“Time-traveling Librarian spy Irene has faced unimaginable challenges across a multitude of worlds, but to keep her friends safe, Irene will have to do what has never been attempted and cut through the tangled web of power at the heart of the Library.

Irene is trying to learn the truth about Alberich — and the possibility that he’s her father. But when the Library orders her to kill him, and then Alberich himself offers to sign a truce, she has to discover why he originally betrayed the Library.

With her allies endangered and her strongest loyalties under threat, she’ll have to trace his past across multiple worlds and into the depths of mythology and folklore, to find the truth at the heart of the Library, and why the Library was first created.”

 [Text from the publisher’s website and the backcover]

>> Please, read the warning for possible spoilers <<

This series by British author Genevieve Cogman goes beyond any traditional genre as it mixes them all: fantasy, science-fiction, mystery, horror or even cyber- and steampunk! It offers a fascinating universe where a secret library hidden in-between worlds has doors opening to an infinite variety of parallel dimensions. Its librarians are “stealing” unique books and manuscripts from each of those worlds in order to create a link with them and preserve the balance between order and chaos. The universe is engulfed in an eternal war of influence between the Fae (the agents of chaos) and the dragons (the agents of order). Humans inhabiting those worlds are only pawns in their hands. The protagonists of the story are junior Librarian Irene and her companions: Dragon prince Kai, victorian investigator Vale (a doppelgänger of Sherlock Holmes) and Fae apprentice Catherine… I have already commented on books one to four and books five to seven.

Irene is determined to put an end to Alberich’s threat once and for all (whether he is her father or not). However, in order to do so she has to investigate why he wanted to destroy the library. All the clues and stories that she discovers brings her to the mythology behind the creation of the Library and she discovers a foe far worse in the heart of the Library itself! 

This series was probably originally intended for a Young Adults audience, so it is not surprising that it is such an easy reading. It is well written, interesting and quite captivating. With its travelling between worlds, it offers action in different time periods therefore it is never boring and allow to switch effortlessly between fantasy and science-fiction. It really provides an entertaining and enjoyable reading experience. So I strongly recommend it to everyone who likes adventures and books ! 

Unfortunately this book is the end of the Library universe for now. The author said that it is not the end of the series (more like the end of a season) and that she intended to eventually come back to it. For now she would like to dedicate herself to a new project “in a completely different area (involving vampires and the Scarlet Pimpernel and a hapless maidservant who’d rather be doing embroidery)“: Scarlet to be published by Penguin Random House in May 2023.

The Invisible Library 8: The Untold Story, by Genevieve Cogman. New York: ACE (Berkley, imprint of Penguin Random House), December 2021. 384 pages, 8.25 x 5.5 in., $US 16.00 / $22.00 Can, ISBN 978-1-9848-0480-8, For YA readers (14+).

For more information you can check the following websites:

[ Amazon • Goodreads • Google • Nelligan • Wikipedia • WorldCat ]

© Genevieve Cogman, 2021.