About the Book
-
Author:
- Genevieve Cogman
Cover Story: Fitting
BFF Charm: Heck Yes
Talky Talk: Heisty
Bonus Factor: History?
Relationship Status: Iron Anniversary
Red alert! The Secret Chapter is the sixth book in the Invisible Library series. If you haven’t read the other books in the series (The Invisible Library, The Masked City, The Burning Page, The Lost Plot, or The Mortal Word), man your battle stations turn away now, as there might be spoilers in this review. If you’re caught up, however, feel free to continue below.
Cover Story: Fitting
Every cover in this series goes together well, but what I love most is how they hint at the stories within without being overtly obvious. What, you might ask, does an ornate frame have to do with a shark? Well, Reader, that’s for you to discover.
The Deal:
Instrumental in the fragile truce between Dragons and Fae, Irene knows that she has to be more careful than ever when going about her Librarian duties. But with the fate of a world she holds dear in the balance, Irene’s willing to go to the very limits of propriety, even if it means playing both sides.
BFF Charm: Heck Yes
Irene and I are old friends by now, and although I’ve gone through some slightly crazy phases where I wanted to maybe be her more than be her friend, I’ve resigned myself to the fact that I’m bever going to be as cool as she is—but if we can be friends, I can just live vicariously through her adventures. Honestly, that’s more in line with my hermit personality, anyway.
Swoonworthy Scale: 2
Irene and Kai’s relationship changed from mentor/mentee to maybe significant others a couple of books ago, but we sadly get very little swoon to back up that change. They had excellent chemistry in the early books, but it’s turned into one of those relationships like you see on TV that had amazing amounts of promise, but when the couple actually gets together you’re bored of them immediately and the whole plot of the show is worse for it. This lack of showing (versus telling) is disappointing, but it doesn’t really affect my enjoyment of the series’s larger plot(s).
Talky Talk: Heisty
Six books into this series, and it was about time for a classic heist story. And in the universe of the Library, stories often play out exactly like you’d expect the trope to. The Secret Chapter felt very much like reading a James Bond movie—there’s a villain who feeds people to sharks—mixed with something like The Italian Job, but the delightful part is that Cogman points out how tropey (or archetypal) everyone’s being. (They are Fae, after all, and in this universe, Fae are very much archetypes.)
Bonus Factor: History?
There’s been a lot of world-building in the Invisible Library series so far, but The Secret Chapter raises some interesting questions about the Dragons and the accuracy of the kings and queens claims to have always ruled.
(It’s interesting to get such new information this late in a series, but I trust Cogman to wrap it up well before things are all said and done.)
Relationship Status: Iron Anniversary
The traditional gift for the sixth wedding anniversary is something made of iron, which signifies strength. What kind of iron gift might you like, Book? ‘Cause our relationship is definitely strong.
Literary Matchmaking
Y’all know my favorite heist story can be found in Leigh Bardugo’s Six of Crows.
Ryan Graudin’s Invictus also features a band of misfits on a quest for property that might not actually belong to them.
And for more library love and adventures, check out Laini Taylor’s Strange the Dreamer.
FTC Full Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from Ace Books, but got neither a private dance party with Tom Hiddleston nor money in exchange for this review. The Secret Chapter will be available Jan. 7.
