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Critics' Opinion:
Readers' Opinion:
First Published:
May 2023, 576 pages
Paperback:
Mar 2024, 576 pages
Book Reviewed by:
Katharine Blatchford
Buy This Book
Two strangers find themselves connected by a vast and mysterious library containing many wonders and still more secrets, in this powerfully moving first book in a new series from the international bestselling author of Red Sister and Prince of Thorns.
The boy has lived his whole life trapped within a book-choked chamber older than empires and larger than cities.
The 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.
Chapter 1
Livira
They named Livira after a weed. You couldn't grow much in the Dust but that never stopped hungry people trying. They said livira would grow in places where rocks wouldn't. Which never made sense to Livira because rocks don't grow. Unfortunately, not even goats could eat the stuff and any farmer who watered a crop would find themselves spending most of their time fighting it. Spill a single drop of water in the Dust and, soon enough, strands of livira would come coiling out of the cracked ground for a taste.
Her parents had given her a different name but she hardly remembered it. People called her Livira because, like the weed, you couldn't keep her down.
"Come on then!" Livira picked herself up and wiped the blood from her nose. She raised her fists again. "Come on."
Acmar shook his head, looking embarrassed now that a ring of children had gathered. All of them were dusty but Livira was coated in the stuff, head to foot.
"Come on!" she shouted. She felt woozy and...
Over the course of the book, the characters' stories converge in unexpected ways as they seek answers to the questions surrounding them. The romantic elements complement the mystery well, as do excellent worldbuilding and character development, but for me the book's real draw is the opportunity to explore this extraordinary library through the characters' perspectives and experiences...continued
Full Review
(585 words)
(Reviewed by Katharine Blatchford).
Mark Lawrence's fantasy novel The Book That Wouldn't Burn centers on an incredible library, where the knowledge of millennia is guarded by magical assistants and dangerous labyrinths. For book lovers, reading about magical libraries can have a special appeal—a place that, in the real world, already feels enchanted and full of possibility can literally be so in fantasy. Below are some other books with extraordinary enchanted libraries.
The Midnight Library (2020): Matt Haig's novel explores the choices we make and the regrets that result through a magical library whose books contain all the alternate universes from every decision made over the course of a lifetime. In exploring this library, Nora also confronts ...
If you liked The Book That Wouldn't Burn, try these:
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As death stalks a gothic mansion in Miami, the lives of two women intertwine as the past and present collide.
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Debut novelist Wenyan Lu brings us this witty yet profound story about one woman's midlife reawakening in contemporary rural China.
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