A professional spy for a mysterious Library which harvests fiction from different realities, Irene faces a series of assassination attempts that threaten to destroy her and everything she has worked for.Irene is teaching her new assistant the fundamentals of a Librarian’s job, and finding that training a young Fae is more difficult than she expected. But when they’re the targets of kidnapping and … of kidnapping and assassination attempts, she decides that learning by doing is the only option they have left …
In order to protect themselves, Irene and her friends must do what they do best: search for information to defeat the overwhelming threat they face and identify their unseen enemy. To do that, Irene will have to delve deeper into her own history than she ever has before, face an ancient foe, and uncover secrets that will change her life and the course of the Library forever.
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The Invisible Library series has advanced to its seventh book. It’s been an interesting series so far, with slightly uneven quality when it comes to the plots; some are really convoluted, some more simple. The Dark Archive sits somewhere in the middle, with a fairly straightforward plot and multiple adversaries. Two former foes that Irene has believed dead return. As always, it’s much down to her ingenuity to make sure everyone survives, even if it means that the enemy lives to try again.
These books are very much plot-driven, and issues like romance are secondary; heavy on action and light on emotions. The romance between Irene and Kai comes across as an afterthought, and after several books it still doesn’t feel believable. Partly this is because the two are very different, partly because the reader never sees them in normal situations where they might have time for their romance. But at least Kai has a proper role in this one. There’s a new character too, Irene’s fae apprentice Catherine who seems like a good addition.
Once again, Irene’s world is badly shaken with information concerning her real parent—though this reader at least had suspected it already. And the book ends with an introduction of an entirely new force working behind the scenes. Time will tell whether they are for or against the Library. I, for one, will definitely continue with the series to find out.
I loved this! I was so excited to have the opportunity to read an early copy of this book and I was not disappointed. I remember thinking that was going to be a fun series with limitless possibilities when I read the first book in this series and seven books in, I believe I was right. This is a series that I would recommend reading in order if at all possible since the character relationships have grown and changed and there are a few ongoing story arcs. Each book has been a lot of fun so you wouldn’t want to miss one anyway!
It looks like an assassin is out to get Irene. At the start of the book, Irene and Vale are off on a quick mission together when things get messy. Irene sets through a magical door only to discover a man that she thought was dead. Meanwhile, Kai and Catherine are facing challenges of their own. Irene, Kai, Vale, and Catherine must work to find out who is behind the assassination attempts and learn exactly what is going on.
This book was exciting and the mystery kept me guessing. There were several times that I wondered if Irene would be able to find a way out of difficult situations. I had no idea who was behind everything which made the book very hard to put down. I liked what Catherine added to the story. I wasn’t quite sure if she would be trusted but I thought that she grew a lot over the course of this story and eventually proved herself.
I would recommend this book to others. I found this to be a very exciting and entertaining read filled with fantastic characters that I have grown to love. There were some pretty big revelations in this book which have left me incredibly eager to get my hands on the next book in this fantastic series!
I received a digital review copy of this book from Berkley Publishing Group via NetGalley.
The Dark Archive by Genevieve Cogman is the 7th book in her The Invisible Library series. I accidentally downloaded this book, and decided to read it anyway; and I am happy to say that even though this is the 7th book, I enjoyed it very much. Cogman manages to give you information early on about Irene, our heroine, learning much more about her along the way. Now if time allows, I will need to go back and read the first book, as I found this series looks like something I should be reading.
Irene Winters, our heroine, is a Librarian and a professional spy for the mysterious Library; which collects all kinds of important works of fictions from different realities. I learned quickly that Irene is one of the best there is, having very powerful abilities as a librarian to use to protect and defend. I loved how Irene was able to use her voice to do amazing things, such as open or lock doors, make people do what she says, drop books down on attackers, disable bombs, etc. I really did get a kick out of all of that, as well as meeting the different species that are friends or enemies of Irene, such as Kai, her assistant and now lover (Dragon), Vale (best detective in world), Catherine (new and Fae) and the villians, Alberich and Lady Guantes.
The excitement begins almost immediately, when Irene and Vale fall into a trap, putting their lives in danger, which becomes a shocker when a man she killed awhile back is alive and threatening to kill her. Irene uses her skills to free them, and quickly goes to find Kai and Catherine, knowing they will be probably be attacked too. She does get there in time, to save them from being poisoned; and together with Vale, they learn that Lady Guantes is behind the attacks, and working with someone who is helping bring her dead husband back. Irene is determined to protect Catherine, who is new and in training, but Catherine wants to stay with them.
What follows is an exciting, intense, action filled adventure that pits Irene and her friends in danger quite often. She suspects that her nemesis, Alberich is behind everything, and working with Lady Guantes. The group try to find clues, but walk into a trap, as everything falls apart, and Irene is unable to break the spells, fearing her friends will all be killed. From start to finish, the action was nonstop all the way. To say too much more would be spoilers, and that would ruin it for you, especially if you are like me, starting on this book.
The Dark Archive was an amazing, fun, tense and exciting story, that was very well written by Genevieve Cogman. Irene Winters was a wonderful fantastic heroine, smart, savvy, brave, and loyal. The end was a wild climax to a great story, and the epilogue promises more exciting things to come in the next book.
Oh my goodness but I love love LOVE this series!! Genevieve Cogman has done an absolutely brilliant job writing an omage to libraries and readers and lovers of language… The characters are marvelous, the ongoing developing story is a long-range marvel of intricate back and forths that are teased out from book to book. Additionally, each book has a delightfully new angle of its own that brings together character development and backstory revelations while still providing a new and entertaining mystery to be resolved.
In this latest installment, Irene and her fearless companions are confronting enemies they thought were long gone, and their arrival on the scene is both unexpected and delightful at the same time. As always the writing is brilliant, the characterization is incredibly complex and delicately managed, and the whole thing was a delight from page one until the very end.
I cannot wait for the next book in the series! Incidentally, I also have to go back and re-read all the earlier ones – while I continue to read these books as they come out and thoroughly enjoy each one, I suspect there are small but interesting things that I am missing along the way – the storylines and character development are so involved here, that I’m very curious to see what I find when I go back and start the series again… Unfortunately time is not on my side these days, so I haven’t been able to do that yet – I had hoped to do it before this book, but there was just no way it was going to get done.
Incidentally, I wouldn’t recommend starting this one mid series – it’s one thing to go a year or more between books, it’s another entirely to jump into the middle of something this highly involved. Don’t rob yourself – start with book one and savor every bit of the journey… You won’t be sorry!
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my obligation-free review copy.