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From the Bookshelf of Nothing But Reading Challenges…

The Invisible Library (The Invisible Library, #1)

Genevieve Cogman

Start date: August 2, 2015

Finish date: August 31, 2015

Discussion: Books of the Month

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What Members Thought

Sep 08, 2022 Ketutar Jensen rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy

I liked it a lot. I like the fact that I wasn't certain about anyone's loyalties or sides or so. I was suspecting everyone, and half of the people weren't as bad as I feared they would be :-D Also, the bad guys were as bad as they were supposed to be. Or at least, that's the impression we got... now... there's always the possibility of things changing in the future. I suspect the fae might not be quite as bad as presented, and the library might not be as good as presented. I like that aspect of ...more

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Dec 10, 2021 Cora rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: kindle, steampunk, woman-author, fantasy, dragons, library, young-adult, detectives, fairies, mystery

This was a fun book to read. The world building was interesting and well done. The characters were fun to route for, each with their own share of secrets to discover. There were a lot of action/battle scenes in this book, which are not really my cup of tea. But if you do like fun battles with interesting creatures and weapons, this could be the book for you. Overall it is a promising start to a series with some good characters with the potential to develop as the series continues.

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Apr 29, 2016 Stormi (StormReads) rated it really liked it

One of my favorite movie series turned into TV show is The Librarians and that is the first thing that came to my mind when I started reading The Invisible Library, I thought someone must like that show...lol. Of course it's different as in The Invisible Library only collects books and has alternate worlds.

The Invisible Library doesn't really exist in any world, but it holds the door to alternate worlds. It's huge because it could take you days to get to certain section of the library. The Libra One of my favorite movie series turned into TV show is The Librarians and that is the first thing that came to my mind when I started reading The Invisible Library, I thought someone must like that show...lol. Of course it's different as in The Invisible Library only collects books and has alternate worlds.

The Invisible Library doesn't really exist in any world, but it holds the door to alternate worlds. It's huge because it could take you days to get to certain section of the library. The Librarians goals are to collect valuable books from alternate worlds.

It starts us off with Irene finishing up an assignment and having a narrow escape. She is hoping that when she gets back to the library she will get a break but that doesn't happen. She is given an assignment right away and also a apprentice, Kai. Where they have to go is an alternate London that is field with chaos magic. Irene is not a fan of going to those types of places so she hopes it will be an easy in and out but nothing ever goes that smooth.

Soon as she gets there she finds out that the man..err vampire who had the book has been killed and the book is missing. Finding the book means she is going to have to do things that are not exactly how a Librarian is suppose to do things and put her trust in someone that she doesn't know, Vale, a detective. Irene loves stories about Great Detectives and so she kind of likes getting to work with a detective.

Things go from bad to worse when she finds out that a long time adversary of the Library is after the book too and he is not afraid of using chaos to get what he wants. This case is going to push Irene to the brink and could take those with her as well. It's going to take everything she has, plus the help of her acquaintances to get the job done.

So I will admit that this book really got off to a slow start for me and I wasn't sure if I would keep going. Greg from Book Haven said that he had a hard time with the beginning but they really enjoyed it so I kept with it and he was right. Once I got over the beginning bump from about 25-30% it started to get interesting as they get more into finding the book. Honestly I think this one would have worked better for me on audio as books with world building tend to make my mind wonder when I read but when I listen it's different. :)

Irene loves the Library as she was born into it since her parents were Librarians. So she takes her job very seriously and has a hard time trusting others. She really hates alternates with chaos as it can contaminate you if you are affected by it to much. She is not sure what she thinks about her new apprentice Kai or the detective Vale. She has never had friends as it's easier to just not have those types of attachments. Irene is an interesting character.

There is a lot of about Kai we don't know yet. We sort of find out things about him but not everything which makes me curious about him. I want to know why he did some of the things he did to get himself noticed by the Library.

Vale is an aristocrat but wants nothing to do with his family. I think I know why but it really doesn't go into a lot of detail about it. He has cut himself off and has become a detective that consults with the local Scotland yard men. I like him and hope we get to see more of him in the next book.

The author has a great imagination when it comes to creating this Library and the worlds around it. I am really curious to see what happens next despite the slow start. If you like fantasy and steampunk type of books then you will enjoy this one. ...more

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Dec 16, 2023 Rachel N. rated it liked it

Shelves: series, fantasy, dragon, fairies, read-in-2023

Irene works for The Library, an organization that exists outside of time and has connections to different realities. Irene is given a new assistant, Kai, and is sent to an alternate world to retrieve a unique copy of Grimm's Fairy Tales. Irene finds the owner of the book has been killed and the book is missing. For some reason the copy of the book I got from the library was an ARC, never had that happen before, so I'm overlooking a few errors I found in the book. I liked Irene, Kai and the the d ...more

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Aug 16, 2018 Kathleen added it

dnf - vampires showed up and I no longer want to read about them

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Apr 04, 2017 Brenda rated it liked it

I have mixed feelings about this book. I think the story was decent, but the world building just didn't really grab me. I don't really like steampunk, and should have realized ahead of time that that's what this was. Because of that, I expected to like it a lot more than I did. I probably wouldn't read on in the series. ...more

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