Ink and Bone (The Great Library, #1) in Crazy Challenge Connection

Oct 04, 2015 Vanessa Gayle ⚔️ Fangirl Faction rated it really liked it

Shelves: reviewed, young-adult, cover-love, romance, fantasy, wish-list-physical, steampunk, arc, alternate-reality

I received this book for free from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

A book about books? Sign me up! I was seriously on board from the get-go. That gorgeous cover is engraved into my mind.

This book and I haven't always been friends. In fact, this is my second try at reading this book. I first tried this book after it was released last year. I got about 1/3 through the book and just stopped reading. It was way too slow for me, I wasn't really connecting, and reading st I received this book for free from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

A book about books? Sign me up! I was seriously on board from the get-go. That gorgeous cover is engraved into my mind.

This book and I haven't always been friends. In fact, this is my second try at reading this book. I first tried this book after it was released last year. I got about 1/3 through the book and just stopped reading. It was way too slow for me, I wasn't really connecting, and reading started to feel like a chore. I hardly ever DNF a book. I decided to give this book a second try. I am so very glad that I did!

By the time that I finished this book I was floored! The plot finally becomes clear and so very exciting. There is adventure, secrets, corruption and political intrigue. I love this glimpse into an alternate reality.

The plot is unique and compelling. While the book is set in the year 2050, it feels very much set in the past. The Great Library controls all knowledge, and without knowledge progress has been stalled. I love this main theme of them book - knowledge is power and the Great Library is in control. This book has a Victorian steampunk sort of feel to it. Trains and steam carriages are the modes of transportation.

I love the group of young adult characters in this book. They are diverse and they each bring something to the group. Some of the adult characters are quite memorable as well. I love Caine's ability to write a character that seems completely horrible in the beginning, but turns out to be one of your favorites by the end of the book.

While you have a general idea of what is to come, you don't really get a great idea until the end of the book. Everything really falls into place at the end. Once you read the last page you immediately lose that disconnected feeling from the beginning of the book and yearn for the next book.

Overall, a great book and I would definitely recommend it to others. Especially book lovers. I would just add that if you pick this up and find it slow in the beginning, just keep reading. Trudge through any boredom you may have and press on. It really does pick up and it turns out to be amazing in the end.

More reviews on my blog: The Alchemy of Ink ...more

3 likes · Like · see review

May 23, 2015 Barbara ★ rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-2016, steampunk, fantasy-science-fiction, young-adult, zz-cover-blue, zzz-cover-trees, x-set-in-africa, x-set-in-africa-egypt, dystopia, books-about-books

This book was a great surprise. In this dystopian world possession of paper books is illegal and smuggling is a huge enterprise. The Great Library of Alexandria wasn't destroyed and books are guarded by rabid librarians. All the worlds youngun's want to "work" at the library to have access to books, of course. Unfortunately, they find out that working at the library isn't all it's cracked up to be.

I thought the diverse set of main characters were perfect and a believable cross-hatch considering ...more

3 likes · Like · see review

Aug 03, 2019 Rachel N. rated it liked it

Shelves: read-in-2019, london, fantasy, egypt, alternate-history, young-adult, librarian

Set in an alternate reality where the library in Alexandria wasn't destroyed and now the Great Library controls the flow of information though books in their codex and the ownership of original books is outlawed. Jess comes from a family who illegally trades in original books. His father decides to have Jess try to join the library to be a spy for the family. Jess joins a class of library recruits, only 6 of whom will be offered positions in the library. The story was interesting but I wish more ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

May 10, 2024 Tien rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult, fantasy

🎧 Audiobook Review 🎧

That was quite interesting and rather enjoyable. I must admit that once again, I didn't quite know what I was getting into. For some reason, even after reading the book description, I didn't quite understand that I was entering a dark academia world.

The book opens quite excitingly with the main protagonist, Jess Brightwell, as a child doing a 'run' for this smuggler family. Few years later, he just wasn't quite suitable for the business so got packed away to the Library. The ...more

Like · see review