Author Rachel Caine
Publisher: New American Library
An Imprint of Penguin Random House L.L.C
April 5, 2016
Teen & Young Adult Fantasy Fiction
ISBN: 9780451473134
Paperback 374 pagesFTC Reviewed for Blogging for Books
Synopsis
The Great Library of Alexandria held hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of irreplaceable, hand-written volumes until it vanished in fire and blood thousands of years ago. But what if it had survived? With the vast knowledge of the ancients at its disposal, it could change the world.
And it has.
Jess Brightwell lives in a world where knowledge is strictly controlled and owned by the Library; owning personal books is illegal. His family makes a fortune smuggling books to collectors, but Jess has a love of knowledge that is a disadvantage in his line of work. His scheming father makes a liability into an asset, sending Jess to apprentice at the Great Library of Alexandria itself; having a spy in their ranks, he thinks, can only be a help.
But from the moment Jess arrives, it's clear that the Library is a far more savage and sinister place than he could have guessed. His class of aspiring Librarians is full of gifted, driven students, but only six will be chosen ... and the tests will push them all to their limits. Some become friends; others become enemies. And none of them can trust their proctor, Scholar Wolfe, who hides a great many secrets behind a bitter, uncaring exterior.
When Jess and his friend Thomas invent something revolutionary, they discover just how far the Library will go protect its knowledge ... and the power it brings.
.................Spoilers.................................
My Thoughts
I have to be honest. I read the description and was half convinced, OKAY more than half, I would absolutely love this book. After all, it was a book about books and I would love that- right? Hum.. wrong. I didn't love it. I really did like it! I wanted to love it but initially, I was lulled by it.
Seriously, at the end of the first chapter, I was more than a little deflated. I'm the type of person that if I can't get into the first chapter - I often call it quits. My mind kept pondering over what I'd read on the back cover, "but the personal ownership of books is expressly forbidden." And I knew there was no way I could put the book down. Not when I love books... Love owning books... Love holding this very book in my hand.
In general, the whole first chapter was stifled by the background details of who people were to Jess. There were things that were good. I was mildly amused by the book smuggling and intrigued by the paper erasing and filling itself back in. I also enjoyed the reference Da made, "you have ink in your blood, boy, and no help for it."
Honestly, I decided maybe I just needed to get myself in a better state to read this book. I thought back to a movie I liked about books. 'The Ninth Gate'. Truthfully, I don't remember much about the movie other than there were these AWESOME rare books and there were these beautiful walls filled with bookcases of RARE books. If I set my mind to it, I knew I could imagine sitting in that room, surrounded by old, worn, very loved books. And I could easily continue reading this book. So, I did.
I read..and ...read. I really didn't find myself getting into the book until they made the cut to 9 students. Granted there were parts I liked. Like, the fact that Khalila had scored highest on the test...that Archive Tags drew energy from Jess. Oh yeah. And that the house rule was, "don't get attached." However, by the time I got to the section where Jess was talking about vivid clarity and running from the lions I thought, "What the heck is wrong with me? This is FANTASTIC writing!"
My conclusion; The beginning did not start off well for me but about a third of the way through the writing hit me like a rough thrust, and from there on out, I felt the book radiated the diversity of characters. And, I could not put it down.
Bottom Line Get the book. Go to...or imagine a place you love... and read it.