Rachel Caine (1962–2020)

This had such high ratings and the premise is so awesome, I almost feel bad for giving it such a low star rating. Almost. I couldn't even finish the book or get much past the first 40 pages.

The characters were flat. The descriptions were sketchy enough that the reader has a hard time understanding what is being described. Items that are not in our own existence are just suddenly there, not discussed, and moved on from as if we know it's history, meaning, and function. And at times, the writing was terrible. The last few examples that made me give up:

"Dinner that night was unusually calm and festive."
(I can guess what the author is attempting here, but it falls flat.)

"Couldn't read his expression."
(This is not a sentence, which would be fine if this were the tone of the entire book, but it's not. It's just a random non-sentence.)

I just couldn't see myself continuing.… (more)

Trigger warnings: Military violence, blood depiction, fire

7/10, looking back at this book it still holds up really well ever since I first read it and I might read this again in the future and I can't wait to read the next 4 books in the series but I highly doubt that my library would get them considering that this book is 8 years old now. It begins in a strange world and there's a little prologue before suddenly I go to the main story which is about Jess Brightwell running a bookstore which sells special books called blanks which is like a blank book and through that you can borrow other books but you can't own books; I wondered how does the world still rely on trains and steam and not planes and phones even if it's set in the 2030s, I don't really know. Anyways Jess is invited into a school in the Great Library of Alexandria and somehow it still stands to this day in that book because a fire never burned it down and he meets some friends and learns about things but little does he know that the school is hiding a sinister secret. Everything looks normal until when he sees people burning books to protest and I don't know why but maybe it's a statement against the Library's control and he eventually realises that the Library controls all the books and he starts a revolt with his friends; it all ends in a massive battle and a very exciting ending which left me wanting for more from the series.… (more)