Series: The Library Trilogy #1
Release Date: May 1st 2023
Publisher: HarperVoyager
Pages: 566
Find it on: Goodreads. Waterstones.
Source: The author kindly sent me a copy of this book to review
Rating: 5/5 stars

Synopsis

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.

Review

Mark Lawrence is one of my favourite authors so The Book That Wouldn’t Burn was one of my most anticipated releases for 2023. The story follows two characters – Livira, a young girl living in a remote village in the Dust. When her village is attacked, Livira finds herself rescued and taken to the city, where she is apprenticed to be a librarian. Evar has spent his entire life trapped in an ancient library. Searching for a way out, Evar knows there is a woman he must find, someone important to him. When Livira and Evar’s worlds collide, they will embark on an epic journey to save the ones they love.

The Book That Wouldn’t Burn is probably my favourite Mark Lawrence book ever. This is such a compelling, intricately woven tale and from the get go I was completely hooked. The story is paced well – there is plenty of heart pounding action scenes but also plenty of time for the reader to understand the world and the vast and complex history of Crath City. I really enjoy Lawrence’s writing style, there are some really beautiful sentences in this story and plenty of moments that kept me thinking about this book long after I had put it down. The Book That Wouldn’t Burn kept me on the edge of my seat and I was always itching to return to this captivating story. Lawrence does a brilliant job of keeping the reader questioning what they know and going in directions you do not expect. If you’re someone who loves books about books, this is definitely one you don’t want to miss.

The Book That Wouldn’t Burn really feels like a fresh and unique story. There are so many fascinating things in this book – like the mechanism and the assistants that really captured my attention. Similarly, I completely fell in love with our two main protagonists. Livira is a young girl who dreams of bigger things, she’s full of questions and will stop at nothing to get those answers. She’s not afraid to break the rules and from the very first chapter, I was rooting for her. I also really liked Evar and the mystery surrounding him and his siblings. Lawrence does a brilliant job of developing the relationship between Livira and Evar and I can’t wait to see where things go in books two and three. There were also lots of secondary characters that I really adored, like Malar and Master Yute. Each character felt incredibly fleshed out and well developed.

The Book That Wouldn’t Burn is an unforgettable, beautifully told fantasy tale and if you’re looking for a book you won’t want to look away from, this one should definitely be on your reading list.