ktshpd
Written on Jun 13, 2018
One spy. One dangerous book. One deadly mission. Discover the first book in this gripping fantasy mystery series – The Invisible Library is the astounding debut from bestselling author Genevieve Cogman.
Perfect for fans of Mr Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan, Jasper Fforde's The Eyre Affair or Ben Aaronovitch's Rivers of London.
'I absolutely loved this' – N.K. Jemisin, author of The Fifth Season
Irene is a professional spy for the mysterious Library, whose staff are sent to different realities to harvest dangerous and mystical fiction.
Irene has been posted to an alternative steampunk London along with her enigmatic new assistant, Kai. Their mission: to retrieve a dangerous edition of Grimms' Fairy Tales. But it has already been stolen.
In London's underground, the laws of nature have been bent – supernatural creatures and unpredictable magic stalk the land. The city is home to vampires, werewolves – factions that are all prepared to fight to the death for this book.
Irene must face a web of deadly danger, deception and secret societies. Her new assistant is hiding secrets of his own. Yet failure is not an option – the nature of reality itself is at stake . . .
Continue the journey with the adventurous second title in the Invisible Library series, The Masked City.
Praise for the series:
'I absolutely loved this' – N. K. Jemisin, author of The Fifth Season
'Irene is a great heroine: fiery, resourceful and no one's fool' – The Guardian
'Cogman keeps upping the ante on this delightful series!' – Charles Stross, author of the Merchant Princes series
- ISBN10 1447256239
- ISBN13 9781447256236
- Publish Date 15 January 2015 (first published 15 December 2014)
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country GB
- Publisher Pan Macmillan
- Imprint Pan Books
- Format Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
- Pages 336
- Language English
Reviews
Sam@WLABB
Written on Apr 10, 2017
How does a bookworm resist a story with quotes like this?
We want books. We love books. We live with books.
Loved the concept. A library, which exists between parallel worlds, who travel to these different "alternates" to buy/steal particular works of fiction. I thought Cogman did an amazing job building this whole librarian culture and the alternates. Irene was fabulous, and when we finally saw Kai in all his glory, I was all in. I really liked the ending, because it made me look forward to more of these mysteries.
I leave you with another relatable quote:
Irene twitched at the very notion. Give books away?
BLOG|INSTAGRAM|BLOGLOVIN| FRIEND ME ON GOODREADS
Kate (Blogging with Dragons)
Written on Apr 9, 2017
Oh my gosh! I did not expect to love this book as much as I did! In fact, I read the whole thing in one day, without being able to put it down! The idea of this book just blew me away and I truly wish I had thought of it! Like the title suggests, in this book, an invisible library exists outside of space and time. It connects to all of the worlds and their alternates and its Librarians travel to these worlds as spies and thieves—for a lack of better terms—to collect copies of unique books, which don’t exist in other worlds, to archive and preserve them in the secret Library. I am always a bit skeptical about anything involving alternate realities, as I am not a big fan of time paradoxes and their ramifications—been there and played that video game, thank you very much—but this book proves that alternate realities can actually be quite fun! And to top it off, this captivating idea is carried out in a witty, well-thought out way, with a capable and level-headed heroine, whom I instantly liked, at the forefront of this well-developed world—er, rather—worlds.
The novel follows Librarian Irene on the most dangerous mission of her career yet. As she puts it,
“She’d had dozens of missions where she’d simply wandered in, quietly bought a copy of the book in question, and left without anyone so much as noticing her. And at least ten assignments where there had been some minor illegality involved, but none had featured chases through the streets, dangerously flamboyant personalities, or cyborg alligators.”
On her latest mission, Irene is given a sinister, skin-snatching villain to fight against, a dragon as a love interest, as well as the aid of a private detective with a saber hidden in his walking stick, and the use of the library’s Language, an ever-evolving language that only Librarians can read and use. This Language affects certain characteristics of reality and works best when “instructing things to be what they naturally were or to do what they naturally wanted to do.” Nothing like escaping a villain and his cronies in a museum by bringing stuffed animals back to life, eh?
But having the Language of the Library at her disposal does not make Irene any less relatable. She, like most normal librarians and book lovers of all world, “just wanted—had always wanted—a good book to read” and as she puts it, “Being chased by hellhounds and blowing things up were comparatively unimportant parts of the job. Getting the books—now, that was what really mattered to her.” Plus, I love her sense of humor and found myself snickering at many of her remarks, one such being to her trainee, Kai, “Let’s just be grateful that corsets aren’t required wear any longer.” When he asks why he should be grateful about this, she responds, “Because you don’t have to deal with me while I’m wearing one.” And another scene depicts her struggle to decide whether it was “more important to maintain her cover as a helplessly feminine secretary or to beat the bag–snatcher over the head with the chair and take him prisoner.”
The book isn’t just a light-hearted romp; however, it also poses very interesting questions and moral dilemmas. Many of these questions makes the heroine realize that she doesn’t even know all of the answers. For instance, as there are alternate universes, what is stopping a Librarian from entering that alternate world , introducing new technology available in other worlds—that could even save lives or make that world a better place—or instead, making it into her own world built around her desires? I quite liked the implications of this moral dilemma and was even more pleased by the heroine’s consideration of it when confronted with a villain who aims to make worlds into his very own. It’s interesting, and a different spin than the usual go-to-an-alternate-world-and-stop-something-from-happening-and-then-deal-with-all-of-the-consequences-of-that-new-action time-paradox junk that is everywhere. Sure, I’m sure everyone wonders what would happen if they hadn’t poured that glass of orange juice and spilled it all over their white sweater, but it’s been done so many times, and as such, I find it quite boring.
The ethical quandary The Invisible Library presents is completely refreshing to me, making Librarians, who are actually the keepers and protectors of many worlds—in the form of books—into their literal role and ramping it up, by giving them the potential to be God-like entities. And on top of this, I also liked that all of the worlds to which the Librarians traveled, had a very delicate balance of lawful and chaotic forces—making some worlds more prone to the impossible and others quite structured and logical. Plus, the balance often shifts with the interference of dragons (lawful) and fae (chaotic) beings, making even more endless possibilities to an already endless strew of worlds and universes and the librarians that travel them. In fact, it is mentioned many times throughout the novel, that it is very dangerous for the secret of Librarians and the many worlds to get out—one wrong word here and there about technologies that don’t exist, and things can get very chaotic, and fast. The precarious balances of the world and the secret mission of the Librarian visitors gives the series a potential that I can easily see being very interesting in future installments of the series.
Though I am always a sucker for stories about kickass Librarians, this book went above and beyond my expectations and I am honestly more than ready to splurge and to buy the rest of the series (even though I have so many other books I should read first). So if you’re looking for a book about Librarians, definitely don’t hesitate to pick this one up, especially if you liked “Ink and Bone.” Ultimately, I prefer this book to the former, and I cannot wait to learn more about this series, most especially the secrets of this mysterious Library—something that this book certainly laid groundwork for—but didn’t illuminate on too much. I also have my prediction about Irene’s parents and her true origins, which I can’t wait to confirm or to deny. And even though the book states that “a good Librarian [is] supposed to read headlines, not make them,” I have a feeling Librarian Irene will be making a lot of headlines in the future and I will definitely be reading them.
MurderByDeath
Written on Jan 11, 2017
Witty and Sarcastic Bookclub
Written on Nov 28, 2016
The main character is Irene, a spunky employee of the Library, a place that collects dangerous fiction from multiple realities and stores them. Honestly, I’m still a bit shaky on what makes a book “dangerous” enough to be added to the Library’s collection: if you’ve read this book and have the answer, please let me know!
This book already had a lot going for it: A unique premise, room for lots of creativity-after all, multiple realities can look any way an author wants-, and a female main character who is able to think quickly and act decisively. She’s very self-assured, despite being far from perfect.
In this first book, Irene is sent to a version of London with her assistant Kai to pick up a dangerous book for the library. Unfortunately, it turns out it’s already been taken. This particular version of London is full of magic, supernatural creatures, and some seriously interesting steampunkish critters (don’t mind me, I’m just over here inventing new words).
Add a nemesis for Irene, a quirky Holmes-esque helper, secret societies, and twists aplenty, and this book is just a blast to read. I liked that, while there’s a lot of action, there are also “Aha!” moments, as well as a slight splash of romance. It’s a fun combination of a “whodunnit” and an action novel.
This book is lighthearted, and a fast read. I’d suggest reading this after finishing a heavy book, as a fun detox before starting in on another complicated book. If you like quirky, this is for you.
https://wittyandsarcasticbookclub.home.blog/2019/02/23/the-invisible-library-by-genevieve-cogman/
kimbacaffeinate
Written on Sep 8, 2016
Five Caffeinated reasons to grab The Invisible Library
- The stunning world building from the secret library to Irene’s quest to recover a copy of the Grimm Fairy Tales from an alternate London will have readers devouring this tale. Cogman’s writing has a delightful flow that slowly pulled me in and held me captive.
- The characters are well-developed and unique. Irene is a professional spy for the library who is quick to piece together clues and Kai is her assistant who hides a secret. (Think Sherlock and Watson) These two work well together and more often than not I found myself laughing aloud. She is aided by A London detective, a member of the FAE, and another librarian who wants all the glory. Did I mention a dark nemesis spoken of only in legends who emerges testing all the players?
- The case to recover the Grimm brother’s fairy tale led us on an exciting quest across London. We even travel in a blimp and run for our lives to avoid shifters. Cogman gave us villains, betrayal, book bugs, automatons and more that will feed your inner nerd.
- The Library and portals, with a touch of magic had me eager for more and excited about the possibilities for this series.
- While we learn a lot about the Library, and the case with the Grimm book was completed we are left with questions leaving me eager to return. The Invisible Library kicked off this adventurous fantasy series is a brilliant way.
Copy gifted by publisher. This review was originally posted on Caffeinated Book Reviewer
inlibrisveritas
Written on Aug 13, 2016
Pretty good fantasy overall. Full review to come.
Silvara
Written on Jul 26, 2016
I loved the idea of a spy network made out of librarians. And the book grabs your attention from the first pages, because Irene is in the middle of a mission to steal a book from a boys school when the book opens.
There are elements of Sherlock Holmes, as well as the 007 movies in the book. Not because the book is using either as a reference exactly, but because there is a great detective in Vale. And lots of narrow escapes, assistants who are more than what they seem, double-crosses and mysteries. Besides all that, there's also the fantasy and steampunk elements. There's even a scene with crocodiles!
I loved Irene. The way she saw the world, and how her thinking changed over the course of the book. I also liked getting to know the bits of history of the Library and how things worked. But I think my favorite character was Kai. He was mysterious, but also very principled. With very strong feelings about what was right and wrong, even if they didn't always match up to what Irene thought. And I LOVED the reveal about him!
There are vampires and Fae in the book, as well as normal humans and the Librarians themselves. There are also airships, chaos magic, mentions of cyborgs and people with clockwork parts. A great deal of the story takes place in an alternate world that has the feel of Victorian times to it. But at the same time, some of the technology is more advanced.
I loved the way the magic in the book worked. Everything from the Fae magics, to that which the Librarians could wield. There was also quite a bit of world building. Both for the alternate that Irene and Kai find themselves hunting through, as well as for the Library itself. I can hardly wait to start reading the next book!
This review was originally posted on Fantasy of the Silver Dragon
Terri M. LeBlanc
Written on Jul 25, 2016
The Invisible Library, book one in this debut series by Genevieve Cogman, is a setup book. The narrative is a bit heavy and there were points where I felt the action was dragging and other points I was a bit overwhelmed. But this is the first novel in a series and the world is complicated. It takes a bit to get settled in and get used to the rules. Cogman reveals many details about the universe, inside and outside of the Library including the Library’s own special magic that requires mastery of The Language. I was fascinated by the secrets of the library (apparently you don’t age when you are in the Library), however, there are hints throughout the novel that perhaps the Library isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
There’s a little bit of everything in The Invisible Library—mystery, magic, fae, vampires, werewolves, books and of course, DRAGONS. I am intrigued enough with the world of The Invisible Library to give book two, The Masked City, which releases soon a chance. I can’t seem to resist decent books about libraries, fellow bookworms and dragons.
This review was originally posted on Second Run Reviews
Beth C.
Written on May 8, 2016