The Burning Page

The Invisible Library series is so much fun. It follows the adventures of Irene, a spy/book thief working for an organization existing outside of time and space known as the Library. She's a great heroine: practical, resourceful, and competent, and she handles the absurd situations in which she tends to find herself with aplomb.

The Burning Page picks up some of the dangling threads from the first book: the former-Librarian-turned-traitor Alberich is back and determined to destroy the Library since its members refuse to surrender it to him. My favorite parts of this installment were Irene's interactions with Alberich, as well as reading about Kai and Irene working together on more orderly worlds that resist the Language (used by Librarians to change reality). It also gives Irene cause to question something she's always taken for granted, and I can't wait to find out how this is addressed in future installments!

Rating: 8/10

Full Review on My Website

The third book of this installment starts off slightly after the end of The Masked City. Irene and Kai have recovered a book from revolutionary France but realize that the Traverse back to the Library has gone up in flames. Kai has no choice but to assume his true dragon form and fly back to London. When it becomes known that many Traverses have the same issue and the Library's old arch rival Alberich is behind it, Irene tries to figure out ways to handle him and possibly attack instead of the defense being put up by the senior Librarians. The story ends with a good resolution with scope for many more adventures.

This book is definitely the best of the series with a very engaging plot. We also get to know more about the Library itself, meet new Librarians, learn about its internal politics and the metaphysics surrounding Alberich's plan to destroy it. Irene is the usual amazing protagonist – supremely confident, calm and composed and able to extricate herself from almost any disastrous situation. However, this book also shows her dealing with the consequences of Kai's rescue, his PTSD and Vale's chaos contamination. There is also an amazing scene between her and Vale, who is so much like her favorite literary detective. The Irene Adler – Sherlock style forbidden attraction between these two is irresistible and hopefully they will get together in the books to come.

The ending of the book is also heartbreaking in a way (for Irene as well) but she does the best she can in the moment. But the next books have been nicely setup and this series can only get better and better.

After 1st Reading: Hero Librarians in a world hopping quest to save the multiverse. Need I say more? This is a great series for book-lovers.

After 2nd Reading: I admit that my previous review is rather short, but I'm not sure what else to say really. This is a page turning adventure with a great climactic showdown of an ending. I loved it.