Ruthless and supremely powerful, the Great Library is now a presence in every major city, governing the flow of knowledge to the masses. Alchemy allows the Library to deliver the content of the greatest works of history instantly—but the personal ownership of books is expressly forbidden.
Jess Brightwell believes in the value of the Library, but the majority of his knowledge comes from illegal books obtained by his family, who are involved in the thriving black market. Jess has been sent to be his family’s spy, but his loyalties are tested in the final months of his training to enter the Library’s service.
When his friend inadvertently commits heresy by creating a device that could change the world, Jess discovers that those who control the Great Library believe that knowledge is more valuable than any human life—and soon both heretics and books will burn…
My Thoughts :
I don't know what I expected from Ink & Bone but it definitely wasn't what I got. A follower of Rachel Caine, I couldn't miss the beginning of a new series but the blurb was already slightly off putting. However I got a copy and I finally got around to reading it this weekend.
Everything was confusing from the beginning. It was hard to follow how the world that Caine has invented really works. Books are good? Bad? I wasn't sure what the point was but after about a fifth of the book I started to understand what this world was like but I still didn't quite understand everything.
There is a lot of new jargon that was lost on me for most of the book and I didn't feel like everything was explained to a high enough level to really enjoy the obviously brilliant concept that the author has come up with. Despite my problems following every single piece of the puzzle I did find myself quite engrossed in the story and eager to see what happened.
You can tell when an author has put substantial effort and research into a book when you realise that one of her characters names actually translates to 'Writer' which fits to the story extremely well. However it made me wonder if I should take things personally as a Welsh person living in Vienna when in this world the Welsh are hated (or loved? another thing I wasn't sure of) and Austria doesn't exist anymore.
All in all this was a nice strong start to a series that is more complicated than it is enjoyable. I won't say I will not continue the series but I do know that this is definitely a series that needs to be read close together. I think the longer you leave between installments, the harder it will be to keep the facts straight and understand everything that has happened and is happening.
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