Reviews with content warning for Blood - The Book That Wouldn't Burn

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The Book That Wouldn't Burn by Mark Lawrence

20 reviews

beckyyreadss's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

I wanted to read this book because I’m always up for discovering new authors, whilst browsing in Waterstones, this book caught my eye due to how pretty the cover was. I’m so glad that I did pick this book mainly for the cover because I fell in love with this book.

All books, no matter their binding, will fall to dust. The stories they carry may last longer. They might outlive the paper, the library, even the language in which they were first written. But the greatest story can reach the stars. The first point of view is Evar, and he has lived his entire life trapped within a vast library, that is older than empires and larger than cities. The second point of view is Livira and she has spent her life in a tiny settlement out on the Dust where no goes and nightmares stalk. The world has never noticed them. That is all about to change.

The way that I personally review a fantasy book is how easy it is to get into the book and how the world building is and if I get so confused that I lose the plot of the story during the book. I didn’t get confused once. I was hooked from page one. Like literally page one. This is one of the books where I wanted to dive headfirst into the book and into this world. Mark Lawrence’s writing in his book is beautiful, it was like one minute I started the book and the next it was over, and I didn’t want it to be. I love the love story between our two MCs, I think it was so adorable and innocent and with the year jumped, you were breaking my heart, and I was rooting for them to be reunited. The story was so unique, and it was so interesting, I just stay in that world forever. But both characters have their own character development and their own story within the book with their own problems and their own family and friends.

The twists and turns had me audible gasping and just wanting more. This book was 560 pages and if it was 1000 pages, I think I would still want more – I did want more, I pre-ordered the second one almost instantly. The ending had me on the edge of my seat and all I wanted was the answers we had been looking for, we thought we found them earlier, but then we didn’t, and it was just back and forth.

It’s one of those books where if I say one thing specific like, even though I loved it, it could spoil the whole thing. But I would recommend this book to anyone especially people who like fantasy and science fiction and books about books.

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xchloe_bxx's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

4.25

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peggyt's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective tense 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

5.0

This book kept me guessing in all the best ways. The characters were nuanced and interesting. The world was mysterious and well-thought-out. Highly recommend!

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pidgepodge's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

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skylarkblue1's review against another edition

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slow-paced

2.0

I'll be honest I don't have much to say because I don't really remember much that happened/I honestly don't really think much happened?

This book was so very long, and so very slow and dry. I thought I was enjoying it still though because, well, I kept reading, but after needing to renew it twice at the library and the finale kinda just being.. nothing big I realised that I just don't really care for this aha..

The characters were ok, the world was quite neat as well. The writing though I think just really didn't mesh well with me. I also have no idea what the title is referring to considering what the ending is lol. I think this book really could have been so much shorter and like nothing would have been lost. We don't need super long books, this is a pretty big issue with a lot of the long books I've read, they just seem really padded and not well edited.

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georgiatheperson's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious reflective

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

5.0

Definitely my favourite book now! I loved it, it's a good book that gets you to stop and just think. Exceptionally written as well! Although I'm not the best person to ask about that. haha

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aed2655's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I enjoyed rereading it just as much as the first time. Although Livira is a bit of a Mary Sue.

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dkamada's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

Time is trippy and so is love

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eviethebookworm's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative mysterious tense slow-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? No

3.5

I have so many thoughts that it’s hard to articulate them all.

But first, let’s discuss what the book is actually about.

The Book That Wouldn’t Burn is about a vast and eternal library. The two protagonists begin in opposite situations – Livira begins having never stepped foot inside the library, while Evar begins having never stepped foot outside of it.

Both their stories intertwine with each other through time and worlds. Everything comes back to the library and the knowledge it holds – and whether it can be truly harnessed before fire ignites.

Livira and Evar are juxtaposed in a way that conveys the extreme nature of the library that is the anchor point for the narrative. Livira is endlessly curious and adaptive. Evar is penned in by his circumstances. They really are like two ends of a spectrum in that one is forced to explore and the other is confined.

Lawrence incorporates several contemporary literary references that tie our own world in the fantastical one he has created. Nods to Alice in Wonderland and Wizard of Oz reinforce the theme of entering a world beyond your own. Although giving The Raven the true name of [spoiler*] is just ridiculous. I immediately fell out of the book.

I did struggle with the pacing a fair bit. The beginning had a good flow but it waned as the pages went by, and it didn’t pick up again until almost three quarters of the way through. This came down to information and detail being repeated unnecessarily. Something mentioned in Chapter 20 doesn’t need to be retold in Chapter 24. It makes for a dense read, which left me wondering if I got my hopes up too soon in the start.

Having said all that, the big reveal was both infuriating and riveting. All the foreshadowing clicked into place! But a lot of the foreshadowing was smothered by the aforementioned density of the bulk of the novel. The last 150 or so pages convinced me that it was worth sticking it out. Which was a relief.

If you enjoy a high fantasy novel that hones in on the concept of knowledge, then go for it! Just know you’re signing up for a hefty boi that can feel cyclic. But it all ties into the theme, really. It’s a great think-piece of a tale – something that will have you pondering the nuggets that the author has woven into each chapter.

Review TL;DR:

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

Strongest elements: Multiple POV narrative, prose, literary referencing.

Content warnings: Fire injury, blood, gun violence, racism, classism, slavery, kidnapping, murder, war, injury detail, genocide, death of a parent, death of a child, grief.

Similar titles/authors: The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown, The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins.

Genre: High fantasy

*Edgarallen

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peregrinwho's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny inspiring mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

The first 20% of this book can seem slow, with Evar's chapters in particular being repetitive, but only because they're setting up a world, characters, and several questions. After that point that feeling falls away as answers start to come, and it's really difficult to put down the book so you can chase more of them.

Everything I thought was set up for a specific pay-off later was indeed paid off. It gave me so much joy to see the story unwinding to those points and being able to scream, "yes! I was right!" as characters solved the mysteries. A satisfying story with a fun journey. I laughed, I cried, I sat staring at the wall contemplating some of the author's words like a nexus point as the world turned around me. Can't wait to follow these characters into the next book💜.

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