A book of wonder

Mark Lawrence's The Book that Wouldn't Burn, the first in his The Library Trilogy and narrated by the inestimable Jessica Whittaker, is a book of fabulous world building and fantastic time travelling.

The story follows Livira and Evar as they discover the library, each other and the world(s) they inhabit. Finding out their history is one of the themes which runs throughout the book, as is Livira's growing knowledge of the Library and its inhabitants.

Jessica Whittaker narrates very well, and you can imagine the places in your minds eye, due to her narration as well as Mark's fine prose.

If you're looking for a new book to listen to, look no further than this, you won't be disappointed.

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2 people found this helpful

Disjointed

Neither the uninteresting characters nor the rather disjointed storyline works for me. Really struggling to finish this one and I really like most of his other books.

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ohh my godddd!

I was absolutely captivated by this book! I found myself staying up later to listen to more of it. the story is so cleverly written. I think this may just be my new favourite book. my mind is left reeling at the concepts and ideas in the story.

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Excellent

That was the best book I’ve listened to in a long time, and I’ve listened to/read a lot of books. What book lover doesn’t want to be drawn into a magical library crossing time, dimensions and space?
The book flicks between the narrative of the two main characters who’s tales draw together over the space of the book, intersecting at times before being torn apart again. There are more twists and turns in this book than I can count, some of which turn the plot entirely on its head. It keeps you guessing at the impossible nature of the library until the last page. The performance suits the story perfectly. Can’t wait for the next one.

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Devastated it's finished

Mark Lawrence has outdone himself. I always feel like he truly understands exactly what I need to read to be uplifted and brought down to earth. So inspiring. I've had a long term illness for 18 years and I feel he lives in my world. He finds adventure and meaning for me. I've properly got a lump in my throat on it ending. He reframes the heartache of living in this divided world. And makes me howl with laughter too. Cannot wait for the rest of this series. Thank you so much Mark Lawrence. Love how he gets quantum theory in here too. 👏 😍 ❤️

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Fantastic, can't wait for next one.

I loved this book from the start. the quotes from the books at the start of each page and their fiction authors made me chuckle.

The story is so rich, and the twists are unexpected. It hooks you and won't let go, even at the end.

I would recommend this book to everyone!

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Top Tier Fantasy. Highly recommended

I have read quite a few series from Mark Lawrence and mostly enjoyed them and in my opinion this is the best opening book from any of them by a considerable margin.

It has a slow start, spending time getting to know the main character Livira, a young girl from a dusty wasteland dreaming about escaping to experience the wider world.

She gets her wish but at a harsh price and ends up at the series' titular Library.

I will spoil nothing but I will say that from the moment she arrives at the library a multi-layered and emotionally powerful story begins.

The amount of mystery and world-building packed in has left me wanting to immediately start the second book to see what delights Mr Lawrence has in store.

The narration was very good although some of the strange accents when reading excerpts from various books at the start of chapters seemed a little unnecessary.

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A gripping listern

New to this author, I was impressed at how the book drew me in with its intricately described characters and world. I found myself listening every chance I had to reach the carefully constructed conclusion, just superb! Narration was expansive giving unique tones to each character bringing the story alive, a very comfortable listen. I hope they team up for book 2!

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Truly Phenemonal. Near Perfection.

I find it hard to put into words just how much I fell in love with this book, it's characters, and the fascinating and intriguing worldbuilding. To think I picked this up completely at random and it's genuinely one of the best fantasy books I've ever read.

The core elements are classic: plucky, precocious, outsider young girl is taken from all she knows through tragedy and does the incredibly talented inquisitive and cheeky fish out of water thing. There's a lovable, foul-mouthed soldier bodyguard, well-written romance, a split narrative with that comes together, and the futility and pointlessness of war and hatred of one people for another. But what Lawrence does with those elements, the world they create, and the way concepts are explored and extrapolated through a fantastic, wondrous, and terrifying library that straddles all dimensions, is a work of utter brilliance.

The ideas and message are great, combining mind-bending speculative sci-fi concepts and epic fantasy fun with humour, intrigue and human emotion.

I really need to go back and listen to the last handful of chapters, as some of the reveals and elements genuinely had me sobbing my heart out, while pleasantly baffled. This definitely took my brain on a long walk and made my emotions work out.

I'm absolutely gutted this came out this year and absolutely need the next book as soon as humanly possible!

The performance by Jessica Whittaker is out of this world and absolutely top tier. The range of accents, age, and emotion they embody are mind blowing! An absolutely breathtaking performance that makes me genuinely want to listen to anything and everything they narrate.

I loved this book so very much, but I do have two issues that, while absolutely weren't deal breakers, did impact my enjoyment and make me question how much I can trust the author and their views. The first is a fictional quote heading up one of the chapters that discusses very stereotypical and not gender-inclusive depictions of mothers, fathers, and pregnancy. The other is this quote:
"If a civilization is not capable of keeping a book from burning then perhaps it wasn't ready for whatever knowledge was held within"
The point is a good an interesting one in the context of the book with it referring to knowledge, particularly that of weapons of mass destruction. However, we live in a world where fascist and bigoted book burnings have taken place, and we are currently seeing truly wild and dangerous censorship and removal of books from schools and other places due to ignorance, bigotry, and rightwing propaganda. There has to be a better say to phrase this. All I could think of were the Nazi book burnings, which the famous photos come from the destruction of the research and writing of the Hirschfeld Institute, particularly those on sexuality and gender identity. We have always been ready for Queer/ trans folx because we have always existed.

I don't think either of the above points was done maliciously, but it does come across as some cisnormative ignorance that was a small blemish on an otherwise utterly brilliant book.

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Originality

I have never read a book by this author that disappointed me. This should be compulsory reading in all schools worldwide. I’ll leave it to the reader to discover why.

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