Reviews

I enjoyed this book for what it was. It didn't stand out or sit with me like some novels do. I plan on continuing the series in hopes that the characters get a little more fleshed out. The twists weren't super shocking and the characters are a little flat. One mild "annoyance" is how Irene is so one minded. "I miss my books" or "I just want to be with my books." I get it, I love books too, but even librarians don't solely think about their books. Or maybe they do, but it was hard to connect with her when she has nothing else. I'm just being picky. I'll give the book a solid meh.

melhara's review against another edition

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3.0

This book had major Parasol Protectorate and Doctor Who vibes except instead of a Tardis that travels across time and space, we have a Library that is able to connect librarians to different alternate worlds with the sole mission of collecting works of fiction from different alternates.

"While all the alternate worlds exist, and while they may have different metaphysical laws, their physical laws are the same. Iron is iron, radium is radium, gunpowder is gunpowder, and if you drop an object, it will fall according to the law of gravity. Scientific discoveries are the same across the alternates, and while they are no doubt important, we don't value them as we do creative work. There may be a hundred brothers Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm in a hundred different worlds, and each time they may have written a different set of fairy tales. That's where our interest lies."

Cue Irene, a Librarian working for the Library, who is tasked with a mission to retrieve a Grimm manuscript from London B-395. There are a few problems though:
1) She must bring along her new mentee (whom she just met), and show him the ropes on his first mission.
2) The world they're traveling to is quarantined due to a high chaos infestation, meaning a high level of magic and disorder, making this a dangerous mission.
3) Bradamant, a rival librarian, also has her eyes set on this mission.
4) It appears that Irene's superiors are intentionally keeping information from her, which could affect the mission.

Nevertheless, Irene and her trainee, Kai, visit the alternate with the hopes of completing the mission and getting out of there as quickly as possible. Thrown into a steampunk, Victorian-era London with

A new world of great detectives, zeppelins, Fae, and dragons. She wasn't going to complain.

And she certainly wasn't going to run away. She had questions to ask and answers to find. She just hoped she lived long enough to enjoy it.

All things considered, I should have loved this book. After all, what kind of reader doesn't like reading about secret libraries and librarians going on fantastical missions to retrieve important books? This book had all the ingredients for a great story but I just felt like worldbuilding, particularly with respect to the library and the magic system, which is based around Language wasn't very well developed (perhaps more answers will be provided as the series progresses), the characters were also under-developed and one-dimensional, the conflict was kind of messy with plenty of holes.

Nevertheless, I think I'll still check out the second book with the hopes that there will be more character development, worldbuilding, and that the plot holes from the first book with be patched up later in the series.

theadorek9's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

emcoffin's review

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adventurous lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.75

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