Lost Plot

The Lost Plot (Invisible Library #4)- Genevieve Cogman
Ace/ Penguin Group
Release Date: January 9, 2018

Warning: Possible Spoilers Ahead

Rating:
📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: In a 1920s-esque New York, Prohibition is in force; fedoras, flapper dresses, and tommy guns are in fashion: and intrigue is afoot. Intrepid Librarians Irene and Kai find themselves caught in the middle of a dragon political contest. It seems a young Librarian has become tangled in this conflict, and if they can’t extricate him, there could be serious repercussions for the mysterious Library. And, as the balance of power across mighty factions hangs in the balance, this could even trigger war.

Irene and Kai are locked in a race against time (and dragons) to procure a rare book. They’ll face gangsters, blackmail, and the Library’s own Internal Affairs department. And if it doesn’t end well, it could have dire consequences on Irene’s job. And, incidentally, on her life...

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After the excitement and near-death experiences involved in taking out rogue Librarian Alberich in The Burning Page, Librarian Irene is hoping for a few quiet days reading a good book.  Unfortunately, Irene has a talent for innocently involving herself in major plots- and this time dragons are involved.  The Library's neutrality is being threatened in a power contest between two dragons and Irene and Kai need to contain the damage before the Library, other Librarians, and an entire world are destroyed.

In an interesting change of pace, in Lost Plot Genevieve Cogman leaves her traditional steampunk Victorian-era London for a 1920s New York.  With mobsters, Prohibition, guns and fedoras, it's a world we'd call pretty 'normal'.  Cogman doesn't give us overly detailed descriptions of this world, which works well for maintaining the fast pace of the book but is a shame since it means her fantastic world-building skills aren't particularly used here.  Maybe Irene can go back in a later book so we can enjoy more detailed descriptions of the time period.  Although by the end of Lost Plot, that New York was a little shaken up and might not welcome Irene back.

I enjoyed watching Irene work through this new set of problems and seeing her character grow even more.  She's gaining a Harry Dresden-like talent for balancing between the rules of different magic users while still getting to what she wants in the end.  And I like seeing her continue to grow from a "books only" focus- by the end of Plot she can put into words what she's felt instinctively for awhile: if you're willing to risk everything for a book, shouldn't you be willing to do the same for a person?

While Cogman will probably never be able to top her alligators in The Invisible Library, dragon trained dire wolves get a role here and a nice scene towards the climactic battle at the end.  Plot delves into the world of dragons and dragon politics the way Masked City did for the Fae.  While we are probably never meant to know too much as mere humans, Irene is becoming an expert among Librarians- something that I can readily see getting her further into politics than she'd like in future books.

The necessity to keep the Library and dragons separate naturally means Irene worries about her relationship with Kai.  Are they just as compromised in their neutrality as the Librarian Evariste is accused of being?  Irene doesn't have much time to worry about this until the very end of the book, but it looks like something that will get much more attention in future books.  Kai doesn't get too much 'page time' in Plot (and the scenes he gets solo drag down the overall pace a bit), but you see the relationship between the two changing from student-teacher to something more like equals as Kai grows into his place among dragons.  I do hope that future books won't try to create a romantic relationship between the two because I haven't felt a single spark of convincing chemistry between Irene and Kai in the whole series.  Trying it now would feel very contrived to me and I think having them as only friends/colleagues would make them both stronger.

While each book in the series is pretty stand alone and new readers don't need to have read the rest of the series to enjoy Lost Plot, they will get more out of some of the background, characters, and conflicts if they do.  The Lost Plot lives up to the high standards Genevieve Cogman set for herself in The Invisible Library.  Fast-paced and full of twists and turns, it is a fun continuation of the adventures of Irene and the Library.

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

Burning Page

Burning Page (The Invisible Library #3)- Genevieve Cogman
Roc
Release Date: January 10, 2017

Rating (out of 5):
📚📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: Due to her involvement in an unfortunate set of mishaps between the dragons and the Fae, Librarian spy Irene is stuck on probation, doing what should be simple fetch-and-retrieve projects for the mysterious Library. But trouble has a tendency to find both Irene and her apprentice, Kai—a dragon prince—and, before they know it, they are entangled in more danger than they can handle...
 
Irene’s longtime nemesis, Alberich, has once again been making waves across multiple worlds, and, this time, his goals are much larger than obtaining a single book or wreaking vengeance upon a single Librarian. He aims to destroy the entire Library—and make sure Irene goes down with it.
 
With so much at stake, Irene will need every tool at her disposal to stay alive. But even as she draws her allies close around her, the greatest danger might be lurking from somewhere close—someone she never expected to betray her...

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The Burning Page is the exciting third book in The Invisible Library series.  It manages to pick up where The Masked City left off while still allowing new-comers to enjoy without feeling like they need to read the series in order (although I highly recommend it because they are all great books). 

In Burning Page, Librarian Irene and her dragon apprentice Kai have been dealing with business as usual: jumping to different worlds, stealing important books, and bringing them safely to the Library while trying to avoid people who want to kill them.  After one gate between worlds catches fire when Irene tries to open it, they get concerned- are they not being told detail that would make the jobs more deadly or is there a problem with the Library?  Turns out the problem is with the Library.  The traitorous former Librarian Alberich (who Irene first met in The Invisible Library) wants to destroy the Library and everyone with it- including a rather personal grudge against Irene.  She'll need all her allies- both human, dragon, and Fae- to help save the Library before it can be destroyed!

While I found The Masked City  a little darker and slower than The Invisible Library, The Burning Page has the same feel as Library: fast-paced, fun, dangerous and light all at the same time.  Irene's wit and I'll-panic-later approach to danger are a joy to read and I have enjoyed watching Irene grow as both a Librarian and a person- and as she has discovered the difference between the two.  She may think she's only happy among books, but in Page Irene discovers she's become devoted to people even above books.  Friendships have become more important and betrayals more personal.  She's willing to do whatever she can to help her friend Vale after he's chaos-contaminated, but still leave the final decision up to him instead of assuming she knows best.  She's willing to look at all sides of the problem and her potential allies, while Kai still refuses to see the possible good in any Fae (although considering what he's been through in Masked City it's hard to blame him).  Irene is that perfect heroine who is both relatable and who we wish we were, strong but entirely human and fallible, and able to keep her snark about her while in the most death-defying of situations. 

Cogman's world-building continues to gain layers even after you thought she'd given you everything. Her descriptions and details make the characters and the places spring to life for the reader.  I couldn't read the final battle between Irene and Alberich fast enough to find out what would happen next, and I know when I re-read the book (and the series) I'll continue to discover nuances and angles I had missed before. There are plenty more worlds to discover and questions to answer so I hope the series continues, but if it remains a trilogy there is a satisfying ending that won't leave you hanging.

Readers who enjoy Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next and Deborah Harkness' All Souls' books will be thrilled to discover a new brilliant author in Genevieve Cogman and her worlds of the Invisible Library.

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

Masked City

The Masked City (The Invisible Library Series, #2) - Genevieve Cogman
Roc
Release Date: September 6, 2016

Warning: Potential Spoilers!

Rating (Out of 5):
📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: Working in an alternate version of Victorian London, Librarian-spy Irene has settled into a routine, collecting important fiction for the mysterious Library and blending in nicely with the local culture. But when her apprentice, Kai—a dragon of royal descent—is kidnapped by the Fae, her carefully crafted undercover operation begins to crumble.
Kai’s abduction could incite a conflict between the forces of chaos and order that would devastate all worlds and all dimensions. To keep humanity from getting caught in the crossfire, Irene will have to team up with a local Fae leader to travel deep into a version of Venice filled with dark magic, strange coincidences, and a perpetual celebration of Carnival—and save her friend before he becomes the first casualty of a catastrophic war.
But navigating the tumultuous landscape of Fae politics will take more than Irene’s book-smarts and fast-talking—to ward off Armageddon, she might have to sacrifice everything she holds dear....
               __________________________________________________________________________
The Masked City continues the story begun in The Invisible Library about the mysterious Library and the multiple worlds where it collects books.  Irene and her assistant/trainee Kai have established themselves in an alternate Victorian London and just when Irene is sure things have settled down- they get interesting again.  Kai is abducted, and chances are good its about more than their latest book acquisition.  Irene and Vale (this world's Sherlock Holmes) have to face magic, mystery, and chaos to try and get him back and head off a war.  Caught between the dragons on one side and the Fae on the other, Irene has to decide how far she is willing to go, and how much she is willing to give up, to balance the Library's neutrality with a very personal situation.

Readers who start with this book instead of The Invisible Library will be able to catch up on main characters and basic world building pretty quickly.  The Masked City pitches Irene, Vale, and Kai straight into danger and never really lets them catch their breath as they travel to a high-chaos realm of old Venice constantly in Carnival season.  It's a world poisonous to dragons and closed off from the Library.  Along with Irene we meet several dragons and learn more about the Fae.  Not only does Lord Silver play a slightly larger role here, but new Fae- both enemies and potential allies- are introduced.  Because this Venice is so high-chaos, the power of stories plays a large role in the adventure.  The trick is hoping the story works in your favor: making you the hero, having someone helpful appear just when needed, etc.  Irene needs to not only figure out Fae politics and alliances but also how to manipulate the story to work in her favor.

The Masked City is a fast-paced, witty, clever adventure.  I didn't find it quite as absorbing as The Invisible Library but I enjoyed delving more into Cogman's world(s).  This Venice was a perfect version of everyone's image of Old Venice.  The Fae were a lot of fun, and it was nice seeing a few become allies (at least temporarily). Irene continues to be wonderful- practical, clever, and great in a crisis.  She may not think of herself as a heroine but I certainly do!

Although there were sadly no remote controlled alligators- or their Venice equivalent- in The Masked City, it was still a great continuation of the series.  Readers be warned, while it doesn't end on a cliff-hanger, The Masked City will definitely leave you desperately waiting for the next book!  


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

Beauty & the Clockwork Beast

Beauty and the Clockwork Beast- Nancy Campbell Allen
Shadow Mountain Publishing
Release Date: August 2, 2016

Rating (out of 5):
📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: Just like in the classic"Beauty and the Beast", this Steampunk Romance features an unlikely love story.  The Lord of Blackwell Manor, Miles, is plagued by a family curse that changes him into a shape-shifting wolf every month. Lucy-a smart, attractive, and well-respected botanist-travels to Blackwell Manor to take care of her sick cousin, Kate, who is married to Miles's younger brother. For Lucy, the trip is a welcomed respite from her work and recent discovery-a breakthrough serum that could eliminate the scourge of vampires from London. 
However, Lucy finds more than she bargained for when she arrives at the Manor. Miles, who is brash and inhospitable, does not take kindly to visitors. He is still unsettled by the mysterious death of his newlywed wife. And then there's Marie, Miles's sister, who was attacked and murdered just weeks earlier. Miles is horrified to think that he might be to blame for the deaths. And who is the ghost that haunt the halls? Lucy is convinced that the death of Miles's wife and sister-as well as her cousin's mysterious illness-are tied together, but how? With no other option, Miles and Lucy must work together if they are to find the answer to the mysteries at the Manor. But that's not all Lucy wants to solve. There's a deeper mystery behind Miles. Can she solve that, too? Ultimately, she must decide if she can love the man, beast and all. 

Stories based on the fairy tale "Beauty and the Beast" are among my favorites.  This one included not only elements of the fairy tale but then moved it to a Steampunk era England where dirigibles fly the skies, vampires are an accepted (and feared) part of life, and a political committee in London works to eradicate all predatory shape shifters.  The heroine of Clockwork, Lucy, is a successful botanist working to discover a way to fight vampires.  She takes a vacation to visit her cousin Kate, newly married and not entirely comfortable in her new home.  Reaching Blackwell Manor Lucy discovers that her normally healthy cousin is not only suffering the same mysterious illness that claimed her brother-in-law's first wife Clara, but a ghost is haunting the house.  And that's before she meets the master of the house, the surly and reclusive Lord Blackwell.

Lucy is a great heroine- strong and confident of her ability to fix any problem she encounters.  She moves easily between the world of the Ton, able to execute a successful ball for hundreds in less than 24 hours, and the world of science as a botanist who travels on secret research missions to discover antidotes to vampiric attacks.  Although she knows she is not a 'conventional' lady, she is proud of her abilities and refuses to pretend to be less than she knows she is.  Lord Blackwell, Miles, is the Beast of the story- both in personality and physically.  Curt, surly, with no regard for social conventions, Miles has served is the army in India, comes from a family of strong personalities and has a secret known only to two of his friends- and one blackmailer.  Miles has inherited the family curse and turns onto a werewolf during the full moon.  He may not know why his wife died but he's convinced that he murdered his sister while in wolf form.  Over 6 months after her death, Marie is still haunting Blackwell Manor, determined to communicate- or to revenge herself.

Clockwork is a great blend of mystery and romance, fairy tale and Steampunk.  The characters, including the murdered Marie, are three dimensional, and layered with complex motives, secrets, and desires.  The world they live in is a well written mix of Regency and Steampunk.  The reader is brought into it as if entering a familiar world with no awkward explanations of the technology to jolt us out of the story.  Part of me wished for more explanations of some things, like the telescribes or the vampires, but I enjoyed imagining some of the technology and seeing others revealed in small increments.  The unique was treated as if it was ordinary (which of course it was for the characters) and Allen remained "in character" instead of succumbing to the temptation of long explanations or histories of what the reader didn't know.  Instead, she allows them to discover the world as they go.

The mysteries of the blackmailer, Kate's illness, and the deaths of Clara and Marie were well done- nothing is kept back from us as readers, we learn what Lucy and Miles learn and can make our own guesses until the revelations at the end.   

  

Although it has a slightly slow beginning, Beauty and the Clockwork Beast picks up quickly and becomes a fast paced mystery, a complex romance, and an absolutely wonderful story.  Fans of Meljean Brooks, readers new to the genre or Steampunk devotees, will enjoy this and end the book begins for more.

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

Ink and Bone

Ink and Bone (The Great Library #1)- Rachel Caine
Penguin Group Berkely, NAL
Release Date: July 7, 2016

Rating (out of 5):
📚📚📚

Synopsis: Ruthless and supremely powerful, the Great Library is now a presence in every major city, governing the flow of knowledge to the masses. Alchemy allows the Library to deliver the content of the greatest works of history instantly—but the personal ownership of books is expressly forbidden. 
Jess Brightwell believes in the value of the Library, but the majority of his knowledge comes from illegal books obtained by his family. Jess has been sent to be his family’s spy, but his loyalties are tested in the final months of his training to enter the Library’s service. 
When his friend inadvertently commits heresy by creating a device that could change the world, Jess discovers that those who control the Great Library believe knowledge is more valuable than any human life—and soon both heretics and books will burn.…

Warning: Potential Spoilers

Inevitably, Ink and Bone will be compared to Harry Potter, perhaps Hunger Games, and it's an apt comparison in many ways.  It's world is an alternate world with what we would call steampunk elements like automata figures, where alchemy is real and the great Library of Alexandria survived and flourished, and now controls all access to books and knowledge.  It's a world where we want to imagine the Library as a wonderful place but absolute power corrupts absolutely and those who run the Library are now corrupted and fanatical enough to go to any means to remain in control.

Jess Brightwell is the main character, a young man who has no interest in taking over his father's book smuggling business.  His father helps him get a place in the Library with the idea that he'll become the family spy, and Jess believes he'll be spending all his time surrounded by rare and precious books.  But it's hard work becoming a Librarian and Jess and his classmates are thrown into the deep end from Day One.  Their instructor, Scholar Wolfe, reminded me of Harry Potter's Snape (not a bad thing!). The students fill the rather stereotypical roles: smartest girl, best friend, love interest.  Most of the characters never become more than two dimensional, although the ones who rise above the rest, like Wolfe and Santi, are well worth waiting for them to develop.  The story picks up the pace and comes into its own when the students are sent to war torn Oxford to retrieve a cache of rare books before the city is destroyed.  The descriptions of the war zone and the devastation of Oxford are brilliantly done, and the story becomes more engaging and edge-of-your-seat as you wait to see what will happen next.  

I enjoyed Caine's descriptions of this alternate world- a place where it is illegal to own actual books, where there is no such thing as a printed book. The worlds of London and Alexandria are beautifully written and it was interesting to see the imagined changes in history that would have occurred because of the Library.  As flat as most of the characters felt for much of the book, I still found myself drawn to them, waiting to discover what would happen to them next, who's secret would be unearthed, and how that would effect the others.  It was touching to watch a group of very different students come together to form a close knit bond by the end.  

I had very mixed feelings about this book- sometimes I really enjoyed it, sometimes not. I hadn't thought I liked many of the characters, but then the emotional last few chapters made it clear that I was far more attached than I expected.  When I would get frustrated that the story wasn't exploring the Library in depth something would happen to show me how wrong I was.  There is depth and darkness that in many places sneaks up on the reader and it was only on thinking about the book for this review that I realized some of it.  Probably that means the longer I think about it, the more I'll find that I liked this book.  Definitely the sign of a well written beginning to a series!

The world of the Great Library is gritty, dark and full of secrets.  The question is always who can you trust, are first impressions the right ones, and how can secrets be kept from the all-seeing Library.  The ending is both heart-breaking and hopeful, and makes you wish the next book was published so you could get back to the characters and make sure they will succeed in their accidental mission- bringing down the Great Library and changing the world.

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

Invisible Library- Genevieve Cogman

The Invisible Library- Genevieve Cogman
Roc Press (Penguin Random House)
Release Date: June 14, 2016

Synopsis: Irene is a professional spy for the mysterious Library, a shadowy organization that collects important works of fiction from all of the different realities. Most recently, she and her enigmatic assistant Kai have been sent to an alternative London. Their mission: Retrieve a particularly dangerous book. The problem: By the time they arrive, it's already been stolen.  London's underground factions are prepared to fight to the death to find the tome before Irene and Kai do, a problem compounded by the fact that this world is chaos-infested—the laws of nature bent to allow supernatural creatures and unpredictable magic to run rampant. To make matters worse, Kai is hiding something—secrets that could be just as volatile as the chaos-filled world itself. Now Irene is caught in a puzzling web of deadly danger, conflicting clues, and sinister secret societies. And failure is not an option—because it isn’t just Irene’s reputation at stake, it’s the nature of reality itself...

The Invisible Library is a mix of mystery, magic, science, humor, and books. An incredibly rich world of alternate universes and the Librarians who gather important works of fiction from all of them.

The main character, Irene, is a wonderfully complex character- a true bibliophile who wants nothing more than to protect books and read them.  Clever and quick-witted, she returns from one mission only to be sent out instantly on another- this time with an apprentice.  Things go from complicated to seriously complicated in the alternate world they've landed in when murder, book thieves, Fae, rogue Librarians, werewolves, centipedes, and alligators become involved.  This alternate reality is a delightful blend of steampunk and fantasy, vampires and zeppelins, science and magic. Irene is sure there's more to this story than what she's been told, but she'll have to stay alive before she can worry about what she isn't being told!  Her apprentice, Kai, is hiding some big secrets of his own, a competing Librarian keeps getting in the way, and their only ally is this world's version of Sherlock Holmes, who may have his own agenda.

This was a brilliant debut novel by Genevieve Cogman.  The worlds are detailed, all her characters are rich and three-dimensional, the plots and intrigues keep you guessing without overly complicating the storyline, and the humor is snarky and dry.  I couldn't bear to put this book down once I'd started, but as much as I wanted to reach the end to see how everything was solved I didn't want to reach the end and have to leave the world of the mysterious Invisible Library.  Fortunately, there are at least two more books scheduled for release, and I hope this series lasts for many more books to come.

Fans of Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series, Deborah Harkness' Discovery of Witches trilogy, TNT's The Librarians tv series, and book lovers in general will fall in love with the world of The Invisible Library.

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