1.24k reviews for:

The Book That Broke the World

Mark Lawrence

3.97 AVERAGE

crispy98's review

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I’m hesitant to use and dilute words like ‘genius’ but Mark Lawerence has more than earned that title. Book one took me some effort to get into whereas I am enthralled by its sequel. I took an immediate liking to Celcha’s perspective and the ganar as a whole. Their idiosyncrasies, like having an extended sleep cycle and proclivity for slow revenge, proved to be well thought out and unique in the fantasy world. The symmetry was perfect, the plot was consistently logical, and the prose proved profound yet not preachy. A great example of the gravitas found throughout the book is Lutna, a kind girl whose benevolence is accurately surmised by Hellet as a “bandage on cancer”. Some twists, like Evar and Liviria being coincidentally blamed for Starval and Mayland’s actions, were obvious but that’s even addressed in the world building components of the Exchange. Plus there are a bevy of stunning twists, like the implied cannibalism of Katrin from the King’s survivors, for one to be contented.

The interconnectedness of each story element, even seemingly minor moments, is so tight without being trite. Lawerence demonstrates his usual expert use of character and their relations with one another. These moments particularly shine for me, especially inconsequential ones like Malar’s (tragic) death being particularly impactful for Clovis due to their shared warrior spirit. Her romance with Arpix- a worrisome rational man and a brazen warrior woman- felt real enough to have me completely invested. Another example is Kerrol, a personal favorite, being chagrined at not understanding Starval’s decision to join Mayland. Most special of all was the ending: the tragedy of Celcha’s creation had me moved, the sacrifice of Meelan had me teary eyed, and the three unique call to adventures has me yearning to read the final book.

potts_n_pans's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

danimain's review against another edition

2.75

adventurous slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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So enjoyed the first book and was so excited to read the second one… the first has a complex plot that does require paying attention to but was still amaxing., was lost for most of this book..

fairybadattitude's review

3.5

challenging dark emotional tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

rowindh's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous 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: Yes

bookwormpages's review

3.0

adventurous challenging medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

kaitykriss's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Slavery, Torture

ammara270401's review

5.0

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-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

joabroda's review

3.5

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

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The second installment of Sullivan's newest series. 

POV's from Book 1 are here, but 2 new characters begin this installment. I liked them both.  However, I always get confused when the author starts with fresh POV's right at the start—always wondering, for pages, "who the hell are these people". It did not take me too long to figure out who and what was going on, but still, that is a pet peeve of mine.

I cannot say much more about them without spoiling things.  

The war in/about the Library still brews.  Sullivan's characters are very aware that choices are coming and they will not be easy ones to make. 

I think this one suffers from "the middle book syndrome". It was more about the conflict in the Library and less about the characters themselves. The library war, I thought, was amply explained in book 1; I didn't need more of it. I love character-driven novels, and this one failed me a bit. 

I did not love this one as much as the first, but still have to raise up  the rating for imagination and world building.

roxanadiana1's review

4.5

adventurous mysterious slow-paced