Review 493: The Book That Wouldn’t Burn

The Book That Wouldn’t Burn by Mark Lawrence
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Somehow I got sucked into a kindle reading challenge and needed a book for the Series Pioneer. This book looked the most interesting from the list that fit that category. Turned out I enjoyed the book.

The world-building was awkward and confusing. As you get into the book you realize that is because the world is confusing to the main characters as well. The library is something that no one fully understands, this becomes the center of the book, and attempt to understand it.

The book follows two main characters in different time lines, one is Livira who lives out in the “Dust” and longs to live in the city one day. That day came sooner than she expected as a group of sabbers (enemy) attacked their town and took her and a group of children as captives. They end up getting away due to the city’s guard, who then takes them to the city. As they are assigned jobs, Livira becomes a librarian trainee as she is full of questions and smart.

The other main character is Evar, and alongside his adopted siblings is trapped living in the library, long after their ancestors died and their bones turned to dust. There are only five of them, four boys and one girl. Evar is always searching for a way out of their vast library prison.

I truly loved the character of Livira, a young girl that constantly asks questions and remembers everything. There is so much to this character to appreciate. Evar, on the other hand, seemed like a tentative quiet person.

It was an entertaining read, but there were a few instances where better editing would have improved the book. Not sure I’ll read the next book in the series, as happily this did not end in a cliffhanger, but it was left open for an obvious continuation of the story.