When it’s your job to save the day – where do you start?
Librarian spy Irene has standards to maintain, especially while on probation. And absconding from a mission via a besieged building doesn’t look good. But when her escape route home goes up in flames, what’s a spy to do? However, it seems Gates back to the Library are malfunctioning across dozens of worlds. Worse still, her nemesis Alberich is responsible – and he plans to annihilate the Library itself.
Irene and assistant Kai are posted to St Petersburg to help combat this threat. Here Alberich emerges, as Irene tries to save her friend Vale and foil assassination attempts. Then one incredibly dangerous opportunity to save the Library emerges. Saving herself would be a bonus . . .
The Burning Page is the third in the Invisible Library series.
The first in the series, The Invisible Library, was excellent. We met Kai, Irene’s new apprentice and also, incidentally, a dragon; Vale, a great detective in an alternate London; Alberich, agent of chaos trying to destroy the Library…and Irene herself, Librarian and book-thief (in a good cause, obviously), able to speak a Language that warps reality. She’s trying to navigate between playing a bit-part in a story for a Fae Lord, offending dragons, working out how to steal the latest requirement, deal with her apprentice and new acquaintances – and occasionally manage to check her email for the next problem. It’s a rip-roaring adventure with some fun twists and nods to the genre and a whole heap of mystery sprinkled in the background.
The second in the series, The Masked City, took Irene and Kai to an alternate Venice where stories are paramount and chaos roams free. I admit I wasn’t too sure about this book; while enjoyable, it lacked the sparkle of The Invisible Library, and while I loved seeing the other universes and realities that they visited, I wanted to know what happened next with Alberich!
The Burning Page does not disappoint. It’s a fun, adventure-filled romp that takes Irene and Kai from London to St Petersburg, chasing books and clues. But when doorways between the Library and the worlds start going up in flames, when Alberich twists language itself to threaten the Library, and when someone’s out to kill Irene in a series of inventive ways, they have to work out where the threats are coming from and how to survive – as well as how to save the Library.
Every decision has political and personal consequences; the interactions between characters and situations make The Burning Page character-filled as well as adventure-filled. Irene is torn between the influences of the dragons and the Fae, between the effect of her decisions on her friends and her loyalty to her job and the Library; and – certainly at the end – given some very hard choices. Every character is under suspicion and Irene needs to choose who to trust – because someone knows secrets they shouldn’t, and there’s information and intrigue swirling around every place they go.
I love that we learn more about what Alberich actually wants – there’s even more mystery to come! I’m looking forward to the book officially coming out as I want to squeak about fan theories, and I’m definitely looking forward to the next one to find out more.
If you haven’t picked up this series and you like magic, adventure, Sherlock Holmes, a dash of steampunk, lots of mystery, and books, then definitely pick up The Invisible Library! If you’ve read the first two and liked them, you’ll certainly enjoy The Burning Page.
© Kate Coe, December 2016
The Burning Page by Genevieve Cogman
Published December 15th 2016
http://www.grcogman.com/
Review copy courtesy of the publisher
400 pages
