Mark Lawrence’s ‘The Book that Wouldn’t Burn’ is quite the tome and the first of the Library trilogy. Complex, clever and ambitious, Lawrence weaves a story that crosses genre boundaries but is still infused with Fantasy to its core.

We follow Evar and Livira across their very different lives moving through worlds and timelines with the only constancy being the vast library they are entwined with.

A fascinating and absorbing read, highly recommended. Thanks to Netgalley for providing an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I hold my hands up, I’m a Lawrence fan; from the original Grim dark to the fantasy to the sci-fi. I’ve been heard saying I’d read a telephone book by him! With this in mind, I started the Library book.

I confess, I’m not into library settings, I’ve read so many over the years, and initially I struggled with this. It’s good, well-written and has lovely ‘extras’ but it wasn’t…. exciting?

That changed, I became invested and I ended up devouring the last half in one sitting. When my kindle died with just a few percent of the book left I fumed!

Each chapter starts with a book quote (I generally skip these; don’t). Some are by Lawrence and some by his characters, some others I didn’t recognise. For instance, there’s a book by Celyn Lewis which made me smile. They felt like treats.

There are two main characters and lots of extra favourites. Livira, a rescued child, learns to be a librarian and finds secrets within the Library. Evar has spent his life trapped within a small section of the library (think size of a city) with a few others. Gradually, their lives become entwined although time plays a huge, messy part in this.

Like many of Lawrence’s characters you can’t help but become attached to Livira; she’s curious, friendly, clever and fun to be with.

Malar is fabulous- I want his book. He doesn’t appear often but when he does, it’s spectacular. I also like Edgarallen…

This is the first in an already written trilogy. I will definitely read on, I need to know what happens next. Maybe I should apologise to Mark for doubting his ability to make Libraries an awesome setting…

Thank you to Harper Collins and Netgalley for an E-arc, all opinions are my own

the rating may change - i was hesitant on what to rate this bc several reasons.

the book that wouldn’t burn has such an interesting premise - set in a library that is so vast you can literally get lost in it, has librarians as the characters!!! - and i loved that about this book. i’m shit at describing it but there are more reviews that explore this part in depth.

we get two POV - livira, who was beforehand living in Dust and was saved from sabbers, now because of her extraordinary talent was chosen to work in the library, and evar, a boy who was trapped in the Mechanism with his “siblings”, trying to find a way out. i liked livira’s part the best, i’m not going to lie. i loved the little academia setting of her and her friends trying to learn in the library and the working systems at the beginning.

the thing about this book is that it’s slow. like we spend almost half of this book laying out the grounds with both evar and livira, and of course in a two POV like this, usuallyy they’ll meet in some way right? i was waiting for that to happen but even then until they first crossed path, it was just slow moving. it wasn’t until almost 3/4 of the book that everything clicks w the plot.

the part where i’m hesitant about is that despite it being slow, i should’ve really liked this more and i have a feeling that if i have just read this physically, i would’ve probably appreciated it more. i read this as an ebook since it was an e-ARC, and as it is long and slow, it was hard for me to concentrate and focus while reading it. maybe i’ll go back to this book and reread if i ever find myself with a copy, but for now these are my thoughts on it.

I did not finish it sadly.
The concept and the world-building of this book were interesting, but not interesting enough to fully grab my attention after reading 200 pages. It took me ages honestly to read these 200 pages. There wasn't enough character development for me to get attached to them, nor enough clues about what was going on with the plot and I was just not intrigued enough to read more.
The writing was solid though and I think it could be worth it to push through the first half of the book. I'll try another time maybe.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

5 ⭐️

3.3 Stars
One Liner: Great premise; meandering execution (minority opinion)

Livira, a young girl, lives all her life in a tiny settlement in the Dust until they are attacked by one party and saved by another. Some things don’t change even as her life changes.
Evar has been trapped in a vast library all his life. He yearns for the freedom to explore the outside world and meet people other than the other kids trapped in the library along with him.
The world hasn’t noticed them, but things will change now. Their stories continue to revolve around each other until they merge and blur. What happens to their stories, and what about the world outside that dislikes anyone different from them?
The story comes in the third-person POV of Livira and Evar.

What I Like:
The premise and the cover are fab. The world-building is elaborate and easy to visualize.
Livira is an intriguing character. She is brave, bold, clever, eager, impulsive, and ready to do what it takes to get what she wants. Her character arc is aligned with the plot and makes it easy to see her action.
Malar is my favorite character from the book. He starts out as a regular soldier, but we see there’s a lot more to him. Even though his back story is not provided, he is easy to like and support.
The plot is convoluted but in a good way. Things fall into place and make sense as the reveals happen. The twists are all interesting and surprising. I wish some of them appear earlier.
Dust, the settlement where Livira comes from, feels a lot like the indigenous settlements in the US. In fact, throughout the story, we can see parallels with real-life bias, racism, wars, etc.
A few scenes remind me of scenes from Heidi. This is a plus for me, as I could connect a little more with Livira during her growing years in the kingdom.
The raven and dog are great additions to the plot. I love the neverending library and its description. Such a wow place to be!

What Didn’t Work for Me:
While the setting and world-building are beautiful, there’s quite a bit of repetition in explaining the details. I don’t need the same information repeated multiple times. Hopefully, this will be edited in the final version (mine is an ARC).
The story meanders almost throughout. Though I expected this in the first half, it gets exhausting when the plot drags for the majority of the book.
As the story progresses, Evar and Livira’s worlds overlap. That means, when one character moves from their world to the other’s, the event is presented from both POVs to ‘fill the gaps’. In short, the book suffers from over-explanation.
Despite Livira and Evar getting their own POVs, Livira gets more space. I feel like I know more about her than Evar. And there isn’t enough about Evar’s siblings (except Clovis). This makes it hard to connect with their characters. (Also, not sure if I’m the only one feeling uncomfortable with Clovis being a ‘sister’ and a ‘lover’.)
It gets preachy at times (more towards the end). I don’t mind some of it (expected to an extent), though it feels boring when the content is long-winded. In a way, the book deals with familiar themes, though it deals with some of them differently (not everything works well).
I’m not sure which age group would be the perfect target audience for the book. The cuss words and a few other things make it inappropriate (not much) for MG, though YA readers might be bored by the story going in circles.

To summarize, The Book That Wouldn’t Burn is a book I wanted to love but ended up just liking it. It has some great points and will work for some readers. Do check out other reviews before you decide. I’m a minority here.
Thank you, NetGalley, HarperCollins UK, and HarperVoyager, for the eARC. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

This is my first introduction to Mark Lawrence and I am blown away by the absolute brilliance of this book.

The Book That Wouldn't Burn is an incredible page-turner. It was a struggle to put this book down because the writing captivates as much as the story grips you. This book was an introspective read that delves deep into themes such as the power of knowledge when wisdom isn't accounted for. It also felt like a commentary of society's struggles with governments and leaders who silence opposing views in preference of their own truths. I honestly love how the story and its characters are driven by the themes of this book instead of the other way around, and I feel this structure worked perfectly and effectively to keep me hook all throughout. This is a brilliant start for a trilogy and I am seated for the upcoming sequel. Easily giving this five stars 😌

Massive thanks to Harper Collins and Nicola for gifting me an uncorrected galley of this book.

(sort of feeling bummed that i missed out on the locked library's edition ☹️)

Sometimes you pick up a book that just sticks with you. Not because you can see yourself exactly in a character or that you relate to the subject matter very deeply, but because you find yourself thinking about the book when you’re not reading it. There is nothing else you want to do but find out what happens next, to see what discovery or realisation the characters are going to make. This book was that for me.

The Book That Wouldn’t Burn is told from the perspectives of two characters. There is Livira, a girl from the Dust whose life is turned upside-down when her village is attacked by sabbers, and she finds herself in the city of Craith. We also have Evar, a young man who has grown up trapped in a library with only his adopted siblings and a pair of android-figures for company and protection from the shadows that manifest.

The primary setting for the story is a library – The Athenaeum, and it is a seemingly endless library at that. It’s a fascinating labyrinth that holds the collective history of mankind, and not even the oldest librarian will ever know all of its secrets. The world building around and outside of the library is complex and rich, but not confusing. Alongside ‘knowledge is power’, discrimination and xenophobia are some of the big topics explored through the book and the way these themes are woven into the story is just masterful.

The plot took its time to build and the overall pacing was by no means fast. However the level of intrigue and the thrilling reveals through the story had me turning pages at lighting speed. I had several moments where I had to pause and just take in what I’d read before I could continue. The way the lives of the two characters connected was just fantastic, and the ending was satisfying while still leaving me excited for what is to come next.
This was my first Mark Lawrence book, and it most definitely will not be my last!

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Voyager for an arc of this book. I have left this review voluntarily. (less)

The Book That Wouldn't Burn is very ambitious YA fantasy series starter (though it felt like it easily could have been self-contained). And for all its bookish readers it has a terrific premise. There is a huge, gigantic library that has all the books ever written in it, and has a mechanism that allows you to access books that haven't even been written yet potentially. You might get lost, its geographical co-ordinated are shakey, and there are other dangers - things that might get you plus ambivalently dangerous library assistants. But its built into a mountain and is the centre of all power because as we all know, knowledge is power.

Built around this central presence is a complicated love story between Livira - a remarkable auto-didact considered to be a barbarian and Evar who got swallowed up by the Library mechanism some time ago and now lives there. Around that there is a war between the humans and the "sabbers", and a demand for knowledge of greater weapons from societies that have already fallen to those weapons. Philosophically the book has a lot going on about knowledge, and arms technology, though this is all alongside a quite classical YA story of a very clever person proving their worth. The book is about two-thirds Livira, who is a very energetic and entertaining character, and when it is her solo adventures in the library the book really flies. However in the last third when the book opens up to a larger conflict it felt a little like it lost its way with me. The romance becomes very star-crossed, but the real issue is the rules of the library become more and more complex. What you can do or can't do, how you access portals, and other times and what you see when you are there. There's a moment when the illusion of sense falls and you realise not only are these rules arbitrary but they mainly seem to exist to make the narrative work.

This is a big chunky bit of fantasy worldbuilding and its very readable. Partially that is the reliable tropes it is built out of, but there are some decent, chewy philosophical ideas at its heart. And whilst I am interested in where it goes next, the end of this book feels like it is opening out for the sake of it, and if future stories just pile on the lore I might check out.

This was my first Mark Lawrence book and long story short, I've got to go and read more of his works now.

The synopsis for this book is vague, and rightly so; it's best to jump into the book a bit blind. So all I will say is that we follow two protagonists whose lives are inextricably tied to one another and to the Library.

If you loved Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor, I think this is a book you would enjoy as well. Both have a writing style that is aptly in love with words, language, and sentence construction. But the authors use this writing style to dramatically different effects. Where Taylor's writing evokes a whimsical, dream-like tone, Lawrence here uses that same style in a grittier, more grounded way that is every bit as impactful.

The thing that I loved the most, of course, is the Library. But what makes this Library unique is how prototypic/archetypal it is. Its scope is so vast, it's almost-just almost- beyond the scope of comfortable imagination, and I mean that in the best way possible, as it's completely in line with how you're supposed to feel in this infinite store of knowledge.

I absolutely loved this book!
I was instantly drawn in by the title. The cover is beautiful and the blurb had me desperate to read it.
From the first page I was transported to another world. I found it utterly compelling and I was completely enthralled.

Whilst I did enjoy the basic premise of the book and the fact that the characterisations and locations were interesting, I found it rather hard going when reading it; too much of an uphill struggle through what, to me at least, was a lot of repetition. I hope that when I check out volume 2, the pace will have picked up and the page count will have dropped.

The short version is that I believe The Book That Wouldn’t Burn would have been a far more enjoyable read if its story had been told in half the number of pages. It would still have been close to 300 pages long.

☆☆☆½
You know when you read a book and it’s good, not great or amazing but just good, that’s what reading The Book That Wouldn’t Burn was like.
The first 10% was such a drag and then eventually after what felt like forever (10% (which was about 57 pages)) the book stopped dragging (huzzah!) but unfortunately it felt rather stagnant for a lot of the rest of the book, that is until like the 74% mark in which shit finally hits the fan, the big plot twists and reveals are happening which I absolutely did not see coming like at all (that said there was this one extremely obvious plot twist / reveal)! But then unfortunately it started to not slow down but like the rest of the book (the ending) was disappointing especially compared to what was happening around the 70% mark.

The Book That Wouldn’t Burn had an interesting plot / concept and interesting execution. At points in the book we have a few chapters from Livira, chapters where there would be massive time jumps ranging from weeks to years and then we’d go back to Evars chapters and he wouldn’t have moved from when we last saw him (which was slightly jarring) but a good way to get the point of time working differently across. There was also the factor of there being very few character descriptions which was a little annoying but was that way for a reason which was cool. The book also included like excerpts and quotes from other books at the start of each chapter which was a cool detail (as they sometimes related to the chapter) but unfortunately I skimmed over quite a few of them because I found the odd one or two of them to be quite boring / dull. I also found that the book was quite repetitive at times stating a point, then restating it two or three more times a few paragraphs or pages later like Livira constantly talking about how she wanted to get back to The Exchange, she’d say so several times like you want to go back we get it!
I have to admit at times throughout the book I felt confused but just continued reading anyway hoping it would make sense as the book went on (which sometimes it didn’t).
I enjoyed Liviras character and her journey and thought she was an interesting character. There were good characters other than Livira too who I wanted to see more of like Yute and Malar and some of Liviras friends.

What more I wanted from the book:
More Malar! This is the most important part for me there wasn’t enough Malar!
I also would’ve liked to see more of Evars siblings.
I also wanted a little more information on The Exchange.

So as you can see ultimately I was left feeling like it was a good story but that’s it unfortunately.

I don’t know if I’ll be picking up the sequel as again I found the end quite boring and underwhelming, I was considering picking it up at that 70% mark but now I’m unsure though I would like to find out more about the world (and The Library) and see where the story goes.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC.

Set in an enormous library the size of the city this had so much promise for me but I struggled with the sheer length of the book. Fantasy is not my main choice of genre and I know many other people have adored this book, it's just not for me. So I've given it 4 stars rather than a rating that's personal to my experience of it.

Imagine, if you will, a library the size of a city. Larger. It contains books in hundreds of languages, some no longer decipherable. Shelves form labyrinths. Miles-wide rooms are separated by doors that often won’t open – and who knows what secrets lie behind those? Once in a while, a librarian may stumble across an automaton-like Assistant, although they aren’t known for being particularly helpful. Generations of head librarians have each created their own indexes, the only way to hope to find any book in the collection, and still only the tiniest fraction has been catalogued.

Into this world comes Livera, a young girl from ‘The Dust’, that is to say out far beyond the city walls. Dirt (hah) poor and largely uneducated, Livera possesses a steel trap of a mind that catches the attention of the Deputy Head Librarian and sets her upon a new path. Devouring the knowledge put before her, she still can’t obey the rules and is soon wandering the stacks, trying to puzzle out the library’s secrets.

The other plot thread introduces us to Evar, who has spent his entire young life trapped in one room – albeit one of many square miles – of the library. Surrounded by towers of books, Evar longs for escape, for any answer to his own mystery. Until one day he discovers a book that says “Don’t turn the page – find me!”.

I was *so* excited to pick up this book, the first in a new fantasy trilogy by the author of the brilliant Red Sister, and The Girl and the Stars. Indeed, I could see glimpses of Nona in our lead here, and the library shared a sense of mystery with the caverns beneath the ice. It was a welcome enough familiarity, as I love both those books/series, and added bonus here of the fantastical library location. I mean: books! All the books! 🙂

I’d say the first two thirds of the story were everything I’d hoped for. Exploration, learning, hints of something huge and mysterious. So, yes, I enjoyed the book and I’m giving it a high rating – but, honestly up until a certain point I was convinced this was going to be a 10/10 review from me.

So what went awry? Honestly, your take on it might be very different, but I found myself a little disappointed in the direction of the story. The overall ‘what’s going on’ was pretty cool, but it came with some strange biblical maybe-isms, perhaps a little heavy-handedness on themes. A large part of the drive ends up being a lot of ‘young love’ romantic yearning that did absolutely nothing for me – partly because it’s just not my tastes (and it was so not as interesting as the wider story!), but also I just never really believed the overwhelming nature of the two characters’ obsessions. (I did almost get thrown out of my Higher English class for some strongly negative views on Romeo and Juliet, of course ;))

It’s not just that, of course, but ultimately the chosen direction didn’t wholly please me. I won’t give any spoilers, just… didn’t quite hit my hopes for where everything could have gone. I was surprised to get as much of a ‘reveal’ as we did, as I suspected more information would be held back for the rest of the trilogy. And despite that tiny ‘meh’, you’d better believe I will be grabbing the rest of the series – it won’t take much for the story to redeem itself for me, and there are still plenty of mysteries to unravel!

But, oh, to spend some time walking the stacks of that library…!

Big shout out, too, to the excerpts from other books between the chapters. Some are real (including one from some book written by a ‘Mark Lawrence’? Very Stephen King/Dark Tower moment!), while some are clever not-really-puns. Took me a moment to un-puzzle ‘Looking on the Brighter Side’ by M.P. Thon, for instance, and non-UK readers might miss the chortle of ‘Fly Fishing’ by JR Hartley. I’m sure I didn’t get most of the references, but it was a pleasing touch, played well.

Tl;dr: Excellent world building, some intriguing ideas, but ultimately the focus on a young romance wasn’t what I wanted from the story. Still a good read, and I have high hopes for the rest of the trilogy!

Unfortunately this book just wasn't for me. I was really excited to read this book, especially as I hadn't read a fantasy novel in a while.

I didn't enjoy the writing style not the non explanations of the alternative world the writer took us too. And yet, other descriptions were overly written and long drawn out.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC. As I didn't enjoy the book I will only be leaving a review on my Goodreads account and not elsewhere on this occasion.

I admit it did take a while for me to get into this book, mainly because I really couldn't figure out where this was going and how the two characters would come together - but it was definitely worth the patience as you get to the end and want to see so much more out of it. I can't wait to see what happens in the next book - I like to think that the slow burn in this one was really building up the premise and the world, ready to jump right into the action, but we shall see... One thing's for sure though, I'll definitely be waiting to jump back into this when the next book is out as I already want to continue with Livira's and Evar's story!

An immersive and utterly beguiling tale that blends together science fiction, fantasy, and contemporary fiction into one epic read. A masterpiece with riveting prose, compelling characters, a magical setting and truly captivating plot. It is a complex and rewarding narrative; slow-burning and thrilling all at the same time.

Absolutely stunning! I can’t wait to read the next book in the series with my gorgeous reading buddies. A huge thank you to Harpervoyageruk for providing us all with advanced readers copies 💛🙏🏽

5 dazzling stars ✨

Prose that is beautiful yet efficient, vividly evocative yet honed to precision. Characterisations are rich and layered, woven into intricately detailed worlds.

4.0/5

A twisting tale of intrigue, subjugation, and perception, The Book That Wouldn’t Burn was gripping.

Livira has grown up in the Dust in a tiny village where there is never enough food and water gets scarcer by the year. She dreams of the day the water is gone and her people will be forced to venture to the city. Until one day, a band of Sabbers come and destroy her home, taking her and the other children captive. Reluctantly saved by a group of soldiers, Livira finds herself in the city she’s always dreamed of and assigned to the library around which the whole city revolves.

Evar was born, lost, and spat back out into the same few vast rooms of the library. He and his siblings are all that is left of their people. One at a time they went into the Mechanism, and one at a time they disappeared, only to be regurgitated decades later and find everyone they knew gone. Unlike his siblings, Evar cannot bear to go back into the Mechanism. The others emerged experts on whatever topic the book they went inside with focused on, but Evar has only a girl-shaped space where his time inside should be.

“Their stories spiral around each other, across worlds and time.” Well, that they certainly do.

Once Livira arrives at the library towards the beginning of the book, you get the sense that both main characters are somehow involved with the library, and that their paths will presumably cross.
The initial set up is, like many high fantasy novels, fairly slow, as the world needs to be explained to the reader as it is so unlike our own. However, once the story got started I was hooked.

The way that Livira and Evar’s interactions occurred was fascinating. The ‘magic system’ for lack of a better term - because it seems to perhaps be a mix of magic and technology? - was so well suited to the setting, and I immediately wanted to know more about it and how it worked.

Our two main characters, and their cast of supporting characters, were engaging. Both had led lives where they felt trapped in some way, and both were desperate to find a connection. This made their actions leading to them finding one another really authentic, where otherwise it could have felt forced.

The latter half of the book is absolutely chock full of mysteries, twists, turns, and revelations. Some of these I was surprised by, and some I saw coming, but I don’t personally have an issue with predicting twists as, to me, it suggests the author has signposted it in a way which makes sense to the story and the characters.

I am thoroughly intrigued to see where the story will go in the rest of the trilogy, and I can’t wait to read it.