An enjoyable read, although slightly forgettable. Definitely will read more by this author though! Overall worth it.

Thank you Publisher and Netgalley for this advanced copy

I love it, really well written. It's better than the first book, I love how the story progress and the worldbuilding revealing

Definitely a WORTHY sequel to the first book. While Evar and Livira’s arcs pick up right where they left off (I mean, THAT ending!!!) this sequel also introduces a new character, Celcha. The world widens, new perspectives are presented. I feel this series is a perfect blend of fantasy and science fiction, an amazing offering to readers who like both genres.

no surprise but i really enjoyed this! it was a good follow up to the previous book, the writing style was just as good as the first book and i didn’t struggle to stay interested

Thanks so very much to Netgalley and the publisher for kindly providing me this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. I do reviews on my main social media platforms and will be providing my full review there as I get through my TBR blacklist. Thanks again!

I felt much less connected to this than the first one. It's always tricky when everything, not just the the characters but the world and the timeframe. Not only that, but the couple whose relationship we spent the first book investing in were separated for most of this one. As a result, I found myself intellectually engaged but not invested as I had been in the first one.

(4.25 ⭐️) The first book in this series is one of my all time favorite fantasy books so I had a strong feeling that this second installment probably wouldn’t reach those same heights. However, this was still a great follow up and just an overall good time.

Livira is still my absolute heart and soul and Evar continues to be a delight and a broody simp, which I love. The biggest surprise standouts to me were definitely Arpix and Clovis who both got a lot more to do this time around (I really enjoyed Aprix’s added POV). However, I do think the added storylines/characters stretched everything a bit too thin and sidelined, in my opinion, the best characters and aspects of the story. The Livira and Malar erasure will forever haunt me :( Out of the expanded world and storylines, I did find most of it pretty compelling, but I was not a big fan of the ganar plot and wish more of that time was spent elaborating on the “war”.

That all being said, this story is just too good to really be bad so I still ate it up!! I also do still have really high hopes for the last book in this trilogy. Here’s hoping it’ll be incredibly long and dive into all the existing story threads 🤞🏽

***I received both an ARC and review copy from Berkley Publishing for free and am leaving an honest review***

In this second installment of the library trilogy by Mark Lawrence, I found myself immersed in the same wonderful and detailed world as I wasn't the first book.

This book picks up right where the first book left off, which I love. I hate giant time gaps between Books. We got some new point of views from new characters as well as continuation with the old characters that we've already grown to love. I felt like the storyline was still solid and strong, and everything that was happening flowed organically to the plotline and was true to the characters.

I did read this as a tandem read both physical and audiobook, and I did find probably a dozen discrepancies between the audiobook and the physical book. Nothing that would change the overall story or was overall important but it happened enough for me to take note.

I did enjoy the storyline in the first book slightly more than the second book, but they were both still very solid and I found the second book to be a very enjoyable read that I devoured quickly. I cannot wait to get my hands on the third book, I feel like it will be an absolutely stellar wrap up to a great series.

This was very much a middle book, and with the exception of The Book of the Ancestor trilogy, with Lawrence's other series I tend to lose momentum and need to go back and reread once book three was out. That said, I really enjoyed the first Library novel and like this world and characters and set-up better than anything else he's done since the aforementioned Book of the Ancestor, so I was into this for as far as I got through it and am looking forward to having book three so I can read this series straight through.

The themes and questions in book one of the Library Trilogy carry over into this next installment. Lawrence continues the action, intrigue and character development as readers will once again question knowledge and it's place in the hands of individuals. There is a lot that happens in this book.

Lawrence introduces a new character Celcha, a ganar and slave. She and her people are forced to mine the desert for books. When her brother, Hellet, opens one of those books and faces strict punishment from their master, the two find their way to the library. The book as a whole rotates through the points of view of Celcha, Evar, Livira, and the librarian and Livira's mentor, Arpix. each is located in a different time and facing various events and aftermaths of the library. Lawrence continues to strongly weave themes of knowledge, humanity and power through the book. This is very similar to the first book in the series.

While I enjoyed reading book two, at times the pacing can be a bit slow and with all the different time lines, it can get a bit confusing. There is plenty of action and connections along the way to keep the reader engaged and interested in the story. At times the plot action can be a bit vague. There isn't much explanation to some of the elements, but I'm hoping that is cleared up in the third installment of the trilogy. If that isn't enough to make me want to read the next book, book 2 ends on a cliffhanger. Once again readers and characters are left questioning power and the danger of knowledge and what it can do when emotionally charged by things live vengeance, love, and hate.

Overall, it's a solid book two while at the same time creating a transition into book three. There are new characters and plenty of the old, each unique and complicated. I look forward to reading how Lawrence ties up everything in book three.

In this sequel we have new characters introduced which play an integral role in this plot along with different timelines. With that comes the complication of bringing those two things together into one meeting point. Throughout majority of this book our FMC and MMC are separated, and we go through the journey of them trying to reach each other again. I will say the beginning of the book does move along a bit slow but it does pick up. All of these characters have to overcome adversity in one way or another to meet their end goal. We see tons of character growth which I LOVE. One of the main takeaways from this book for me was the lesson of looking at things from different angles and other people’s perspective. Also the unfortunate fact that for most people, perception is reality. My other favorite theme here is how every empire has what this book refers to as a ‘fire-limit’, which is “the level of technology a people are able to reach before they burn their world down with it.” I cannot put into words how much I enjoyed this book because it really has a way of making you think and feel. If you enjoy social theory, philosophy, and seeing how different levels of a society perceive the world I think you’ll enjoy this.

Thanks to Netgalley and Ace for a copy to review. All opinions are my own.

Oh look! The next book within the Library trilogy by Mark Lawrence! One of my favorite adult fantasies and this sequel continues our story in the most over the top library you can possibly imagine. We are introduced to 2 new characters who uncover a buried room full of books and they think they can recreate the order in how they were shelved. I don’t want to say too much here as this definitly connects to book 1 but yeah a strong continuation!

This series is a must-preorder for me, and I can't stop recommending it to everyone. Lawrence's world-building is amazing, with an infinite library and mysterious chambers. The Exchange, a space between worlds, is shaped by the characters' expectations. Mechanisms allow people to enter the world of books. This book follows familiar characters and introduces Celcha and Hellet, who discover valuable books and encounter ghosts urging them to change the world. We learn more about Arpix and Clovis, and Wentworth, the cat, plays a bigger role. Lawrence's writing is rich with detail and big questions about the dangers of infinite knowledge. While this book has fewer twists and more battles than the first, it's still a must-read, and I can't wait for the next one.

Don't mind me while I read the short stories available to hold me over till book 3!!

The Book that Broke the World is the second installment in The Library Trilogy and it did not disappoint. It picks up at the thrilling pace where book one left off and charges on. The depth and complexity in this epic fantasy will make you sit up and pay attention, because if you don’t you might miss something. And trust me, you don’t want to miss anything.
This was a great story that I couldn’t put down. I loved Clovis in this book. Her character development was the greatest although seeing Kerrol develop some cracks in his nature was most welcome. I adore Evar even more if that’s possible, while rooting for Livira and her determination. Malar is well, Malar, and how can you not love him.
This story had so many twists and turns and like book one, it left us on the edge of a knife. I highly recommend this series, and can’t wait for the conclusion.

A great follow up from book one! The plot thickens and evolves in such interesting ways. Definitely a worthy sequel

It’s funny that as I was reading Mark Lawrence’s The Book That Broke the World, I kept thinking how it was much more action/plot oriented than its predecessor, The Book That Wouldn’t Burn, which in my head I recalled as far more character and theme-driven. Then, in preparation for writing this review, I went back and read my review of book one and saw that I’d noted how the action “quickens at a relentlessly breathless rate.” So maybe it’s a balance thing? With the first book being more split between character, theme, and action while its sequel focuses more on the last of those? I can’t say for sure, but while I enjoyed The Book That Broke the World throughout its length, I did have the feeling that I wasn’t swimming in the same depth that had me not just enjoying but loving book one. Which, to be clear, is not a complaint, merely an observation. After all, creating a book one can enjoy throughout its entire length is absolutely a win for the reader and an accomplishment for an author.

The novel opens by introducing a new species via a brother-sister pairing: Celcha and Hellet, two Ganar, an enslaved race whose origins are fascinating, though I won’t spoil them here. Celcha and Hellet toil in excavating buried parts of the library, and when Hellet’s two invisible-to-everyone-else “angels” (better known to reads as “ghosts” in the terminology of the series) lead him to a treasure trove of books, he and Hellet are taken to the city and put to work in the library. The book moves back and forth for a while between Celcha and Hellet and the characters from book one, who were separated in time and space by the events of that book: Livira and Malar; Evar, Evar’s sister Clovis, and Evar’s brother Kerrol; and the librarian Arpix and a few fellow survivors.

It's a welcome return to Livira, Malar, and Evar, who remain wonderfully engaging characters in their individual natures and their inter-relationships. While we met Arpix and Clovis in the first novel, here they both blossom into their own selves and it’s a pleasure to see their characters unfold. As for the two new characters, Hellet fell a bit flat for me, but his sister more than made up for it, and I found myself wishing by the end we’d spent more time with her.

The plots run separately for quite some time and then, as one would expect, eventually converge, though if the convergence is predictable the method/details come as a surprise. I noted above this is a book filled with action and most of that comes from the threads involving the three Canith and Arpix’s group. Though they’ve finally managed to escape the library chamber they’d been trapped in for so long, Evar, Clovis, and Kerrol have to contend with being chased both by the Skeer (a hostile insectoid, hive-mind species) and a giant automaton. A different group of Skeer threatens Arpix’s group, where they have been trapped for some time in a mountainous region of the Dust. The area has some sort of force that keeps the Skeer back, offering a refuge from attack but little else in a place where food is scarce and the environment barely habitable. Meanwhile, the Skeer continue to try and figure out a way around the force. Between these two plotlines (Evar’s and Arpix’s), readers get a whole lot of running, chasing, and fighting, and if there isn’t that sort of fast-paced violent action there’s a lot of simmering tension over potential violence.

The other two threads — Livira’s and Celcha’s — are different in tone and style. A good chunk of Livira and Malar’s story involve a sort of quest plot as she is tasked with retrieving the book she wrote, “A wound in the world … a book that has swallowed its own tale . . . burning through the years, spreading cracks through time, fissures that reach into past and future … weaken [ing] many things.” Beyond the incentive to mend what she has broken, she’s also told finding the book and bringing it back will restore her to her body and also allow her and Evar to find each other once again. Her story, therefore, becomes somewhat of a puzzle-solving tale, though it eventually becomes a heartbreakingly emotional one as well. As for the story involving Celcha and Hellet, it reads almost like a Greek tragedy in that as a reader you know where it is going, but all you can do is watch as it marches toward its inevitable tragedy. That their cause is righteous and that Celcha is such an endearing character makes it all the more compellingly awful and moving.

Thematically, Lawrence continues to explore the themes from book one: the power of stories and word; the cycle of cruelty, violence, and self-destruction; the question of whether preserving knowledge helps maintain the light of civilization and sparks the conflagration that burns it all down; the difference between justice and vengeance, the difficult in choosing empathy over righteous and justified anger; the ways we dehumanize the Other. While the questions remain intriguing, I’m not sure the thematic element was quite as successful. One, because we’ve already seen these questions explored in the first book so there’s a little sense of repetition; two, because they’re addressed in heavily overt fashion towards the end; and three, because the characters are all told (or feel) they must “choose a side” amongst the various options, but I was never clear just why that is or why we’re supposed to (apparently) feel a sense of urgency about choosing a side in a war that has been going on for a thousand or more years (well, outside the obvious necessities of plotting). And just because we’re in the “I had a few issues” segment of this review, I’ll just add here that the near-ending also felt a bit rushed and at times disjointed, though obviously I won’t go into details.

That said, if the near-ending was a bit problematic, the actual ending was highly, movingly effective. Put that together with what I began with — that I enjoyed my entire time reading the book — and it’s easy to see that the complaints are relatively minor and greatly overshadowed by the novel’s strengths. Leaving me incredibly eager to return to these characters and this world. Strongly recommended.

The book that broke the world is a solid sequel to the book that wouldn’t burn. The adventures that is woven with different paths in the timeline made for an interesting read. Unlike the first book we spend very little time in the library and spent more exploring outside This trilogy is about the power of power of books, the histroy of the words, the meaning of letters and communications though out space and time. I could read them multiple times and come up with things i missed the first few reads. One i am sure i will come back to again and again.

Stunning, heartbreaking, and powerful. Vastly different from book one and all the better for it.

A brilliant follow-up to <i>The Book That Wouldn't Burn</i>, Lawrence takes a sharp turn with this sequel, providing the reader with a much narrower focus on fewer characters and plot threads while answering many questions raised throughout the series thus far. While new interesting characters and timelines eat up many chapters of the story, they are welcome and help bind together many of the open mysteries of the previous entry.

What surprised me most was how little of the story took place within the Library itself. Much world-building along different paths of the timeline helped establish structure before the final act's devastating sequence of events and revelations that twisted my brain in fun and exciting ways. It's a wonder to think that Mark writes these stories without much of a plan, and it somehow all ties together in a sensical and elevated fashion.

This trilogy is about the power of books, the history of words, the meaning of letters, and communications throughout space and time. So many themes are covered that it's almost hard to keep up, but the pages keep turning and the wonders never cease. It is a thrilling journey, and quite possibly Mark's most meaningful, most powerful work yet.

THE BOOK THAT BROKE THE WORLD by Mark Lawrence is the second book in the Library trilogy. The first book, THE BOOK THAT WOULDN’T BURN, was one of my favorites from last year and so I knew I had to read this as soon as possible.

The series follows Evar and Livira, two residents of a seemingly endless, magical library that is built beneath a mountain. Against all odds, Evar and Livira’s lives continue to lead them back to each other.

This book picks up right after the end of the first book, but also introduces a new pair of characters. I thought that this was the perfect way to start a sequel, because we had a great balance of scenes where we were already dropped in the action with Evan and Livira, and scenes that introduced us to the new characters in a way that gripped me to want to understand how they fit in.

To quote my review of book one, Lawrence does a masterful job of making the reader feel the same sense of wonder and magic that you feel going to Disney World for the first time or waking up to snow on Christmas morning.

This is a series that really stands out to me in the landscape of fantasy today because of the massive amounts of creativity in the setting, magic system, and character development. This combined with an enjoyable writing style and pace of exposition makes these books difficult to put down!

This book comes out on April 9th, so there is still time to pre-order!

The Book That Broke the World... and my brain! Mind absolutely blown. This series is such a fun fantasy retelling of stories of old. The character Livira who absolutely captured my attention, she overcame odds to be the Librarian of Crath City, and as a librarian myself, I loved the representation. I also felt such heart wrenching emotions for Celcha and Hellet. This story is shockingly poetic, full of twists, and was brilliantly written!