Mortal Word

The Mortal Word (Invisible Library Series 5)- Genevieve Cogman
Ace/Penguin Group
Release Date: November 27, 2018

Rating:
📚📚📚📚

Warning: Spoilers Ahead!

Synopsis: When Irene returns to London after a relatively straightforward book theft in Germany, Bradamant informs her that there is a top secret dragon-Fae peace conference in progress that the Library is mediating, and that the second-in-command dragon has been stabbed to death. Tasked with solving the case, Vale and Irene immediately go to 1890s Paris to start their investigation.

Once they arrive, they find evidence suggesting that the murder victim might have uncovered proof of treachery by one or more Librarians. But to ensure the peace of the conference, some Librarians are being held as hostages in the dragon and Fae courts. To save the captives, including her parents, Irene must get to the bottom of this murder--but was it a dragon, a Fae, or even a Librarian who committed the crime?

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In The Mortal Word Irene must once again step out of her role as a simple book thief and prevent war between the Fae and the dragons.  The Library is attempting to get both sides to sign a peace treaty and one of the dragon envoys gets murdered.  Irene and Vale are brought in to solve the murder- as long as they come up with the "right" answer.  The simplest villain (and the one everyone wants to be guilty) is the notorious Blood Countess- a powerful Fae who has taken on the story of Elizabeth Bathory.  But Irene wants to get more than the convenient answer, she wants the truth.  Even if the truth leads her to question the loyalty of some of her fellow Librarians.

Irene has become much more than "just" a book stealing librarian since we've met her.  She's tangled with both dragons and Fae and come out alive, she's fought the worst politics has thrown at her and come out sane.  Readers to the series know what it seems none of Irene's superiors at the Library know: she might do anything to protect the Library and her friends, but she is also increasingly willing to question authority when she sees something wrong.  In Mortal World she's backed up by Vale, one world's equivalent of Sherlock Holmes, who cuts through politics and authority to reach the truth and sorts out what to tell people later.  It's not an approach the dragon king Ao Ji or the Fae treaty leader the Cardinal really like, which leads to plenty of subtle (and not so subtle) threats against Irene's family, friends, and personal and mental well being. But Irene is quick thinking, willing to walk into a trap to get information, and always thinking outside the box.  I love these characteristics about her (along with her professionally awesome levels of sarcasm and snark in the face of extreme situations of all kinds).  

Mortal Word gives us more of Vale than we've seen in many of the other books, which I enjoyed. He's not a Sherlock-clone, but is becoming more his own person and I hope we get to see him develop more in future books.  He and Irene work well together and I think brought out a level of humanity in each other that did a good job balancing against the powerful beings they were investigating, as well as reminding each other that ultimately it is the mortal worlds who would suffer in the peace treaty fails.

I was disappointed that Cogman followed up on one idea she left dangling in The Lost Plot.  That of Irene and Kai becoming lovers.  The idea didn't work for me then, and didn't work for me here.  The two worked well as mentor-student, and now that Kai isn't part of the Library the idea of them becoming more equal as partners (along with Vale) worked for me.  But (in my personal opinion) there is absolutely no chemistry between the two and no good reason to force something that isn't there.  Irene doesn't need a romantic interest, she needs someone she knows she can trust when she finds herself questioning everyone else around her.

Overall a well-written and fast-paced book, possibly second to The Invisible Library as my favorite in the series.  The enemies are sneaky, the mystery is twisty, and while the cats can't top Library's alligators, they get points for creepiness.  By the end Cogman has opened interesting possibilities for future books and characters.  Hopefully in the future we will continue to see more of Vale, drop the Irene/Kai 'ship, and continue to enjoy the overall awesomeness that is the Invisible Library. While you don't need to have read the rest of this series to enjoy Word, there are enough recurring characters that I think you'd enjoy it more if you read at least The Lost Plot beforehand.

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

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

Archangel's Light

 

Archangel's Light (Guild Hunter #14)- Nalini Singh 

Berkley Publishing

Release Date: October 26, 2021

Rating: 📚📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: Illium and Aodhan.  Aodhan and Illium. For centuries they’ve been inseparable: the best of friends, closer than brothers, companions of the heart. But that was before—before darkness befell Aodhan and shattered him, body, mind, and soul. Now, at long last, Aodhan is healing, but his new-found strength and independence may come at a devastating cost—his relationship with Illium.

As they serve side by side in China, a territory yet marked by the evil of its former archangel, the secret it holds nightmarish beyond imagining, things come to an explosive decision point. Illium and Aodhan must either walk away from the relationship that has defined them—or step forward into a future that promises a bond infinitely precious in the life of an immortal…but that demands a terrifying vulnerability from two badly bruised hearts.

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Aodhan has spent the past year helping new archangel Suyin find her footing in China, the territory that keeps on giving- in the horror movie sense of the word. As extra help moving her people from one of Lijuan's area's to a new, "safe" part of China, Raphael sends Illium to assist. When patrols discover a suspiciously empty village of seemingly vanished people, Aodhan and Ilium stay behind to investigate.They'll have more than their own issues and ghosts to deal with, for Lijuan has left at least one last unspeakable monster behind to walk in her footsteps. 

Archangel's Light tells the story Guild Hunter fans have been waiting for: Illium and Aodhan. Illium, the seemingly carefree angel, always playful, always curious, always kind to mortal or angel alike. Aodham, the angel made of sparkling light but trapped in mental darkness, a tortured artist slowly coming out of his protective shell. We know they've been friends their whole lives despite seemingly opposite personalities. We know something unspeakable happened to Aodhan that he's only now mentally healing from. We know their relationship has been rocky the past year or so as they struggle to find new footing as Aodhan finds his new self. And we are pretty sure we know what they haven't figured out- they belong together in every sense of the word.

Singh takes the phrase "slow burn" to a whole new level here, probably because most readers are going to be familiar with the backstory of her main characters. She isn't just telling us the 'today' story, she's giving us their past stories as well.  How they first met, early triumphs, Illium's infamous first love, Aodhan's capture and torture at the hands of other angels. The highs and lows that shaped them into who they grew up to be both individually and together. It took a little while for me to get used to this style of back and forth, but I ended up liking it more than I expected too- possibly because it often came as a welcome break to some heavy hitting horrors in the 'today' portions of the story. Vague spoiler-ish warning: Singh does not pull any punches in her descriptions of the latest atrocities so have a strong stomach ready for when the guys go searching for danger.

A lot of Archangel's Light seemed to be about the downsides of being immortal. How easy it becomes to lose your core goodness and light (if you had it to begin with) to petty cruelties that become larger cruelties because of boredom or madness. Lijuan is always the main example, but thanks to Illium and Aodhan's comparative youth they see it in many of the others around them as well- even in Raphael and Dimitri before those men found the women they now love. They constantly question what people missed about Lijuan's descent into madness while acknowledging some things are acceptable in the angelic world that the human world wouldn't accept. Most characters see Illium as the rare example of an angel who might never let immortality harden them, although Aodhan and even Suyin are also mentioned as possibly being the same way. Each of these people has suffered and now tries to find a balance in their life, a light to the darkness they know exists in the world. As much darkness as we find in this book, the light of hope is continually held out for those who can see it, and those brave enough to reach for it and work to keep it lit.  Something we can take great inspiration from in these days.

Weaving past and present together, Archangel's Light is a complex tapestry of friendship and love and loyalty that reaches soul deep. It asks strong people to bare emotional weaknesses that could leave them destroyed or fly higher than ever before, and in a triumph of world building and character creation, takes readers soaring on an incredible ride along the way.