REVIEW: Missing Pages by Mark Lawrence
Missing Pages is the new anthology from Mark Lawrence collecting all four short stories from his Library Trilogy. The anthology includes three previously published stories (“Overdue,” “Returns,” and “About Pain”) and one all-new story (“Tabula Rasa”).
Missing Pages opens with “Overdue,” a story of mutual inspiration that also serves as an ode to independent bookshops. The story is surprisingly complex, as Mark Lawrence constructs a circle of literary influence that transcends geographical and temporal boundaries. The interwoven nature of the tale beautifully conveys how aspiring authors can discover inspiration in the most unlikely sources. I particularly enjoyed the unexpected symmetry of inspiration presented in “Overdue,” which left a great emotional impact on par with Lawrence’s best short stories.
The next story in Missing Pages is “Returns,” which involves the search for a missing book, The Book of Many Stories, that must be returned to the Library. The search winds across space and time and may have implications for the librarian Yute’s missing daughter, who has been lost in the Library for over two decades. The book’s literal journey in “Returns” becomes analogous to our journey in reading the story.
The third story, “About Pain,” is Mark Lawrence’s homage to J.D. Salinger’s classic The Catcher in the Rye and probably my favorite story in Missing Pages. The goodest of good boys, the pitch-black dog Volente, brings an unwanted copy of Catcher to the protagonist, Holden, who detested the book when he was forced to read it in school. Upon returning Catcher to the library, Livira instructs Holden to read it every ten years and come back to tell her about it. The story then follows Holden through the decades as his life experiences make him appreciate new aspects of Catcher that he hadn’t yet considered. In a nice touch, “About Pain” also features Clovis Eventari, Evar’s imposing redheaded sister from The Book That Wouldn’t Burn.
“Tabula Rasa” is the fourth and final story in the anthology. The title is Latin for “clean slate” and serves as a mediation on (im)mortality and the limitless possibilities of the blank page. The story also includes new animal friend, an amphibian known as the epitoad who has a talent for reciting epigraphs.
Although the stories of Missing Pages are set in the same literary universe as the Library Trilogy, it’s not strictly necessary to read the main books of the trilogy before picking up this short story collection. Each of the stories is fully self-contained, and there are no spoilers here that would lessen your enjoyment of The Book That Wouldn’t Burn.
Altogether, the Library Trilogy has inspired some of Mark Lawrence’s best short stories to date, each one serving as a mediation on the power of stories in both reflecting and defining our common humanity. Missing Pages is a must-read for Mark Lawrence fans and anyone who shares the author’s passion for the written word.
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