Looking For a Good Book

This is the 7th book in the Invisible Library series, and before you even think about reading this volume you really probably should have a better of understanding of the characters and the world this is set in.

I found this book to be a little … ‘off’ … from the rest of the series that I’ve read.  There was still a lot of action and adventure and cool fantasy things going on (let’s face it, use of The Language is a really great concept) but the story here didn’t have the feel of being a part of a larger story arc the way most of the other books did.  This felt like it could easily have been any fantasy story that was slightly adapted with these characters and world in mind, whereas my recollection is that the other books felt uniquely suited to the Invisible Library.

The character of Catherine has a lot of potential. She’s the niece of Lord Silver and while a teenager and maybe not as enthusiastic about training with Irene as one would hope, this feels very much like a set-up for future books and she certainly makes a nice counterpart to the ambitious Irene and her partner, the Dragon Kai. But this feels a lot like establishing the character so that she can be used more efficiently in future books.

We’re seven books in to the series now, and this is a series that I’ve recommended successfully to others, but this is probably my least favorite of the Invisible Library books that I’ve read. But how do you not read it if you are reading the series? If you skipped this one, you might wonder who Catherine is in the next one?

This is not a book to recommend on its own, but I do recommend the series.

Looking for a good book? The Dark Archive is the seventh book in Genevieve Cogman’s Invisible Library series. This volume appears to act as a ‘reset’ for a future storyline and as part of the series it’s worth reading.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

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The Dark Archive

author: Genevieve Cogman

series: The Invisible Library #7

publisher: Ace

ISBN: 9781984804785

paperback, 336 pages