The worst part of this book is the plot. And the plot, though trite and hackneyed to anyone remotely familiar with the tropes of epic fantasy, was not to bad. The book's conceit, however, was fantastic and well worth the read. Ancient bookstores, secret societies, big data and early modern printing. What's not to like?
( And, yes, I'm well aware that the book lampshades traditional epic quest element. But simple self-awareness is not the same as meta. So while Sloan makes it clear that the knows that what he is doing is straight out of traditional quest fantasies, he doesn't actually do anything after that.)