Book Review – The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman

Blurb

Irene must be at the top of her game or she’ll be off the case – permanently…

Irene is a professional spy for the mysterious Library, which harvests fiction from different realities. And along with her enigmatic assistant Kai, she’s posted to an alternative London. Their mission – to retrieve a dangerous book. But when they arrive, it’s already been stolen. London’s underground factions seem prepared to fight to the very death to find her book.

Adding to the jeopardy, this world is chaos-infested – the laws of nature bent to allow supernatural creatures and unpredictable magic. Irene’s new assistant is also hiding secrets of his own.

Soon, she’s up to her eyebrows in a heady mix of danger, clues and secret societies. Yet failure is not an option – the nature of reality itself is at stake.

My Review

I originally listened to this in 2019, but have now read it in physical form, and I’m so glad I did, I find the two experiences quite different, but equally pleasurable.

Irene is a thief – with good cause. Maintaining the balance of worlds, keeping the library safe in the heart of the multiverse. The library exists outside of time, and in a space of its own. Librarians don’t age in the library, they can sit and read for eternity if they want, which frankly sounds like heaven to me.  Why would anyone go anywhere else? Ah, yes, maintaining the balance, which they do by bringing in unique books from the various alternate worlds. The balance, but the way is between the Dragons, a force of nature, an the Fey, a force of chaos.

Kai is an apprentice librarian assigned to work with Irene, against her preference, but he is, and he’s definitely tall, dark and handsome. He also turns out to be… well… special (it’s a spoiler if I mention it).

They are sent to an alternate London to retrieve a special, dangerous, book. There they encounter Fey and Werewolves and the intriguing great detective Vale, in other words, he’s Sherlock by another name, and with less sharp edges.

Irene has friends and enemies on all sides, and occasionally, it’s hard to tell which is which, but she battles through.

This book is an interesting mix, the worlds travelled into might be full or magic or full of technology, then there’s the metaphysics of the Library itself. What Cogman has done is create a universe where she can go into any kind of situation in any world, and it works brilliantly. The people and the place are realistic and the adventure enjoyable. There is a subtlety in the narrative that draws the reader in and along.

I would highly recommend this book and this series.