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A review by saegelsomino
The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This is one of the most unique books I’ve ever read and I’m still wrapping my brain around it.
It’s fantasy, but feels really genre-bending in some ways. At times it feels sci-fi like, the gratuitous violence often feels like a horror, there’s a murderous crime at the centre that feels like a mystery, and somehow with all this going on there’s also a decent amount of humour and wit. It’s one of those stories that you wonder how it’s possible someone actually came up with it, there are so many components and stories and twists that you get a bit of whiplash.
The characters were all interesting and unlikeable to varying degrees, and the “magic” that wasn’t magic was complex and mysterious in ways that never full unravel. The plot was dense and it took a fair bit of time for the connections to start weaving together but once they did, I couldn’t put it down.
This novel was a ride that I wasn’t expecting and I loved every minute of it. An easy 5 stars for me.
It’s fantasy, but feels really genre-bending in some ways. At times it feels sci-fi like, the gratuitous violence often feels like a horror, there’s a murderous crime at the centre that feels like a mystery, and somehow with all this going on there’s also a decent amount of humour and wit. It’s one of those stories that you wonder how it’s possible someone actually came up with it, there are so many components and stories and twists that you get a bit of whiplash.
The characters were all interesting and unlikeable to varying degrees, and the “magic” that wasn’t magic was complex and mysterious in ways that never full unravel. The plot was dense and it took a fair bit of time for the connections to start weaving together but once they did, I couldn’t put it down.
This novel was a ride that I wasn’t expecting and I loved every minute of it. An easy 5 stars for me.