The Dark Archive, Genevieve Cogman
This most recent book in the Invisible Library series features Irene, Kai, Vale, Irene’s new apprentice (Catherine), and Kai’s brother. It’s a very Sparks Will Fly sort of arrangement, not least because Vale is pitted against an adversary, his criminal mirror. A mastermind. A Moriarty — or so it seems. I was a little disappointed that certain characters didn’t interact more (let’s not be coy, I wanted more of Kai and Vale working together), and it feels like the particularly mixture of characters didn’t really have time to mix up and cause mayhem before the book was suddenly over.
That’s partly because recurring themes get tugged on again, and characters that had left the narrative triumphantly returned… some of them more predictably so than others.
All in all, the book sped by at the usual pace, and I ended up pretty happy with the explanations for the way characters are being moved around the gameboard. One very predictable outcome comes in almost at the end of the book, and honestly, it shouldn’t have taken a genius detective to see it. At the same time, the epilogue gives us an intriguing glimpse at deeper machinations and stories yet to come…
Not a favourite in the series, I think, but one which moves the plot along — and is as always a very absorbing and swift read.
The more titles that appear in this series the more I’m glad I didn’t commit to these, even though I’ve had the second volume on my shelves for many a year. I enjoyed the first but not enough to desperately want to continue, and your increasingly lukewarm reviews sort of confirmed my reluctance. I regret discovering I’m not a bona fide completist!
It’s not that the quality of the books has changed… just that I like particular combinations of the characters, and it seems to be moving away from that!