The Invisible Library cover art

The Invisible Library

The Invisible Library, Book 1

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The Invisible Library

Written by: Genevieve Cogman
Narrated by: Kristin Atherton
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About this listen

One spy. One dangerous book. One deadly mission. Discover the first book in this gripping fantasy mystery series – The Invisible Library is the astounding debut from bestselling author Genevieve Cogman.

Perfect for fans of
Mr Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan, Jasper Fforde's The Eyre Affair or Ben Aaronovitch's Rivers of London.

'I absolutely loved this' – N.K. Jemisin, author of
The Fifth Season

Irene is a professional spy for the mysterious Library, whose staff are sent to different realities to harvest dangerous and mystical fiction.

Irene has been posted to an alternative steampunk London along with her enigmatic new assistant, Kai. Their mission: to retrieve a dangerous edition of Grimms' Fairy Tales. But it has already been stolen.

In London's underground, the laws of nature have been bent – supernatural creatures and unpredictable magic stalk the land. The city is home to vampires, werewolves – factions that are all prepared to fight to the death for this book.

Irene must face a web of deadly danger, deception and secret societies. Her new assistant is hiding secrets of his own. Yet failure is not an option – the nature of reality itself is at stake . . .

Continue the journey with the adventurous second title in the Invisible Library series, The Masked City.

©2015 Genevieve Cogman (P)2021 Macmillan Publishers International Limited
Action & Adventure Alternate History Dragons & Mythical Creatures Fantasy Fiction Historical Paranormal City Adventure Emotionally Gripping England
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Original story enhanced by excellent performance!

I had already read the Invisible Library and decided to revisit it through this audiobook: I am so glad that I did! The performer did not overact the voices, but brought depth and feeling to the characters and moments of suspense. I laughed out loud several times and really appreciated her delivery. Can't wait to listen to the rest of the series!

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Captivating!

I’ve read this series of books before but thought to try the audiobook. I’m quite glad I did even though I don’t usually prefer audiobooks. The narration is EXCELLENT! It’s the perfect compliment to the story and brings the characters to life.

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not good

I should never have picked this up.
I did not enjoy it. At all. It was a grating slog. I'm not a fan of fantasy, I will admit, but I'm open to giving any genre a chance if the concept sounds interesting. And it did sound interesting. But good grief, the world building was a hot mess. There was so much going on, but it wasn't cohesive in any way, and, worst of all, it wasn't actually interesting. It was all vague and half-formed and unclear and... boring. Ok, so we have a secret library with magical librarians who are also basically trained like MI5, who go around different parallell universes collecting books. To preserve literature. Which is such an unsatisfying mission statement. Why? Why is it important? What do they do with the knowledge they collect? Nothing, apparently. And then there are dragons and fairies and werewolves and vampires. And did I mention that librarians can live to be over 500, depending on which universe they spend the most time in? Like the villain. Who is just... a villain. The librarians are terrified of him because he betrayed the library and killed some people. But why? Who knows? Who cares? And our leads read like something straight out of Wattpad. You've got a gorgeous dragon in human form, a shockingly boring bisexual "not like other girls" protagonist with no character traits besides being a bit "snarky" (of course), a Sherlock Holmes stand-in, and a gorgeous, amoral, leather clad librarian who clashes with the protagonist but is there also URST? We've got the obligatory sharing a motel room scene, with awkward sexual banter between the protagonist and the dragon. Actually, you know what? This reads like fan fiction written by a precocious 15 year old who is in her school's IB program.
I mean, good for the author for having an idea and seeing it through, that's more than I could do, but... I still kind of hated it.

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