Oh my goodness! What a unique read. How am I ever going to review this little oddity? I shall try my hardest!
What it’s about: Okay, so there is library that holds all the secrets of the universe, run by a god. This god, known as Father has twelve apprentices (librarians), who each study a particular catalog (War, Death, Language, Medicine, etc.) and must master it. Their studies aren’t easy, and Father is, for lack of a better term, an absolute sadistic asshole. When he goes missing and the librarians are locked out of the library, they must all try to solve the mystery of their missing god before his enemies decided to move in and take over.
“For all intents and purposes, the power of the Library is infinite. Tonight we’re going to settle who inherits control of reality.”
What I thought: Honestly, it’s pretty damn brilliant. It is extremely dark and absolutely one of the oddest books I’ve ever read, but it is just damn good. It kept me up past 2 am several nights this week because I just didn’t want to put it down.
The protagonist, Carolyn, the librarian studying language is a rather strange protagonist, and also she is not particularly likeable, her story is compelling, and she is very entertaining to follow. Her story is quite harrowing, and some people may find the violence in this book unsettling. It did have some hilarious chapter titles though (I LOVE hilarious chapter titles.)
My biggest issue with this book was that I felt there wasn’t enough exploring of the world and particularly the other librarians and catalogs, as this book only focuses on about four of them. A couple others are mentioned (two which seemed exactly the same to me) and I just wanted to at least know what all the catalogs were. So I did want a bit more world building in this book. A bit more character exploration as well. I just wanted more in general I think. I could read a whole series set in this world as it’s just so unique and intriguing.
Although I can’t really put a finger on why, I think this book would really appeal to fans of Lev Grossman’s The Magicians.
I really enjoyed this book so much, and I would recommend it to anyone who loves dark fantasy. I loved it so much that I just went and bought myself a hardcover as a birthday gift to myself. There are also lions! and a tiger!
I rate it 5/5 stars
Thank you to Blogging for Books for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Find it here:
Goodreads. Amazon. The Book Depository. Kobo.
Finally, someone else has read this book!! I agree that this book is absolutely brilliant, and I really wish it was part of a series. However, there aren’t many of my friends that I would recommend it to because I know many people wouldn’t like it. I like books that make my brain smoke and actually blow my mind, but for many people this book would involve to much thinking. To me, books like this keep my brain challenged and make me a more rounded person. Does that make sense? It’s just so hard to put into words how this book affected me. It’s one of those stories where I finished and thought to myself that I wasn’t quite sure I understood everything that happened, but it made me contemplate so many things. Ok, I’m rambling, I know, but I am so impressed by this author, and I can’t wait to see what else he does.
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ah ha! I knew there had to be someone else on the planet who read this book! I agree that many people wouldn’t like it as some people just aren’t big on ‘weird fiction’. But weird fiction is definitely my bag.
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So, I guess what we’re saying is that we both have twisted minds right? LOL!! I’m ok with that :).
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i have been told i have a twisted mind more than once…
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Me too, and I’m proud of it :).
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OMggggg I want this book so much. YAY FOR LIBRARIES. I’m not entirely sure it’ll be my thing, but I don’t mind darker books and I do so love libraries (obviously XD) So ‘scuse me but I need run to goodreads and add it.
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I loved it. It is definitely adult fiction, not YA (I know you vastly prefer YA, but will occasionally go adulting.) It’s so good though. But weird.
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This sounds really interesting, and is probably the most detail I’ve seen about it. That chapter title is great, but somewhat surprising for someone who studies language! I’m going to have to add this!
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do add it. It’s great. and did I mention the lions?
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I wholeheartedly agree about the need for MORE! Definitely hope there will be future books set in this world. I have not been able to stop thinking about this book, so I went and made a fanmix:
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OOh nice playlist.
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So happy to find someone else who has read this. Definitely a bit on the gory side for me but it was just so original and weird that I loved it 🙂
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