The Library Trilogy Continues...

From Book One:
In the vastness of The Library, Evar Eventari and Livira Page meet, then abruptly separate...

In Book Two:
Livira is trapped in a ghost world, trying to reclaim her book and body. Evar is forced to leave the library, to a world he doesn't know, while searching for Livira. A secret war, and the consequences of a long-ago lie, escalate and threaten the world...

"The Book That Broke the World" is not the character-driven story I grew to love in Book One. The world-building continues, and additional characters are introduced. I looked forward to becoming better acquainted with those I had previously met. Trust me, there were enough characters already.

The explored themes in Book Two are complex and profound, circling knowledge, war, free will vs fate, and the impact of decisions on the past, present, and future. Mark Lawrence's writing style is beautiful and lyrical, which is the best part of this trilogy.

"The Book That Broke the World" is a book I wanted to love like I did B00k One, but with skimming to finish, which I rarely do, let's say I like it, but don't love it. I'm undecided if the High-Fantasy genre is for me, but I am committed to reading Book Three to finish this trilogy.

3⭐

Thank you to Berkley Publishing Group | Ace and Mark Lawrence for the gifted DRC through NetGalley. This is my honest and voluntary review.

So many second books in a series split up the relationships that had invested the reader in the series in the first place. I often dislike this but in this book it was better done than in most series.

What I didn't like was the introduction of the new POV, Celcha. I'm not sure what her perspective added to the story.

I'm amused that the canith and the humans seems so likely to get into romantic relationships after all their enmity!

This book did feel like a circle. I'm a little confused as to exactly where we are on the timeline. Livira's book seems like it's of the utmost importance, but we still don't know why. I liked how Livira learned to take back control of her book and its stories by falling into them and having awareness of what she was trying to do in the stories she told.

I fear that this review is not going to make much sense to someone who hasn't read the book. For tht person I'll say that I did like this one, I intend to read the last book in the series. I'm not sure how much happened to further the overarching plot of the book since so much of it was either about Celcha or about scattered friends coming back together. Maybe Celcha's moon people will end up having a more important role to play, or maybe they are just there to show that more people than canith, humans and the terrifying insect people have an interest in the library.

So far there's only been a binary choice in how to deal with knowledge: use it and dole it out as the population with access to it can handle it, or to destroy it. This binary means that everyone has to choose a side. There's even a bit of a meditation on this problem in the book. Is there another way, or more other ways that have been discarded? I think that a new philosophy of how to deal with the library is probably coming up in the next book.

AS much as I love Lawrence's books, this one just wasn't it for me. The first installment of the trilogy introduced a world, and characters that captured the imagination, and pulled me into their adventure.
This one left me behind. Split up into different journeys, there was a lot of action and not so much character development.
I liked the new character, Celcha, and her brother and their storyline. Also, Wentworth the enemy slaying cat was delightful. There should always be a cat.
Overall, it rather felt like a stepping stone to the conclusion, rather than a satisfying second book.

Gorgeous sequel. Once again a beautifully written immersive world. The cost of knowledge and what happens when we are forced to view the world from a different perspective. What really defines and enemy?

This is a high-concept fantasy with a strong meta twist—books within books, secret knowledge, and a dangerous magic tied to the written word. It’s clever and ambitious, with that classic Mark Lawrence tone: sharp, dark, and philosophical. I loved the exploration of language as power, but the pacing dragged in spots, and some of the narrative layers got a little convoluted. Still, it’s a fascinating premise executed with style, and fans of The Library at Mount Char or The Shadow of the Wind will find a lot to enjoy.

The author's passion shines through in this book. It was well written and explored some intriguing themes. It has great potential to appeal to other readers and I encourage others to try it out! Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book.

The second installment in this series fell a bit short following the first book. The storyline of this novel did not expand my understanding of the series as I had hoped it would. Still a solid read but not as good as the first.

I love this rich world. I did have a hard time focusing on the audiobook and think I would enjoy this better on a reread, but I do love these characters and world.

I quite enjoyed the first book in the series and thought this was a good sequel. New characters are introduced, and I found myself invested in their story and progress just as much as the characters from the first book. I do wish we got a bit more of the library but quite enjoyed trying to figure out the timeline and how things tied into one another. Overall, a great read.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publishing Company for this Advanced Readers Copy of The Book That Broke the World by Mark Lawrence!

An enjoyable read, although slightly forgettable. Definitely will read more by this author though! Overall worth it.

Thank you Publisher and Netgalley for this advanced copy

I love it, really well written. It's better than the first book, I love how the story progress and the worldbuilding revealing

Definitely a WORTHY sequel to the first book. While Evar and Livira’s arcs pick up right where they left off (I mean, THAT ending!!!) this sequel also introduces a new character, Celcha. The world widens, new perspectives are presented. I feel this series is a perfect blend of fantasy and science fiction, an amazing offering to readers who like both genres.

no surprise but i really enjoyed this! it was a good follow up to the previous book, the writing style was just as good as the first book and i didn’t struggle to stay interested

Thanks so very much to Netgalley and the publisher for kindly providing me this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. I do reviews on my main social media platforms and will be providing my full review there as I get through my TBR blacklist. Thanks again!

I felt much less connected to this than the first one. It's always tricky when everything, not just the the characters but the world and the timeframe. Not only that, but the couple whose relationship we spent the first book investing in were separated for most of this one. As a result, I found myself intellectually engaged but not invested as I had been in the first one.

(4.25 ⭐️) The first book in this series is one of my all time favorite fantasy books so I had a strong feeling that this second installment probably wouldn’t reach those same heights. However, this was still a great follow up and just an overall good time.

Livira is still my absolute heart and soul and Evar continues to be a delight and a broody simp, which I love. The biggest surprise standouts to me were definitely Arpix and Clovis who both got a lot more to do this time around (I really enjoyed Aprix’s added POV). However, I do think the added storylines/characters stretched everything a bit too thin and sidelined, in my opinion, the best characters and aspects of the story. The Livira and Malar erasure will forever haunt me :( Out of the expanded world and storylines, I did find most of it pretty compelling, but I was not a big fan of the ganar plot and wish more of that time was spent elaborating on the “war”.

That all being said, this story is just too good to really be bad so I still ate it up!! I also do still have really high hopes for the last book in this trilogy. Here’s hoping it’ll be incredibly long and dive into all the existing story threads 🤞🏽

***I received both an ARC and review copy from Berkley Publishing for free and am leaving an honest review***

In this second installment of the library trilogy by Mark Lawrence, I found myself immersed in the same wonderful and detailed world as I wasn't the first book.

This book picks up right where the first book left off, which I love. I hate giant time gaps between Books. We got some new point of views from new characters as well as continuation with the old characters that we've already grown to love. I felt like the storyline was still solid and strong, and everything that was happening flowed organically to the plotline and was true to the characters.

I did read this as a tandem read both physical and audiobook, and I did find probably a dozen discrepancies between the audiobook and the physical book. Nothing that would change the overall story or was overall important but it happened enough for me to take note.

I did enjoy the storyline in the first book slightly more than the second book, but they were both still very solid and I found the second book to be a very enjoyable read that I devoured quickly. I cannot wait to get my hands on the third book, I feel like it will be an absolutely stellar wrap up to a great series.

This was very much a middle book, and with the exception of The Book of the Ancestor trilogy, with Lawrence's other series I tend to lose momentum and need to go back and reread once book three was out. That said, I really enjoyed the first Library novel and like this world and characters and set-up better than anything else he's done since the aforementioned Book of the Ancestor, so I was into this for as far as I got through it and am looking forward to having book three so I can read this series straight through.

The themes and questions in book one of the Library Trilogy carry over into this next installment. Lawrence continues the action, intrigue and character development as readers will once again question knowledge and it's place in the hands of individuals. There is a lot that happens in this book.

Lawrence introduces a new character Celcha, a ganar and slave. She and her people are forced to mine the desert for books. When her brother, Hellet, opens one of those books and faces strict punishment from their master, the two find their way to the library. The book as a whole rotates through the points of view of Celcha, Evar, Livira, and the librarian and Livira's mentor, Arpix. each is located in a different time and facing various events and aftermaths of the library. Lawrence continues to strongly weave themes of knowledge, humanity and power through the book. This is very similar to the first book in the series.

While I enjoyed reading book two, at times the pacing can be a bit slow and with all the different time lines, it can get a bit confusing. There is plenty of action and connections along the way to keep the reader engaged and interested in the story. At times the plot action can be a bit vague. There isn't much explanation to some of the elements, but I'm hoping that is cleared up in the third installment of the trilogy. If that isn't enough to make me want to read the next book, book 2 ends on a cliffhanger. Once again readers and characters are left questioning power and the danger of knowledge and what it can do when emotionally charged by things live vengeance, love, and hate.

Overall, it's a solid book two while at the same time creating a transition into book three. There are new characters and plenty of the old, each unique and complicated. I look forward to reading how Lawrence ties up everything in book three.