Review copy was received from NetGalley, Publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
The Book That Wouldn't Burn by Mark Lawrence Narrator: Jessica Whittaker
Series: The Library Trilogy #1
Published by Ace, Penguin Audio on May 9, 2023
Genres: Fantasy
Pages: 416
Length: 22 hours, 57 minutes
Format: Audiobook, eARC
Source: NetGalley, Publisher
Goodreads
Amazon, Audible, Libro.fm, Barnes & Noble, Apple
A boy has lived his whole life trapped within a vast library, older than empires and larger than cities.
A girl has spent hers in a tiny settlement out on the Dust where nightmares stalk and no one goes.
The world has never even noticed them. That's about to change.
Their stories spiral around each other, across worlds and time. This is a tale of truth and lies and hearts, and the blurring of one into another. A journey on which knowledge erodes certainty, and on which, though the pen may be mightier than the sword, blood will be spilled and cities burned.
The Book That Wouldn’t Burn is the start of a new trilogy. It is long and there is plenty of world-building. Since it was about a library, it was easy to keep reading. But by the end I was wondering if I am smart enough to read this trilogy.
Livira was born out in the dust. When her whole family was killed, she was taken into the city. Being from the dust, normally she would go into labor but she ended up as a library trainee. She has amazing memory, and learns to read and write very quickly and multiple languages. Her mentor Yute encourages her to learn the library, even though some exploring she does is forbidden. When “exploring” she discovers how to travel through time and places by using the library. This is how she meets Evar.
Evar has always lived in the library, knows nothing else. His family was killed and he was brought into the library along with a little group.  Livira and he meet several times over the years, but Livira ages and Evar doesn’t. They learn about the time and effects of going to different times. In some times, they are a ghost and in others they are “real.”
Evar and Livira come to care for one another.  Both of them lost their families to the sabbers. There are humans, a sort dog-man species and an insect species. There is also the library, created by two brothers. One who believes knowledge is to be shared; the other believing it only causes evil, more of an Adam and Eve interpretation. The library has assistants who are not any of the species, to help find books and keep people from forbidden activities.
Livira’s mentor Yute thinks they should try to foster a peace between species. Livira can’t imagine it. But nothing is what it seems.
I enjoyed this with its knowledge focus, the library, and the minor battles. There’s a relationship forged between Livira and Evar. I really wonder what will happen as the Library trilogy continues.
Narration:
This is my first listen to this narrator but I liked her work. She is Livira to me. Her Evar sounded more like a female with a cold than a guy though. I was comfortable with the overall narration. I was able to listen at my usual 1.5x speed.
Listen to a clip: HERE
About Mark Lawrence
Mark Lawrence was born in Champagne-Urbana, Illinois, to British parents but moved to the UK at the age of one. He went back to the US after taking a PhD in mathematics at Imperial College to work on a variety of research projects including the ‘Star Wars’ missile defence programme. Returning to the UK, he has worked mainly on image processing and decision/reasoning theory. He says he never had any ambition to be a writer so was very surprised when a half-hearted attempt to find an agent turned into a global publishing deal overnight.
Mark Lawrence is married with four children, one of whom is severely disabled. His day job is as a research scientist focused on various rather intractable problems in the field of artificial intelligence. He has held secret level clearance with both US and UK governments. At one point he was qualified to say ‘this isn’t rocket science … oh wait, it actually is’.
Between work and caring for his disabled child, Mark spends his time writing, playing computer games, tending an allotment, brewing beer, and avoiding DIY.
| Rating Breakdown | |
|---|---|
| Plot |
|
| Writing |
 |
| Characters |
|
| Narration (Audio) |
|
| Overall: | |
I read all types of books but my favorites are urban fantasy and romantic suspense.I like some romance and some action / adventure / mystery in everything.I like sex in my books but please, only between TWO people.Intimate conversation is equally important to the sex in a book.It lets me see the characters.The other thing I enjoy is humor.
Friend or follow me at Goodreads.
- 🎧 Echo by Tracy Clark @tracypc6161 @ChanteMcCormick #BrillianceAudio #LoveAudiobooks #KindleUnlimited🎧 - December 3, 2024
- Read-along & #Giveaway: Edge – Innkeeper by Ilona Andrews @ilonaandrews @reneeraudman @natalienaudus @AceBooksPub @nyliterary @TantorAudio @AudibleStudios #Read-along #GIVEAWAY #LoveAudiobooks - December 1, 2024
- Sunday Post –1 December 2024 @kimbacaffeinate @readingreality - December 1, 2024
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- 23-COYER
Sounds like a fascinating start to the series. Excellent review, Anne💜 Love the premise of this story.
Thanks Jonetta. It is fascinating. With any kind of fantasy, sometimes the first book can take a bit to assimilate everything. I didn’t really feel that until the end of reading and realized how much I still don’t understand.
It’s set in a library? I’m in! 😀
My thoughts exactly.
LOL, I find some fantasies push my mental capacities, too. I skipped this one for now, but I’m so glad the world building was rich and the situations intricate like his usual books.
I really enjoyed this a lot until I got to the end and realized how much there was I didn’t know. But it is a trilogy so maybe I just need to be patient.
I’ve never read Mark Lawrence, but I’ve heard good things about this book. I’m glad you enjoyed it!
I’m surprised Tammy. I think you would enjoy his books. I liked this but at the end I felt like I didn’t know / understand enough. It is the first in the trilogy though. I enjoyed his Books of the Ancestor trilogy the most so far (Red Sister, etc.)
I have had my eyes on this one but wasn’t quite sure if it was really for me or not. I may have to give it a try someday.
I really enjoyed reading it. I just feel like I don’t understand enough yet but this is the first book in the trilogy. I also really liked his Book of the Ancestor trilogy. Oh and his gaming trilogy Impossible Times.
Glad to hear this series is off to a good start. I love that it’s about a library.
I think it’s good but there is a lot of characters and world building and still so much I don’t know. It didn’t bother me while reading I just enjoyed the story. Afterward, I have too many questions, but it is a trilogy.
I chose to do this as a library book since I had so many 22+ hour releases and vacation…lol My current listen is like 33 hours. I am glad you enjoyed this and look forward to diving in!
I’ll be very interested to hear what you think. I also had a lot of long books so it took me nearly 2 months to get it finished.
This sounds like it has some good promise.
I think so. There is much more to learn about the world and characters.
Ooh, I like the idea behind this one! Thanks for sharing it!
It is very much fantasy. I enjoyed it while reading but at the end had lots of questions. That may be ok as it is a trilogy.