This book was *not* what I
expected. With ‘library’ in the title, I expected something like ‘The
Librarians”, or perhaps books of magic. Something with a professorial main
character. I was very, very, wrong.
But that doesn’t mean it’s a bad
book! I admit I was very confused at first. A woman covered in blood walking
down the road. Then backstory; she was indeed raised in a giant library,
complete with ancient handwritten books and a handful of other orphan children.
But their “Father” who took them in was cruel and violent beyond all normal
versions of cruel. The ‘catalogs’, the divisions of the library, are things
like languages (which our main character studies and includes the languages of
animals, storm clouds, and volcanos), murder and war, healing, death, and other
things that never really get mentioned. Each ‘catalog’- which covers one floor
of the library- is studied by one-and only one- of the orphans. And it warps
them. Horribly. Human at the start, they become both more and less than human.
The book centers on Carolyn, the
language specialist; Steve, a former thief gone straight; and Erwin, a former
military man turned government agent who does not follow the book. Carolyn has
a mission and she needs Steve for it. She keeps Steve in the dark - the mission
has him in prison for killing a cop, rescued by a ‘human’ killing machine,
savaged by dogs, teamed up with a lion (who thankfully seems to understand
English), and just generally not having a good time. Erwin is trying to figure
out what both Steve and Carolyn are up to. What it turns out to be was nothing
I could have ever thought up.
While there is near constant
action, things are revealed slowly; what the library is, who Father is, what
and why Carolyn is doing what she is. It’s more science fiction than fantasy.
It took me a while to get into it and figure out who was who, but once I did, I
became very engaged in the story. It *is* very violent and very bloody, which I
wasn’t wild about. I liked Steve, and eventually Erwin, but couldn’t warm up to
Carolyn. There once the entire story is told, though, I was able to see why she
was like she was.
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I received this book free from the publisher in return for an unbiased review.
Neither of these things influenced my review.
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