Librarians are typically portrayed in popular culture to be old, cranky humdrum women who enjoy shushing loud patrons. This is not the case in Genevieve Cogman’s The Invisible Library. Cogman’s librarians are more like the characters of Lara Croft and Indiana Jones. The librarians in The Invisible Library have one goal: to obtain (by whatever means necessary) works of fiction from several different realities.
The Library is a massive library that exists in its own space and time. Its primary function is to store books and secret knowledge from all realities. Irene, a junior librarian, along with Kai, a student of the Library, are sent to retrieve a rare version of the Grimm Brothers’ fairy tales from an alternate world. The Grimm Brothers’ book is in a world where both magic and technology work together forming a fantasy/supernatural/steampunk mashup that is both delightful and sinister.
Naturally, the mission goes awry. Upon being transported to this odd steampunk-magic version of London, Irene and Kai, discover that the book has been stolen. It is, in fact, the epicenter of conflict between the London’s factions of Fae, Vampires, humans, and at least one rogue Librarian. All too soon, Irene realizes that this is no ordinary mission. She is thrown into a puzzling labyrinth of danger, conflicting clues, sinister secret societies, and political scandal. Failure to retrieve the book is not an option. The whole structure of reality as she knows it could fall if she and Kai do not get the tome into the Library.
Who doesn’t love a book about librarians stealing books, alternate realties, and secret societies? While this book doesn’t answer life’s philosophical questions, it was definitely refreshing to see librarians taken out of the stacks and into the line of fire. With all the characters running around, trying to find the Grimm Brothers’ book, there is little time left for any romance to develop. However, Cogman does hint that more things can develop in later novels. The Invisible Library is the first book in The Invisible Library series. I look forward to uncovering more mysteries with Irene and Kai in Cogman’s next installments.
ARE YOU & THIS BOOK A GOOD MATCH? DISCOVER MORE WITH NOVELIST APPEALS The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman
GENRE: Fantasy Fiction; Spy Fiction; Steampunk
TONE: Suspenseful
STORYLINE: World-Building WRITING STYLE: Engaging CHARACTER: Courageous; Likeable SUBJECT: Book Thefts; Interdimensional Travel; Libraries; Magic; Magical Books; Secret Societies; Secrets; Women Spies LOCATION: London, England
- Katie, Branch Librarian