Books and thieves and fae and dragons and crime

[schneefink]

I finished the rest of the published “Invisible Library” books and enjoyed them a lot. (I almost waited until midnight to post this so I would finally post about books I read on a Wednesday but I'm impatient.)

The Masked City:
High-chaos Venice! Great. That was fun, ending with a very nice magical train action scene. Also, Kai makes a great damsel.
(Please book stop trying to get me to ship Irene/Kai.)

The Burning Page:
The plot/pacing here was a bit uneven; I wish we got more time in St. Petersburg (maybe they go back?, they didn't get the book after all…) But overall it was still a lot of fun.
The final confrontation with Alberich was great, and I loved that Irene had to burn all the unique books as a last resort but felt awful about it.
I also really liked the dilemma about how to save Vale from the chaos infestation, and Silver suggesting turning him into a Fae, because after all he already inhabits a narrative.
Why did Zayanna have to die :( (Saving Irene's life, even, that seemed almost OTT. Although, if she'd survived a little longer, Irene would have had to leave her behind since Kai can't carry more than two people; still Zayanna dying by accident seems kinda like taking the easy way out.) I really want Irene to have female friends! More friends total would be nice but especially female ones; she has two friends in total and both of them happen to be men she has/had a crush on – Bradamant is a rival and Coppelia a mentor, that's different.

The Lost Plot:
More plots with politics! Dragon politics, in fact; that was fun. Poor Evariste, though at least things end ok for him. I appreciate how much the books emphasize that dragons aren't automatically “the good guys.” I'm also a fan of the other side using mundane means (e.g. the police) as tools, very practical.
I still don't ship Irene/Kai, and if not for that I think I would enjoy their relationship more. Kai having to end his apprenticeship fit, and I was at least relieved that they only kissed afterwards.

The Mortal Word:
Cogman's plotting gets better with every book! Great detective story with lots of politics making everything more complicated. I really enjoyed the different powerful Fae we encountered and the way their power works in narratives. (In contrast we haven't seen the same kind of influence from dragons, but maybe that's just harder to notice.) We're seeing more and more of ongoing conflicts in the Library about its purpose and direction, that's going to be fun.
I like how self-aware Irene is - she's not a fan of underhanded methods but a lot of it, especially in this specific case, for pragmatic reasons, she's perfectly willing to use them when she deems it necessary, and she is a thief by profession and has killed before for her job.
Also, while in general I'm not a fan of most “her real parents are a secret!!!” plots, I at least appreciate that Irene is firm on the fact that her adoptive parents are her real parents, and I am curious about the story behind her origins… (Would be fun if it was something completely mundane, like her parents simply not telling her that she was adopted and her biological parents being nobody special at all, but Irene has probably spent too much time around Fae for that by now.)
I'm still not the biggest fan of Kai. Even though he's introduced as a young man, the way he acts, especially in the first book, had me categorize him as a teenager, and I just can't see a relationship between Irene and him working long-term.

Apparently the next book takes place partially in Vienna and I look forward to it very much.

Comments

[isis]

Ooh, I forgot The Mortal Word was coming out (last winter, heh; in my defense I've been busy?) so thanks for the reminder that it exists - I want to read it!

No pressure! but I wrote a pre-canon gen (with Irene/Bradamant overtones) fic if'n you want to read it: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11067651

[schneefink]

The Mortal Word was my favorite book so far, so I think you'll like it :) In general imo the series has been getting better with every installment, very promising.

Thanks for the link, I'll check it out :)

[merit]

I also read the Invisible Library series this year. It is quite a fun read! Full of daring romps and quick-lash action. I do love how Cogman characterised Irene; very much an adult.

I'm more on the fence re: Irene/Kai. Not particularly convinced in either direction. Though I am charmed by the idea of a semi-immortal dragon prince falling for a human (maybe?? I feel Librarians may fall in another category soon enough) girl.

[schneefink]

I like the idea of a semi-immortal dragon prince falling for a mostly-human woman in theory, but I wish the dragon prince was more mature. (I don't think we know how old Kai is in years, iirc...) He does still have a lot of time to grow up, but still... I guess I'm happy for Irene if she is, and we'll see how it goes? (Has Irene had previous relationships that we know about?, I can't remember any rn.)

[merit]

hmm I can't remember either. I imagine she's had flings with other Librarians? And she does sometimes spend months during her missions, so I doubt she was entirely celibate. Irene seems like the type of person, with her sort of 'career', not to have many long term relationships tbh dating as a Librarian would be difficult considering they don't age when they're at the Library.

[schneefink]

Yeah, I'd also guess that she's had flings but not a real relationship. She doesn't really seem to have had good friends before Kai and Vale either (possibly briefly at school but that was a while ago and she lost contact.)

[dirty_diana]

Yay, you read them! Predictably, I really like Kai/Irene. It's a great opposites dynamic with Irene being so practical. And idk that I think Kai is brattier than any other dragon we've met? He has at least managed not to almost start any wars. So whenever Kai is being particularly pouty and obstinate, I'm just like, oh, it's a dragon thing. Can a dragon/human relationship work out, we'll see I guess.

[schneefink]

He has managed not to almost start any wars, good point ^^ (except that one time he was kidnapped but we'll let that slide.) Even apart from the dragon/human thing though, they were apprentice and mentor until very recently and they don't feel like equals just yet, but hopefully that'll come with time. They'll officially be equals in their new positions (as I understand them), that'll take some time to get used to, and mixing professional and private lives often comes with conflict... Maybe it'll work out.