstore. A few extra details in the living spaces. A skeleton or two chained up in the basement etc, will vastly improve it.

The bookshop building is great looking, if a little less detailed than other modular buildings. The ground floor interior is very nice but unfortunately the other two floors are just decorated as an apartment.

The other building looks good too, but it's just a house, meaning just 1 of 5 floors is actually a bookshop. The rest is great, just not what I paid for.

Minifigs are fine