The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman is the first book in the series of the same name. Irene works in the library as a librarian whose job is to travel to alternate realities in order to find rare and/or one of a kind works of literature, many of which are found in only one alternate reality. She is assigned to find a potential one of a kind edition of the tales by the brothers Grimm with her assistant, Kai, in a specific alternate, one that is technically under quarantine due to too much chaos energy at work. Upon arriving though they find things are not quite as simple and easy as the library would want them to think. The book in question has gone missing after the previous owner, who had just tried to sell the book at auction, was killed during a dinner party. At the same time a prominent thief, believed to be behind the murder, broke into the house and is also believed to have stolen the book though neither is proven. Now Irene and Kai have to deal with the Fae, a nosy private detective, a potential rogue librarian and whatever Kai is currently trying to unsuccessfully hide.
I honestly rather liked the concept behind this particular book as I think it would be an incredible job to have, a librarian that reality hops in order to find and save rare literature. At the same time I don’t think I would appreciate the idea of having to put my life in danger occasionally to do so. This book was an incredible read though as it paints a very compelling story with memorable characters. I greatly enjoyed getting to know Irene and Kai as they traveled through some random alternate London in order to find a specific copy of the Brothers Grimm. There was this nice blend of tension that was gradually building with a little bit of action to break things up and underneath all of that this layer of people finding common purpose in defense of literature. Mind you I don’t think this is quite what people typically think of when they consider defending literature. Something I found interesting is how the story was meant to be about finding a specific piece of literature but it gradually morphed into something completely different at times. A story that really was about fighting back against the, in this case literal, forces of chaos and all that they represent in order to restore order, or attempt to anyway. Something that wasn’t really addressed just yet though is what they mean by these concepts of order and chaos as I would think that having too much of either would potentially be a problem. It makes me really curious about how the rest of the series is going to play out. There is a lot of background information that is not provided in this story such as the backstory of the library and even the characters as we really only get to learn small pieces of Irene’s story and practically none of Kai’s. Overall, a good start to a potentially good series that I am hoping will continue to be good. This book is getting four out of five stars from me.
While a good example of fantasy as it does include many fantasy elements there are also certain elements that lend it a small steampunk or possibly science fiction feel as well so this particular book will probably appeal the most to fantasy fans and potentially appeal to readers who enjoy steampunk or science-fiction as well. It is aimed at adults but there wasn’t necessarily any content that would preclude older teens or young adults from reading it either aside from some minor adult references and minor violence. I would recommend it for readers over the age of about fifteen or sixteen and not necessarily younger. It was a good book though and I hope you will consider it. If you do feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.