Hello my friends. I am so sorry for the long delay. I meant to write so many different times and then life got busy, or my mental health was at an all time low. But we can go into more detail about that later. Today, I want to share my latest book review on The Book That Wouldn’t Burn. Here we go.
Summary of The Book
Okay, how do I put this. Well, let’s start with the simple part. The book that wouldn’t burn is the first book in the Library trilogy written by Mark Lawerence. We follow two different POVs; Livera and Evar. So, let’s break this down into a three part summary.
Livera
Livera was born in a small village in what everyone calls, “the dust” with her aunt. She’s a very spunky and rebellious child who doesn’t enjoy following rules and will pick fights just to prove she can hold her own. When her village is attacked by sabbers, she and the other children are taken captive. After being rescued by some soldiers and brought to the city, they learn that the people of the city look down on “dusters”. Not wanting to submit to her place, she challenges it and gets the attention of a librarian named Yute. Enrolling her at the library to be trained definitely turns a few heads. Livera grows from a child to a young woman, all while trying to unlock the mysteries of the library.
Evar
Evar lives in the library with his “siblings”. After a mysterious accident they are all trapped in the library with no way out. Raised by two beings known as The Assistant and The Soldier, they are taught to care for themselves and how to fight these things called Escapes, which are shadows that take on form as they steal information from books. Evar has spent most of his life trying to find a way out. One day, he finds a book with his name in it, as well as the instructions not to read it. Haunted by this feeling that there is a woman that he is supposed to be looking for, Evar stumbles across a gateway to this peaceful place that is full of different portals to different worlds and different times.
Remainder of the Summary
In this place Evar meets Livera and it completely changes the course of both of their lives. Livera keeps getting pulled back to her world, her time. Each times she is reunited with Evar, she has grown up more. Where it’s been a day or two for Evar, it has been years for Livera. The two learn a lot on one of their adventures together, and learn shocking truths about each other. But, I can’t say more than that without giving spoilers.
What I Liked
Some aspects that I really enjoyed about the book are the plot twists. One thing that I will say; Mark Lawerence knows how to write a plot twist or two…or three. When he would drop a bomb it left me going, “wait a second. What?” There was lots of the story that was super interesting. The library itself was like its own character. There were quite a few interesting characters throughout the book and with all the time differences, it made me wonder about a few things and I was interested to see where Mark would go from there.
What I Disliked About the Book
The Book That Wouldn’t Burn was a thick book – over 500 pages. Usually, I don’t mind a long book, but there were aspects of the book that made it feel like it was being dragged out. But at the same time it felt like we were jumping a lot. For example, something would happen to Livera and then the next chapter with her would be a few years later. And a bit of a contradiction to what I said I liked, there was one “plot twist” that I saw coming from a mile away. Sure, Mark used that one to add two more plot twists, essentially, but it felt drawn out. And then there were times that things just happened really conveniently. I can’t give an example without spoilers, sorry.
Final Thoughts and Rating
I gave The Book That Wouldn’t Burn a 3 star rating. It was a conflicting book for me. On the one hand I liked it, but on the other I just wanted it to be done. It wasn’t a book that I could easily binge read, but it was good enough that I was determined to finish it. Will I finish the trilogy? Maybe. I am slightly curious about how things are going to go, but at the same time I don’t really care. I don’t know. We will see what happens.
After The Book That Wouldn’t Burn
I am hoping to find a quick read. With 8 out of 50 books read, I am drastically behind schedule. My fiance informed me that my office is complete and I can move in there. Meaning, I can start my YouTube channel and some of the videos will be book related. And the result should be that I can read more, seeing as I want to make body double videos. “Read with me” videos are popular from what I have seen. One of the things I have been contemplating is doing my reviews through a vlog on YouTube, instead of writing them here. Or, I guess I could do both. One thing that I know is that I am excited to start this next chapter.
The Next Blog
There has been so much that has happened and I know I need to tell you all about it. My goal will be to give you an update with the next blog. Between wedding planning, managing my mental health, and my finances – it’s been crazy. I am very excited about the prospect of working on my writing more frequently. Slowly I will create an office that will help me with my writing goals. And then, I can finally take the steps needed to publish my first book! Honestly, I can’t wait to share that update when it comes. Here’s hoping that I can knock off the to do list to get that ready. As we know, anything can happen, if I try.
