The Book That Wouldn't Burn

Livira only knows the Dust, the barren world without cities, or crowds, or anything but the huts that built her home. Until the sabbers attack. She learns of cities, histories languages and much more. Evar Evantari is trapped, his world limited by the stone ceiling high above and the locked doors promising a worl outside. His brothers and sister, by circumstance, live with him among the stacks of books in many tongues. Until one book falls before his eyes and points at a way out of his library imprisionment. In a world circling around an infinitely mysterious library, one book opens a whole new depth to the collection. It won’t surprise anyone that I love books and thus reading about a library as large and mysterious as the one in the Library Trilogie by Mark Lawrence made me want to crawl in between the pages! In the beginning the story feels almost slow but that’s because you’re only getting to know the two protagonists. Livira, a genius at remembering stuff and asking questions, just like Evar, the odd one out in a family of prodigies, lead their own lives until they are connected. For anyone reading fantasy it will be clear from the start that it will happen but I was blown away with the how and when. Once that happens, I could barely put this book down, waiting for the two to meet again and then being once again hit out of nowhere with it. It’s a great play on perspectives and narration, toying with the reader and the characters in the way only a book can. Mark Lawrence used the most powerful thing a book has to force perspectives onto his readers and characters alike: narrative perspectives. But beside the literary lesson, he reaches futher and applies the same lecture about perspective to politcs and wars, making you ask yourself who really is the enemy? This book made me feel with the characters, immersed me in their confusion and conflicts, and struck me with their shock and pain. Definitely a book I’ll recommend to anyone with a knack for the world of literature, a curious mind, and a desire to dive into another world.

This dark, yet beautiful story about the secrets hiddin within a vast and ancient library touches on themes as the power of knowledge, disinformation and bigotry. Mark Lawrence creates a clever mystery plot that will keep you wanting to push through just one more chapter, always having another secret, another revelation and another cliffhanger ready for you until you won´t be abled to put the book down anymore. Both pov characters are so well written and likeable that everytime the pov changes you had already forgotten there´s another main character because you were so immersed in the others story. What an absolute joy to read!

The Book That Wouldn´t Burn is an ambitious and imaginative fantasy novel that combines mystery, adventure and philosophical questions about knowledge, identity and time. One of the novels greatest strenghts is its . Mark Lawrence creates a fascinating setting that feels both magical and believable. The library itself is more than just a backdrop-it becomes a living and mysterious character that surprises both of the reader and the protagonist.

Given the very vague synopsis, I wasn't too sure, what to expect from <<The Book That Wouldn't Burn>>. But maybe it's this vagueness, that let's you fall head over heels into the lives of Livira and Evar, into this vast library and all it contains. Be preaped for amazing storytelling, a very bookish content (I mean look at the awesome cover,kind of obvious isn't it?) And the worldbuilding!!! Loved it! Just witnessing Livira and Evar's lives intersecting through a span of different time zones, wasn't only delightful, but always full of suspense. There is so much magic within these pages, this book is definitely something you read for the love of language, libraries and books!