The Forbidden Library

Executive Summary: While I don't make it a point of reading much YA, let alone “Middle Grade” books, I enjoyed this enough to pick up the next one when it comes out.Full ReviewI mostly decided to check this one out on the strength of [b:The Thousand Names 15810910 The Thousand Names (The Shadow Campaigns, #1) Django Wexler https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1355441268s/15810910.jpg 21536059] and generous nature of Mr. Wexler in doing a Q&A with my small Side Reads group last year.I don't have kids of my own, so it's hard for me to gauge how much the target demographic would enjoy this. I can only really weigh in with the thoughts of a 30-something fantasy fan.I thought the book has a strong protagonist that hopefully kids could identify with. Someone whose smart, strong willed and adventurous (albeit reluctantly at first).I like the choice of a female protagonist. Fantasy is overrun by young male chosen one stories, so it's always a nice change of pace to have a female. The book follows the apprentice mage trope pretty much, but with a pretty unique magic system that seems well thought out. Being a middle grade book, the rules of the system aren't very flushed out, but that's OK. We learn as our protagonist learns, and I figure more details will become clear as the series goes on.I also like the choice of setting. It seems to be the early to mid 1900's based on the level of technology. This has a good fit to the story being told.The story was mostly fun and kept me wanting to turn pages. It probably also helped that as a “Middle Grade” book I flew through the pages easily finishing the book in only a few hours. The ending was a pretty good stopping place that left me wanting to know what would happen next and about the world and magic system Mr. Wexler introduced.While I don't plan to check out other “Middle Grade” books in the future, I will at least check out the next book in this series when it comes out. It seems to me like one of those series you could read with your kids and enjoy right along side them.

I wanted to LOVE this book, but I ended up just really liking it. It grabbed me right away, and I was intrigued. Alice is a tough name for a literary character, but this Alice rises to the occasion relying on her intelligence and good sense. I was worried there for a awhile because Alice tells us she is a rule follower, but, like another Alice I know, she then proceeds to break all of those rules. Up to the middle, I couldn't turn the pages fast enough. I loved the setting (the real world), loved the library, and mostly understood the book worlds. A great many characters are thrown at us at once. I was impressed with the depth of mystery each character has-there are many layers to even the side characters here. Which side are they on? What war is even being fought?
Why I didn't LOVE the book (with no spoilers). Alice relies on the same thing to fight battle after battle. I understand why, I just got tired of reading about them. The world building could have been a bit better. I'm not sure I understand the magic of the books, why everything is stored the way it is stored, and what the goal is.

I sure hope this is going to be a series because there are a TON of resolved issues.