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

Reviews tagging 'Classism'

The Book That Wouldn't Burn by Mark Lawrence

22 reviews

angorarabbit's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

Context: So I read my Libby books on the Kindle app and now I want to get all the silly achievements. Without giving Amazon any money.This was one of the five books on my GoodReads want to read list that was eligible for the Series Pioneer achievement and I only had to wait one day for my hold. So there you have it. Three of the other books still have holds, the fourth is not available at my libraries.

Clark Tech: The existence, maintenance and power supplies of the mechanism, assistants, and portals.These things have been running for thousands to tens of thousands of years. No explanation as to how the portals transport living beings instantaneously through time and space to where they need or want to be.I’m not certain, but I think a time travel rule was broken in the last chapters,

In many ways this reads like a YA book.We first meet the main character when she is 10. In the first third of the book we spend most of our time with children. The adults do not have much character development. The children as they age do not seem to change much except to mildly flirt. The protagonist has a “chosen one” vibe and also “she is not like other girls”. Boys pretty much exist to help her with her explorations. Serious rule breaking is follow.jAlso I didn’t learn one new word.

I really had high hopes for this book. I loved the ideas regarding the library, mechanism, and assistants., Although I’m always hesitant with time travel, the author does handle the time travel part better than many (time turners I’m thinking of you).It’s just that somehow the execution didn’t work for me. The writing was fine and for the most part the action taking place was clear. I was confused as to some characters motivations. The book was 3 stars going towards 4 until I got to the last 10 chapters (there are 70 chapters) then it starting slipping to 2 stars. It felt as if they were just the set up for book 2.

I also twigged two major plot twists in the first 10-20 chapters. I hate it when that happens.

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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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bookish_itineraries's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging mysterious tense fast-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

One of the best books I have ever read.

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yilliun's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

Wholly original and unlike anything I had ever read before. Some of the early sections dragged and I struggled to get through those world building pieces. The last 200 pages flew by though, so that made up for it.

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theaceofpages's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.5

"To discover that you can read in a language you never knew existed is a surprise. To be instructed to stop reading, in person, in that language, on the first page of a book, is perhaps an even greater one."

A library seems like a great place to hunker down with all that's going on in the outside world. Especially one this large and magical.

I mean, it's so large that somewhere is apparently always burning and most aren't even aware!

It was my favourite part of the book and I would absolutely love to be able to explore it and all its secrets. I loved Livira but found myself not quite as interested in Evar (which surprised me because I usually love libraryish characters). The book started off strong but I found myself losing some interest towards the end before things picked up for the ending (well, not really the ending ending since there will be a sequel)

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sophielillybeth's review against another edition

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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? No

4.25

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ashley_mrose530's review

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

It's taking me some time to figure out what I'm going to say about this book tbh.
I want to start off by saying that I did have fun with this book. The second half was actually pretty crazy with all the twists and revelations we get. It was so fun to watch those play out and be surprised by them.
That being said, I didn't get as immersed in this book as I wanted to. The beginning was really slow for me and though I think it was more or less necessary so we could understand the characters and the world, it did still drag for me.
And I'm not sure if it's because of that or something else, but I didn't really care for the characters as much as I wanted to either. I didn't connect with them like I should and that probably has more to do with the writing style. I don't think there was very much emotions from the characters as there could have been. We needed more moments where we slowed down with them and actually got their feelings about the events that were happening. There were so many moments where something big would happen to Livira -

like when she was promoted to librarian and then people were trying to kill her

- and then it would just jump to a few years down the road and we didn't get any sense of her reactions and emotions at that moment. Those would have been perfect times to give us something about her and help us connect to her, but we didn't get that which left me feeling very distant from them. I know the timeline needed to jump around a little bit to give us a sense of that happening in their lives and to keep the plot moving forward, but helping the reader feel connected to the characters is just as important in my opinion and I think it should have been focused on a little bit more here.
I do want to read the next one to see what happens and I hope that helps me not feel as distant from the characters, but we'll see.

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matcha_pages's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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

I dove head first into this book and was mesmerized by the story, the world, and the evocative descriptions. I love a slow burn, layered approach to building character relationships. And that's exactly what we get with Livira, Evar, and their respective friends and family. We follow them across time as they uncover the mysterious of the Library and what that knowledge yields. The themes of history repeats itself and how knowledge can be wielded as a tool really drive the plot. The world building was spectacular and magical, I felt like I was part of the world.

There were a few nods to pop-culture or our history ("we're not in kansas anymore" or the Raven's name) that pulled me out of the book, but didn't impede my enjoyment. However, some parts did get repetitive and not in a meaningful way. I don't think it's a stylistic choice because it's mostly world building elements or past events that get rephrased every so often.

I can't wait for the next book in April 2024!

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onthesamepage's review against another edition

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dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

ARC provided by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book did not need to be 570+ pages long.

I've read from Mark Lawrence before, specifically Red Sister, and that's a series I fully intend to continue. I remember really enjoying his writing and the way the story developed, and went into this expecting to have a great time.

Sadly, I did not.

There is so much repetition in this book. I was willing to give the author the benefit of the doubt initially, hoping that, at some point, the repetition would be shown to have some mysterious purpose that I just couldn't grasp yet. But it serves none. Here's one example:

The days following the destruction of an Escape were the ones when another Escape was most likely to free itself from the Mechanism. The Soldier would stand guard.

One flip of the page later, this is followed by:

The destruction of one Escape often presaged the appearance of another, and this was the place they’d appear.

This is just one example, but it happened a lot. There are also multiple instances where we flash back to an earlier time just so we can see the exact details of how the characters came to be where they are, instead of just moving the story along. All this made the reading experience more tedious than it should have been. Because underneath all the repetition and needless meandering, there's a solid plot and a compelling mystery.

I always make it a point to mention both positive and negative things about a book in my 3 star reviews, but for the life of me I could barely think of anything positive to say aside from, "his writing is nice", and "the two main characters were interesting and I loved following Livira". And that says something when a book is this long, and the start of a series to boot. The thing is, I don't know if there's enough mystery or plot left for an entire trilogy. Sure, not everything gets explained to us, but by the end I felt like I had a solid grasp on how this world works and how things tie together, even though not everything is spelled out. One of the big themes is how history repeats itself. The story jumps around a couple of timelines, which means I already got a glimpse of the past. Sure, it doesn't fully explain how Evar came to be, but the seeds are there, and I don't know if I'm interested enough to read another 1000+ pages to finish the series. I'm not saying I know for sure that I'm right about everything in this world—I'm sure the author will add new elements that I haven't thought of yet. But as of the end of this book, I just don't see enough potential in the plot for an entire trilogy.

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