A review by dryhop
The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman
4.0
This book was fun. There was a decent amount of intrigue and complicated world building. It played on well worn tropes without just parading them out as new and innovative when they clearly aren't. I enjoyed this book.
I will say one thing; this book seemed to have a wee bit of an identity crisis. It wanted to be a mystery, I think, and it had intrigue moments and thriller moments and character exploration moments and what I am going to call a Dieselpunk motif. The problem isn't that it had all of these. The problem was that it wasn't quite sure which one was paramount. I would have to say that the mystery was king, but a great deal of the book was spent on the various relationships of the characters. Which is good, but it made the thriller/intrigue moments seem not clunky but odd that everyone was just suddenly cool with each other. For a minute.
I also would say that this book does one thing I am not a big fan of in first books. It doesn't end satisfactorily for me assuming that the mystery was the primary focus. Sure, there is a sort-of ending to the mystery of the Grimm book. But I do mean sort-of. And so many more questions are asked that are not answered. Personally, I want to see a first book wrap up in a convincing and satisfactory manner. It can leave questions unanswered (and should). But not primary questions. I want to see a complete story before I am willing to invest in a trilogy or whatever. I feel cheated when a first book introduces a bunch of characters and conflicts and questions and then says, "Stay tuned for book two!"
Overall, though, I did like this book. The character relationships are interesting even if I can't decipher some of them. The politics of the Library are baffling and seem complex. The main character, Irene, and her battle between her humanity and her duty is intriguing. The setting is interesting and I think that the magic system, at least the Language, is well constructed and thought out. So while I am not a fan of cliffhanger endings, I am hooked enough to look for book two.
I will say one thing; this book seemed to have a wee bit of an identity crisis. It wanted to be a mystery, I think, and it had intrigue moments and thriller moments and character exploration moments and what I am going to call a Dieselpunk motif. The problem isn't that it had all of these. The problem was that it wasn't quite sure which one was paramount. I would have to say that the mystery was king, but a great deal of the book was spent on the various relationships of the characters. Which is good, but it made the thriller/intrigue moments seem not clunky but odd that everyone was just suddenly cool with each other. For a minute.
I also would say that this book does one thing I am not a big fan of in first books. It doesn't end satisfactorily for me assuming that the mystery was the primary focus. Sure, there is a sort-of ending to the mystery of the Grimm book. But I do mean sort-of. And so many more questions are asked that are not answered. Personally, I want to see a first book wrap up in a convincing and satisfactory manner. It can leave questions unanswered (and should). But not primary questions. I want to see a complete story before I am willing to invest in a trilogy or whatever. I feel cheated when a first book introduces a bunch of characters and conflicts and questions and then says, "Stay tuned for book two!"
Overall, though, I did like this book. The character relationships are interesting even if I can't decipher some of them. The politics of the Library are baffling and seem complex. The main character, Irene, and her battle between her humanity and her duty is intriguing. The setting is interesting and I think that the magic system, at least the Language, is well constructed and thought out. So while I am not a fan of cliffhanger endings, I am hooked enough to look for book two.