Mark Lawrence is an author that gets name dropped a lot in places where I get recommendations. Yet I never seem to find time to pick him up. His newest series features libraries. I love libraries! So I picked up an audiobook copy and gave it a listen.
Read If Looking For: books about books, breaking time and space
Avoid if Looking For: something innovative in the genre
Elevator Pitch:
Livira, once a poor duster orphaned by the encroaching Sapper (dog-people) armies and finds herself an apprenticeship at The Library. Evar is trapped in The Library. Has been his whole life. Their stories and explorations of the library end up uncovering some of it’s secrets. After all, The Library exists in all times and in all worlds, and is bound to have more than a few surprises in store for those who choose to wander its shelves.
What Worked for Me
This book was at its strongest when it was focused on it’s thematic elements. Lawrence does a good job of naturally developing some really wonderful plot beats examining bigotry, collective memory, and how we ostracize folks. These came more heavily near the end for reasons that make sense for reasons I can’t explain in this post, but when it worked, it worked well. He clearly had a vision, and took extensive pains to balance two plotlines to converge in ways that felt satisfying and pushed on thematic beats he wanted.
The last third of the book was definitely the strongest portion. I found myself extremely engaged and actively trying to connect the dots before characters could. There were several moments where Lawrence hit the sweet spot, and I got the satisfaction of solving the puzzle right before the big reveal.
What Didn’t Work for Me
Ultimately, I wished this book were shorter and more focused. Books about Books (and about libraries) can be tricky. At their best, they are some of my favorite types of stories. But I think this book got consumed a bit by its own desires for grand scale, and lost focus in the process. Infinite spaces and magic libraries aren’t particularly novel concepts, nor is the blending of Sci Fi and Fantasy elements. I never really felt like this book was adding anything new to the genre, and the character work wasn’t strong enough to compensate. The payoffs were nice, but perhaps not worth the build up that it took to get there. Will I read the sequel? Perhaps, but its not a priority.
In Conclusion: A book about an infinite library. There were some great twists and reveals, but ultimately doesn’t do much new, and other books fill this space better in my mind.
- Characters – 3
- Worldbuilding – 3
- Craft – 4
- Themes – 4
- Enjoyment – 3
Marked for Plot 