Reviews tagging 'Genocide'

The Book That Wouldn't Burn by Mark Lawrence

4 reviews

angorarabbit's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0


Context: So I read my Libby books on the Kindle app and now I want to get all the silly achievements. Without giving Amazon any money.This was one of the five books on my GoodReads want to read list that was eligible for the Series Pioneer achievement and I only had to wait one day for my hold. So there you have it. Three of the other books still have holds, the fourth is not available at my libraries.
 
Clark Tech: The existence, maintenance and power supplies of the mechanism, assistants, and portals.These things have been running for thousands to tens of thousands of years. No explanation as to how the portals transport living beings instantaneously through time and space to where they need or want to be.I’m not certain, but I think a time travel rule was broken in the last chapters, 
 
In many ways this reads like a YA book.We first meet the main character when she is 10. In the first third of the book we spend most of our time with children. The adults do not have much character development. The children as they age do not seem to change much except to mildly flirt. The protagonist has a “chosen one” vibe and also “she is not like other girls”. Boys pretty much exist to help her with her explorations. Serious rule breaking is follow.jAlso I didn’t learn one new word. 
 
I really had high hopes for this book. I loved the ideas regarding the library, mechanism, and assistants., Although I’m always hesitant with time travel, the author does handle the time travel part better than many (time turners I’m thinking of you).It’s just that somehow the execution didn’t work for me. The writing was fine and for the most part the action taking place was clear. I was confused as to some characters motivations. The book was 3 stars going towards 4 until I got to the last 10 chapters (there are 70 chapters) then it starting slipping to 2 stars. It felt as if they were just the set up for book 2. 
 
I also twigged two major plot twists in the first 10-20 chapters. I hate it when that happens.
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eviethebookworm's review

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challenging dark emotional informative mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

I have so many thoughts that it’s hard to articulate them all.
But first, let’s discuss what the book is actually about. 

The Book That Wouldn’t Burn is about a vast and eternal library. The two protagonists begin in opposite situations – Livira begins having never stepped foot inside the library, while Evar begins having never stepped foot outside of it. 

Both their stories intertwine with each other through time and worlds. Everything comes back to the library and the knowledge it holds – and whether it can be truly harnessed before fire ignites. 

Livira and Evar are juxtaposed in a way that conveys the extreme nature of the library that is the anchor point for the narrative. Livira is endlessly curious and adaptive. Evar is penned in by his circumstances. They really are like two ends of a spectrum in that one is forced to explore and the other is confined. 

Lawrence incorporates several contemporary literary references that tie our own world in the fantastical one he has created. Nods to Alice in Wonderland and Wizard of Oz reinforce the theme of entering a world beyond your own. Although giving The Raven the true name of [spoiler*] is just ridiculous. I immediately fell out of the book. 

I did struggle with the pacing a fair bit. The beginning had a good flow but it waned as the pages went by, and it didn’t pick up again until almost three quarters of the way through. This came down to information and detail being repeated unnecessarily. Something mentioned in Chapter 20 doesn’t need to be retold in Chapter 24. It makes for a dense read, which left me wondering if I got my hopes up too soon in the start.

Having said all that, the big reveal was both infuriating and riveting. All the foreshadowing clicked into place! But a lot of the foreshadowing was smothered by the aforementioned density of the bulk of the novel. The last 150 or so pages convinced me that it was worth sticking it out. Which was a relief. 

If you enjoy a high fantasy novel that hones in on the concept of knowledge, then go for it! Just know you’re signing up for a hefty boi that can feel cyclic. But it all ties into the theme, really. It’s a great think-piece of a tale – something that will have you pondering the nuggets that the author has woven into each chapter. 

Review TL;DR:
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
Strongest elements: Multiple POV narrative, prose, literary referencing. 
Content warnings: Fire injury, blood, gun violence, racism, classism, slavery, kidnapping, murder, war, injury detail, genocide, death of a parent, death of a child, grief.
Similar titles/authors: The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown, The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins.
Genre: High fantasy

*Edgarallen
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sophielillybeth's review

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mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

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booksandteatime's review

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adventurous mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

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