Reviews with content warning for Grief - The Library of the Dead

“Doing something when it is hard, because it is the right thing to do, matters more than doing it when it's easy. The world needs light now more than ever.”

I know that I don't read a lot of YA anymore, but I do tend to enjoy a good urban fantasy and there was just something about the blurb of The Library Of The Dead that had me fully intrigued. I was SO excited when my TBR jar thought it was time to finally read it, and I actually expected to end up finding a new favorite... But sadly the complete opposite happened. This had nothing to do with the premise itself, and everything with the writing. I simply clashed horribly with the writing style, and the way the premise was developed was actually rather confusing and vague at times. I strongly disliked all the slang and cursing; instead of feeling natural, the tone was rather forced and I sometimes struggled to understand certain phrases. My dislike for the writing also ment I wasn't really a fan of the main character Ropa, which was where most of the slang appeared. Even my curiosity for the bookish elements, the library and the magic couldn't redeem this story for me, and I confess that I started skimreading long before the halfway mark. I guess it won't come as a surprise that I won't be continuing this series in the future.

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bergha1998's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

Ropa might be one of the most interesting characters and POVs I’ve ever read. Just the way she looks at the world, and that mixture of so smart but so worldly. The lore is given really sporadically and sparingly, which is nice so it doesn’t get weighed down by it but I did end up wanting more. I’m excited to read the rest of the series.

Paranormal Mystery, Little but coming of age

“Doing something when it is hard, because it is the right thing to do, matters more than doing it when it’s easy.”

“Evil doesn’t happen because good men do nothing. It happens because they get sucked in, they participate. There are no neutral observers in this world, Old Albert E. showed us that already. We’re all in the game, whether we like it or not.”

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enbae's review against another edition

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adventurous dark hopeful inspiring mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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mattyb's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

4.5

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pkc's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

This was an absolute whirlwind of a book. Edinburgh provided a fitting backdrop for this mysterious plot and rapid fire magic system. It was fascinating. I enjoyed the trips into Scottish mythology and the dystopia-lite feel. By which I mean, society hadn’t fully broken down, but things were FAR from ideal. I struggled a lot with the language. Everything was clipped and there were phrases in there that I’ve never heard anyone use, but honestly more power to them. Give it a bash, but fair warning, it gets DARK. The allegory of the central plot is heavy. The final showdown setting is frankly hysterical to me.

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