The Secret Chapter

The Secret Chapter (Invisible Library 6)- Genevieve Cogman
Ace
Release Date: January 7, 2020

Rating:
📚📚📚📚

Warning: Some Spoilers Ahead!

Synopsis: A Librarian’s work is never done, and Irene is summoned to the Library. The world where she grew up is in danger of veering deep into chaos, and she needs to obtain a particular book to stop this from happening. Her only choice is to contact a mysterious Fae information-broker and trader of rare objects: Mr. Nemo.

Irene and Kai make their way to Mr. Nemo’s remote Caribbean island and are invited to dinner, which includes unlikely company. Mr. Nemo has an offer for everyone there: he wants them to steal a specific painting from a specific world. But to get their reward, they will have to form a team, including a dragon techie, a Fae thief, a gambler, a driver, and the muscle. Their goal? The Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, in an early twenty-first-century world, where their toughest challenge might be each other.

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A Librarian's main job is to collect unique books from different worlds in order to stabilize those worlds between the forces of chaos and order.  Irene may have accidentally found herself getting more involved with politics lately (The Mortal Word), but when she learns that the world where she went to boarding school is mysteriously tipping into chaos, she's determined to get the manuscript necessary to save it.  The only problem is, the manuscript is currently in the hands of the secretive Fae Mr. Nemo, and in order to get her hands on it, Irene is going to have to do something for him: steal a specific painting from a specific world with the help of Kai, a Fae thief, a Fae gambler, a Fae driver, a Fae thug and a dragon techie.  What could possibly go wrong?

Genevieve Cogman says it herself: at some point, you knew there had to be a heist.  And more than the garden variety 'acquiring' of books that makes up the main work of a Librarian.  Think James Bond meets The Italian Job, Ocean's Eleven, and any other heist movie you can think of, add scheming Fae and a dash of dragon politics and you have The Secret Chapter.  The world in question is under heavy control of CENSOR, a police force whose cameras are everywhere and who will raid a place looking for demons, vampires, or werewolves at the drop of a hat.  This, of course, is less than optimal for a group of thieves who need to steal a gigantic painting from Vienna's most famous museum.  

Irene is her usual excellent self: trying to keep Kai and dragon Indigo from killing each other, trying to keep the unlikely mix of characters organized in order to steal the painting and putting their individual agendas on hold- all with the least violence necessary.  She has a deadline to save a world and is determined to do it.  What's interesting is that despite her doubts of her own morals or ethics, she does actually have them.  Sometimes this is highly inconvenient since it makes her try to get everyone out of a situation alive instead of going for the easy way out, but I found it rather comforting.  She's a more complex and relatable character because of her morals, and because she questions whether she has them.

We get to see a more of Irene's parents in Chapter than we ever have before, and it definitely shows us where Irene gets her practical attitude!  Vale and Lord Silver make almost no appearance, which on the one hand is disappointing because they are always fun, but on the other hand they wouldn't have worked in this book so it was good of Cogman to try not and fit too much in one book.  There is still a relationship between Irene and Kai that I'm not convinced of, but Cogman kept the romance basically  'off-stage', which was great as far as I was concerned.  The new Fae characters will seem like completely familiar examples of their tropes (which is the point) but Cogman intrigues readers with a few hints about Fae nature and what exactly a Fae is that I hope she'll explore in future books.  And we learn a few dragon secrets that have the potential to be highly explosive in the future.  

The Secret Chapter drags a little  sometimes as Cogman sets the scene, but overall this is one of her better in the series.  Between intriguing secrets, expected betrayals, unexpected betrayals, dragon fights, and sharks, it has plenty to enjoy.  For me, the best part of a Genevieve Cogman book is her writing style: full of dry humor, rapier sharp wit, beautiful descriptions, and delightfully detailed world(s) building.  One of Cogman's greatest skills is her ability to create an image in only a few words and letting the reader'a imagination take it from there.  A perfect example? Levitating corgis.    

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review