Reviews

Neviditelná knihovna by Kateřina Heřmanová, Genevieve Cogman

ineffablebob's review against another edition

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

4.5

The Invisible Library By Genevieve Cogman is not about your average library. This one is extra-dimensional and able to access a wide variety of alternate universes, and the Librarians go on missions in these realms looking to retrieve rare and unique books of all sorts. Of course, there's bigger and more dangerous things than missing books out there as well, including an ongoing war between forces of chaos and order. It's a fun premise and the protagonists Irene and Kai are fun people to follow as they go after their targets, solving mysteries and barely surviving attacks and traps, utilizing a variety of techniques from investigation and intrigue to outright larceny. The mystery aspects are fairly predictable, can't say I was surprised by any of the revelations by the time they came up, but there's enough dangerous action and character development that it didn't really matter. I had a good time with it, and since this is the first in a series and there's plenty of open mysterious questions remaining, I'll probably be spending some more time with this library.

starlily's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

alliejo's review against another edition

3.75

Cool idea and decent plot suffers from weak/debut writing 

mirificmoxie's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

a_rash_read's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

lady_mel's review against another edition

4.0

I really liked this book. It was a refreshing change of pace from some of the darker books that I've been reading.

It's fast paced, and has a somewhat steampunkish feel. It also has elements of time travel, as the Librarians travel between alternate worlds in search of books.

hoffmann_fanatic's review against another edition

4.0

This was a really, really good urban fantasy. My first comment is that I don't know why it's shelved as YA, because it really has none of the hallmarks of that genre aside from the single viewpoint. I can see this fitting into NA these days, but there's probably not enough sex and murder for that label.

This book fits so perfectly into a genre hole I personally love - you can clearly see the influence of If on a winter's night, Possession, The Name of the Rose. All those novels about books are so wonderful on their own, and you just add a little bit of urban fantasy to end up with this wonderful mishmash of niche goodness.

To be clear, this is still very much an urban fantasy novel. A very highbrow one at that, probably one of the most literate and restrained ones out there, but still with predictable tropes, a fast pace, and relatively standard pathways of character development. For all that Cogman found a really creative setting in which to write this, I rate this 4/5 simply because the plot is still fairly standard MC-name-in-the-title urban fantasy stuff. I'd especially recommend this for readers who like the concept of urban fantasy but might find it too lowbrow or steamy for them.

ashleylynn3421's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

5.0

frenchtoastsbookshelf's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious medium-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? Yes

3.25

allerner's review against another edition

adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75