Hello everyone! Here is my third review of 2018 for the Literary Voyage Around the World Reading challenge. I wasn’t sure which way to categorize this book but I think I will use it for England since the book is set there and the author was born and lives in the U.K.
Title: The Invisible Library
Author: Genevieve Cogman
Copyright: January 15, 2015
Genre: fiction, fantasy
Format: book
Pages: 329
Summary (from Goodreads):
Irene is a professional spy for the mysterious Library, which harvests fiction from different realities. And along with her enigmatic assistant Kai, she’s posted to an alternative London. Their mission – to retrieve a dangerous book. But when they arrive, it’s already been stolen. London’s underground factions seem prepared to fight to the very death to find her book.
Adding to the jeopardy, this world is chaos-infested – the laws of nature bent to allow supernatural creatures and unpredictable magic. Irene’s new assistant is also hiding secrets of his own.
Soon, she’s up to her eyebrows in a heady mix of danger, clues and secret societies. Yet failure is not an option – the nature of reality itself is at stake.
My Thoughts:
One of my friends on Litsy mentioned this series a few weeks back and I vaguely remember hearing the title before. She was excited because a new book was coming out from the series. So I quickly researched it and found out that it was three years old and that there were already 3 additional books (including the latest release). I loved that the main character was a librarian and a spy. But the fact that I have the option to binge read because there are already 4 books out really sold me.
This book about a multidimensional library was such an easy book to jump into. I found myself picking it up at night before bed with ease and carried it to pick up several times. I liked how the fantastical elements didn’t overwhelm the story but helped to draw me in. I found Irene to be a strong female lead but with flaws that made her more real. Kai, her assistant was also very good. The mutual interest of the two characters was lovely to witness but didn’t distract from the story. I like how they built the story of “the library” throughout the story. So you slowly learn more of its purpose and history. I loved references to books throughout the story as well as the nod to Sherlock Holmes and company via the character Vale. He was a lovely character and I enjoyed his wit and charm.
Reading at pick up with of course a snack.
I don’t want to say too much because I think it will spoil the story for readers. I really enjoyed it and if I didn’t have two other books already checked out of the library, I would go check out book two this week but I will read them and definitely return to this lovely series to see what happens next. The beauty of a series is that I feel like I am meeting up with an old friend for tea to catch up. If you aren’t much of a fantasy reader don’t be discouraged. This book is quite lovely and accessible. I will be sure to review the second book when I get my hands on it.
For the above reasons, I would give this book 4 butterflies.
