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A review by ravenousbibliophile
The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman
4.0
Blurb: A Divine Parody.
Review: Imagine every idiosyncrasy that a Bibliophile possesses. Possessiveness, Complete immersion into a story/book, Role-playing, A willing suspension of belief, High levels of empathy for people/places/things other people cannot see/connect with, A vicious anger for those who transgress against their book-code etc. And now imagine these traits as characters in and of themselves. You do all that, and you have The Invisible Library.
In terms of atmosphere and narrative it feels like Indiana Jones meets Sherlock Holmes with a hint of Warcraft. The writing oscillates between eloquence and ineloquence seamlessly and does so with appropriate reasoning and keeping the characterizations in mind. I particularly enjoyed the depiction and handling of the 'Fae' and their personalities along with the effects of chaos upon the principles of reality in an alternate world.
The plot itself is rather simple to grasp and follow, and while the central 'mystery' is hardly worthy of being called that, the book (particularly the characters) gets top marks for being well aware of this fact. The contents of this book may parody the lifestyle and thought processes of Bibliophiles, but it does so with such taste and humor and you will often laugh with silliness of the characters but will never laugh at them. The humor and wit is balanced with adequate amounts of dark, almost graphic descriptions of acts and their resulting consequences but things never get so bad as to ruin the taste of your palette.
In conclusion I'd like to say that this book belongs on the shelf of every person who lives by the creed of "Eat, Sleep, Read, Repeat."
Review: Imagine every idiosyncrasy that a Bibliophile possesses. Possessiveness, Complete immersion into a story/book, Role-playing, A willing suspension of belief, High levels of empathy for people/places/things other people cannot see/connect with, A vicious anger for those who transgress against their book-code etc. And now imagine these traits as characters in and of themselves. You do all that, and you have The Invisible Library.
In terms of atmosphere and narrative it feels like Indiana Jones meets Sherlock Holmes with a hint of Warcraft. The writing oscillates between eloquence and ineloquence seamlessly and does so with appropriate reasoning and keeping the characterizations in mind. I particularly enjoyed the depiction and handling of the 'Fae' and their personalities along with the effects of chaos upon the principles of reality in an alternate world.
The plot itself is rather simple to grasp and follow, and while the central 'mystery' is hardly worthy of being called that, the book (particularly the characters) gets top marks for being well aware of this fact. The contents of this book may parody the lifestyle and thought processes of Bibliophiles, but it does so with such taste and humor and you will often laugh with silliness of the characters but will never laugh at them. The humor and wit is balanced with adequate amounts of dark, almost graphic descriptions of acts and their resulting consequences but things never get so bad as to ruin the taste of your palette.
In conclusion I'd like to say that this book belongs on the shelf of every person who lives by the creed of "Eat, Sleep, Read, Repeat."