Friday, March 27, 2020

Book Review: The Secret Chapter by Genevieve Cogman


The Secret Chapter
by Genevieve Cogman
Book 6 in The Invisible Library

I have loved this series from the beginning. Irene is a cross between a librarian and a secret agent. Such fun!

In Cogman’s world, or worlds, there are humans, which includes librarians, Fae who are chaotic, and Dragons who represent order. There are a multitude of worlds, exactly like the Earth, that can be traveled between. Events on the worlds often diverge at different points in the timeline, and Librarians can travel in time as well. Librarians can also travel to, and through, The Library, where books from the different worlds are held. This helps to keep the balance between chaos and order in some way.

There is a truce in force between dragons and Fae, and the librarians are the neutral party. Irene is the library representative to a tripartite commission to handle irregularities, Prince Kai, son of His Majesty Ao Guang, and Irene’s live-in lover, is the dragon representative.

We start with a Fae party, with all the debauchery and danger inherent therein. Then Kai and Irene arrive home to find her parents there. This is the first time we are meeting them and they are surprisingly ordinary. She has some very serious questions for them regarding her parentage. She knows she was adopted but she wants to know how it happened.

Irene is sent on a mission to negotiate for a book and Kai decides to accompany her. This is where it gets really interesting. Irene and Kai head to a high chaos world where a Mr. Nemo (who reminds me very much of a certain villain in old movies like the James Bond classic Goldfinger) entraps them in a plot of his own. (The Fae tend to take on stereotypical archetypes, it’s part of their nature.)

Of course, it’s not as simple as that but the action and intrigue only get better from there. I highly recommend all the books in this series and this one is perhaps a little more light and fun.

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