Genevieve Cogman

Eleanor Dalton is a maid servant in the employ of Lady Sophie, Baroness of Basing, who happens to be a vampire. Owing to Eleanor's striking resemblance to a member of the French royal family, she is recruited by Sir Percy Blakeney to join the League of the Scarlet Pimpernel, who rescues nobles (both human and vampire) from the guillotine. While the plan sounds relatively simple and straightforward when proposed by Sir Percy in the safety of his house, Eleanor and the other members of the show more League encounter obstacles and danger at every turn when in France. Will they be able to achieve their objective and stay alive long enough to return to England?

I read The Scarlet Pimpernel as a teenager, and I believe that was the first time I encountered fiction set during the French Revolution; the period has remained a firm favourite ever since. So when I read that Genevieve Cogman had published a retelling, I knew I wanted to read it.

While clearly inspired by the source material and the 1930s film version, Genevieve Cogman has updated the story to present a more balanced view of the revolution per se, and the relationship between nobility and servants, as well as placing Eleanor on a more equal footing with her male League members (every one a nobleman). This works well, in my opinion, without seeming too forced. I enjoyed watching Eleanor grow from humble servant who knows her (supposed) place in society to someone a lot more independent and trusting in her intelligence and judgement.

I thought the addition of vampires to the narrative provided an interesting angle: it is the mob and the members of the Committee of Public Safety who are thirsting for the blood of the people rather than the vampires themselves, who have been integrated into society for the last few centuries and now get provided with the necessary nourishment as part of the employment contract between themselves and their servants. The moments when vampires are portrayed in the traditional manner are few but very effective.

The only element I'm currently not sure about is the inclusion of Anima, the spirit of a thirteenth-century sorcerer who takes up (temporary) residence in Eleanor's mind, and who essentially provides her with superpowers to help her escape her enemies. However, I'm certainly invested in the characters and the story and look forward to reading the next two instalments. show less

Irene is a junior Librarian, tasked with acquiring books for the eponymous, interdimensional Library, by illegal means if necessary. Having just returned from a mission that didn’t exactly go to plan, she’s looking forward to some well-deserved time out, putting up her feet with a good book, but her superiors have other ideas. She’s immediately sent back to an alternate universe to retrieve a version of Grimm’s fairy tales, and not only is that world chaos-infested, she’s also been show more assigned a trainee on his first mission abroad, who’s keeping his own secrets. As soon as they arrive, they learn that the previous owner has been murdered (well, he was already dead – a vampire) and the book been stolen. What follows is a breathtaking chase through an alternate Victorian London which involves steam punk elements, werewolves, an enigmatic detective and the Fae, plus much more, which it wouldn’t be fair to reveal as the surprise is half the fun of reading.

This is an astonishingly accomplished debut by Genevieve Cogman, the first in a new series, which promises much for the subsequent volumes. The groundwork is established by way of dialogue between the principal characters, so that there aren’t any long-winded explanations by the author. The fact that the alternate world on which most of the action takes place is chaos-infested gives the author basically a free hand to throw wildly different adversaries and scenarios at our two heroes. The resulting tale is thus never boring, and is written with a knowing wink and dry wit, with very likeable main characters. I absolutely loved the underlying idea and the world-building and can’t wait to read how the story progresses, though I felt I had to deduct half a star for just one too many damsel-in-distress situations; Irene is an intelligent and resourceful young woman, but had to be rescued a little too often by her young assistant Kai, but that’s a minor quibble. In short, I feel certain that this is exactly the sort of book that Irene would love to read herself: four and a half stars.

(This review was written as part of Amazon's Vine programme.) show less

Almost impossibly good. The stories are tightly woven, with strong characters behaving in believable ways. The complex plots occur in strange settings, but there is not the feeling of rescue by deus ex machina or incredibly unlikely strokes of luck. The world(s) Cogman creates is coherent and vividly drawn.

Like most of the recent book series about magical libraries, the protagonist of The Invisible Library series is female. Unlike most of the others that I have read, though, Irene's sex is show more mostly irrelevant to the plot and its unfolding (e.g., she rarely is self-conscious of the fact that she's a girl with attendant problems like annoying brothers, etc.). What we see is a strong, capable woman who just happens to be a woman. It's not that that fact is never relevant to the action, but it is not problematized. This is a refreshing change, and a significant achievement in the representation of females in this genre. show less

This was a fun, engaging fantasy that hit my heart because its main character is a librarian. Her career path is much more exciting than mine though. I've never been sent to an alternate Earth with a dragon as my assistant in order to retrieve a particular book. Irene is up for the challenge. Only, when she and Kai arrive, they find that the book has already been stolen and many, many people are looking for it.

Between trying to find the book, dodging the evil librarian who wants to pervert show more the purpose of the library, dealing with a jealous rival, working with this alternate world's great detective and dealing with steampunk gadgets loosed by another set of villains, Irene is kept busy and we readers are kept entertained.

Luckily, this book is the first of a series because I am eager to follow Irene on further adventures. show less