There is nothing more tantalizing to a reader than a book about a library. The setting – shelves on shelves of endless books, towering to the ceiling – is like a dream come true. If you throw a little adventure and fantasy to the mix, as Mark Lawrence promises in The Book that Wouldn’t Burn, at the very least you’ve got an intriguing premise. (Thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Press for the gift copy!)

Specifically, Lawrence’s latest novel follows a civilization centered around a library, populated by two warring factions. We meet deuteragonists Livira and Evar, who occupy the library at different points in time. As they travel back and forth to learn more about the library – and each other – we get to explore the implications of a civilizations that values knowledge enough to go to war for it. A bit different than my usual fantasy fare, which leans a bit more hard / political. But honestly, give me any book about a library and it’s like catnip – add fantasy to the mix and there was no chance I wouldn’t give this a shot.

When is a library more than a library?

When it’s a symbol, of course. In The Book that Wouldn’t Burn, Lawrence sets up the library as a setting and an object of power, one fought over for millennia by different species. The library itself contains every book every written , and as such represents an unimaginable amount of knowledge – and power. It also contains dangers including ferocious shadow-monsters, ghost animals, and mysterious technical Assistants with questionable loyalty. Librarians undergo difficult and extensive apprenticeships to learn how to navigate the library and retrieve books; both protagonists regularly risk life and limb as they explore the stacks. It’s a cool setup, reminiscent of Terry Pratchett’s notion of a library – a never-ending, powerful accumulation of learnings. In some ways, it’s a celebration of the power of the written word, its impact on civilization.

But there’s a drawback to this library-as-adventure setting. When your library requires extreme cleverness and athleticism to explore, it means the protagonists are clever and athletic. But the tradeoff seems to be curiosity – where generally, librarians are well-read and curious, Lawrence’s protagonists are adventure heroes first, readers second. (I’m not sure Livira ever expresses liking reading, let alone the typical “bookish” traits common to characters in novels that prominently feature reading.) It’s a bit weird to read a novel that treats books so much as MacGuffins, instead of more abstract repositories of knowledge.

Pacing an adventure

As you can imagine, setting up a dual-protagonist adventure plot in a magical library takes a bit of setup. There’s a lot for Lawrence to establish: the world, individual characters, the library and its lore. Each character has their own ensemble of support, and their own relationship with the library. This is all before you get to the central conceit of the novel: a magical portal that allows our protagonists to travel back and forth in time to meet each other. It’s probably halfway through the novel that our two protagonists actually get to know each other.

Now, this structure would be ok if the rest of the novel were evenly paced. I like worldbuilding as much as anyone, and I genuinely enjoyed the time we got to spend exploring Livira’s world. But even after this introduction, we spend much more time with Livira and her friends, which makes it difficult to truly absorb the themes Lawrence wants to play with. And the novel only really gets going in the last 20%, with events hitting in rapid succession after 350-odd pages of pure worldbuilding and character development. After a pretty chill reading experience, I almost felt whiplash from the sudden shift in pace and tone.

This will probably work itself out over the course of the trilogy. I imagine that, were one to read the full three novels at once, the overall pacing might feel balanced. But it was a little more difficult to absorb the pacing shift in just this sitting.

A fantasy twist – with more to come

So why am I even writing about this? Why did I keep reading? Two elements – the ending, and the characters themselves.

First – the ending. I keep reading books with twists, and then wanting to write about them. I will spare you the spoilers here, but suffice it to say that the last, fast-paced 20% packed a pretty unexpected turn of events. This is the best kind of twist – the kind that makes you want to re-read everything prior – and establishes some pretty critical themes. I will say no more here, but that it was creative, clever, and impactful.

I also quite enjoyed Lawrence’s characters. Once I got over my disappointment that Livira and Evar don’t like reading, I was able to get more into their personalities. Lawrence sets up a tangled web of relationships that don’t fully resolve by the end of the novel, leaving room for more adventures. Suffice it to say I’ll be curious to see what happens next…

Reader’s notes & rating (⭐⭐⭐)

I was honestly expecting this to be Very Different than it ending up being. It’s not exactly my cup of tea – though I could see myself reading at least a sequel to tie up some loose ends. I have absolutely recommended it to my reading friends who appreciate epic fantasy, though – so if that’s more up your alley, recommend giving this a shot. Overall – creative plot and world, marred by pacing and my personal aesthetic quibbles. Three stars.

The Book that Wouldn’t Burn was published on May 11, 2023.