The Book That Wouldn’t Burn is one of those magical, fantastical stories that you really have to stick with till the end to feel the true majesty of how it all came together. In this story, we follow Livira, a young girl brought up in the ‘dust’ who is brought to the city after her entire village is slaughtered by a terrifying enemy creature called a Saba. We also follow Evar, a young man who has grown up in the vast and endless library of which Livira has now been brought into as an assistant. As eventually their paths cross, their past and futures become clearer as does the threat of the waiting Sabas outside the city walls. 

 

Magical libraries, time manipulation, animal guardians - there’s not much more I could ask for in a fantasy book. There’s so much in this, I find it hard to review as it’s magical, vicious and heartwarming all at the same time but also the story and world are so complex that you really just need to give the book a chance to the very end to reveal how everything fits together. As a reader, you can’t think too much about how this magical library with portals, endless rows of books and magical animal guardians plus animate stone assistants works, it just does! I saw some reviews refer to Piranesi when talking about this book, and the comparison is very apt - if you liked the magical, mysterious puzzle that was Piranesi and his endless corridors, you would like Evar, Livira and the stacks. 

 

One of the things I love about Mark Lawrence’s writing is that he somehow creates different characters and worlds but then hints at how actually all his stories are taking place in the same world - and that is also our world just years and years and years in the future (Prince of Thorns OGs know this). I liked how the books quoted at the start of each chapter, presumably taken from the library, included quotes from Prince of Thorns but also C.S Lewis and the likes. 

 

One of the nicest things about this book that despite us following the journey of a librarian assistant to librarian, a girl from the dust to a scholar, and a man with no answers to too many - at the end of the day this book is actually a love story. 

 

I listened to this on audiobook and while I don’t listen to a lot of fantasy on audiobook as sometimes I’m afraid of missing things, I really enjoyed it and I think I will also read the second book on audiobook as well.