In comparison to the first title, this book did not answer as many questions as I hoped it would. The journey seemed more spread out and did not further the main quest much. I enjoyed the characters and the way the library continues to be known to us.

This book wrapped up the story in a powerful and satisfying way. Even though the setting isn’t our world, the themes and struggles felt deeply grounded in reality. The way it subtly mirrored a dark chapter in human history made the emotional weight of the story hit even harder, and Lawrence managed to deliver his message without ever making it feel preachy or forced. I especially liked how each character’s point of view brought something new to the table—seeing their thoughts and choices from different angles gave the whole narrative a richer, more layered feel. It’s a thought-provoking, emotional conclusion that ties everything together while still leaving room to reflect on what it all meant.

3.75

Finishing the final book in a trilogy always comes with a mix of emotions: anticipation, nostalgia, and a bit of nervousness about whether the ending will stick the landing. Thankfully, this one delivers a mostly satisfying conclusion that wraps up the story in a meaningful way, even if it takes a few detours along the way.

One of the most notable changes in this installment is the introduction of a new point of view. It was a bold move, and one that paid off in some ways. The new POV was my favorite, bringing a new time period, a fresh perspective, and emotional depth. That said, its strength may have unintentionally overshadowed the original characters we’ve followed from the beginning. While they’re still present, their storylines felt less impactful this time.

The pacing was another mixed bag. The middle of the book dragged in parts, and the momentum took a while to pick back up. But when it did, I was completely hooked. I do think in some ways that Lawrence tried to do too much in too little pages to tell the story that he was ultimately going for, but what do I know.

Overall, this final chapter might not be perfect, but it has a lot to offer.

Thank you to Berkley Publishing and NetGalley for a gifted advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
Overall, this final chapter might not be perfect, but it has a lot to offer.

Thank you to Berkley Publishing and NetGalley for a gifted advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I have just finished read the third book in The Library Trilogy and my mind is still reeling from what I just read. While there is some minding bending storytelling between space and time, it is also a touching and emotional story of love, loss, and inspiration. Really, an ode to book collections large and small, whether in a grand library or a dusty old book shop.

The duality between the world in which the library exists and some familiar historical events were beautifully done - Anne chapters being among my favourites.

I read the second book, The Book That Broke the World, last April and I had no trouble coming back to these characters. Every one of them is memorable in their own way and you find yourself rooting for them throughout the story. Of course, there is always the recap and character guide that Lawrence provides at the beginning of each book if you need it. We love you for it Mark.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨

Truly an enjoyable read, and I’ll definitely have to reread it at some point. But for now, I’ll immediately be moving onto Missing Pages - a series of short stories related to The Library Trilogy!

This review does not contain spoilers!

As with the first two books, every character’s story is so perfectly woven into and throughout time. If a character is there, there’s a thoughtful and deliberate reason behind it that is probably central to a major plot point. It’s honestly incredible that Mark Lawrence was able to make this entire trilogy make sense even though by all rights the story should be extremely confusing. How does he write this stuff in a way that allows for perfect understanding?

My favorite of the books is definitely the second, but I think this was a solid followup. The release and message of the book and really, the entire trilogy, is extremely timely. There’s discussion of fascism and book banning and burning that broke my heart and had me crying. The war between Jaspeth and Irad feels more applicable to real now life than ever before and it’s a scary thing to think about.

The Book That Held Her Heart is a great ending to a fantastic trilogy. It’s not very often that I’m fully pleased with the final book in a series because an epilogue ruins it, or something is left unanswered and it feels like it was left that way just in case the author ever wants to add another book. Not this one. There are no loose ends and I don’t feel at all as though I’ve been left wanting.

Read this trilogy. Seriously. If you’ve been sleeping on the first two, waiting for the third to release, it’s out now, okay? So no excuses!

Mark Lawrence’s first title in his LIBRARY TRILOGY, The Book That Wouldn’t Burn, made my Top Ten Books list the year it came out (2023), and while its sequel, The Book That Broke the World, wasn’t as strong, I still quite enjoyed it. Now Lawrence is out with The Book That Held Her Heart, and while it certainly works as a conclusion —resolving the story’s major conflict in mostly effective fashion and doing so in an often moving manner — it was the least successful of the three titles for me on a novel level.

I’m going to assume you’ve read the first two, so I’m not going to bother with a recap save of the very end of book two (thus, spoilers ahead). That novel ended with our main group of characters splitting up into three groups, each of which exited the time-and-space spanning Library via one of three portals. Livira’s group ended up thousands of years in the past, where she eventually meets up with her friend Carlotte, who has been living there for a while as a ghost (characters in their past cannot be seen and cannot touch anything). Evar’s group, which included his siblings Mayland (sworn to destroy the Library), Starval, and Clovis, eventually land in the Vaults, a great space beneath the Library where stories end up. Finally, Kerrol and Yute end up in 1930s Germany, where they befriend a young Jewish girl named Anne. Meanwhile, the Librarian Arpix (also Clovis’ lover) and several other friends of Liviras are stuck in the Library, having been captured by the appalling King Oanold.

Thus the characters have several plots/goals. One is the ultimate one of the trilogy: resolve the aeons’ old war over what to do about the Library: destroy it in hopes of disrupting the cycle of violence, cruelty, and fall of civilizations that has persisted throughout history or save it as the last hope of breaking the cycle by an accumulation of learning (and ideally, wisdom). The key artifact in this quest is Livira’s book, which has the ability to destroy the Library (whether it can also save it is a more open question). Another goal is obviously to find each other once again and reunite siblings, lovers (Evar and Livira, Clovis and Arpix), and friends. And finally, there are the separate plots within their various alternate universes. In one, that means dealing with the early stages of antisemitism and fascism in pre-war Germany, which is about to erupt into violence. In another, it’s trying to save a kingdom from an impending Skeer invasion. And in another it’s dealing with a dictatorial Potentate who overthrew the king and installed a fascist system that also uses an oppressed minority as a scapegoat and distraction.

The characters and their relationships have been a strength throughout the series, and that somewhat holds true here. The problem is two-fold. One, by scattering the characters so widely in space and time (and then sometimes re-scattering them), we end up with fewer interactions amongst them and thus a weaker sense of relationship. That doesn’t happen across the board: the interactions between Evar and Starval, and between Kerrol, Yute, and Anne are particularly compelling, but the others fare less well. What also contributes to this issue is that there is just so much plot, so much moving and transporting and fighting and overall action crammed into a relatively short, for fantasy, book (under 400 pages), that we don’t get to linger in the interaction for all that long before we’re off to another group or interrupted by another crisis or bit of violence.

I had the same sort of good-but-not-as-good response to the themes, which are seriously weighty and are explored in thoughtful fashion. But the issue I had is this was also true in books one and two, mostly involving the exact same themes, and so this all feels a bit of been-there-done-that. Here’s is what I said in my review of book one:
A partial listing of themes/subjects include: the power of stories; the nature of language, knowledge, and memory; our seemingly knee-jerk xenophobic response to “the Other” and our rationalization of such a response by dehumanizing them; our treatment of refugees; the interplay of censorship, misinformation, and disinformation/propaganda; the question of who gets access to information; the corrosive impact of a thirst for vengeance; the impact of trauma, the ease with which we weaponize seemingly every advancement in knowledge and technology, found families, knowledge versus wisdom.
And here is my list from book two:
the power of stories and word; the cycle of cruelty, violence, and self-destruction; the question of whether preserving knowledge helps maintain the light of civilization or sparks the conflagration that burns it all down; the difference between justice and vengeance, the difficulty in choosing empathy over righteous and justified anger; the ways we dehumanize the Other.

You can see the overlap, and that continues here, with nearly all those themes, save perhaps the refugees and vengeance appearing here as well. The ideas are certainly worthy of exploration, and we do drill down a bit more specifically into say, the danger of centralizing information, but I’m just not sure we needed three book to explore them. I’m also still trying to suss out my feelings on the real-world entry of the Nazis. On the one hand, I loved the character of Anne and her interactions with Kerrol and Yute, and it does ground the fantasy more firmly to out world. On the other hand, it’s about as on-the-nose a connection as you can choose, Nazis are just not subtle, and I tend to prefer the way that fantasy can make the metaphor literal in a more imaginative sense. I’m thinking some readers will love this choice and think it a brilliant move, some will absolutely hate it and think it a major misstep, and some, like me, will chew it over for a while trying to figure out just which way they are leaning.

As much as I had some issues with the book, Lawrences vivid prose, particularly in descriptive moments, and the wry bit of humor sprinkled throughout a very dark storyline, along with the still-so-very-witty epigraphs that being each chapter, make it an easy read. I never once thought about not continuing. And, as noted, it does resolve the major plot and character arcs, even if the ending feels a bit rushed, and does so while offering up several emotionally touching scenes. I think overall I would have preferred a duology (with book two closer to the length of book 1, which at nearly 600 pages was by far the longest of the three), but it’s still an easy series to recommend, even if its first novel is the strongest.

Hands down my favorite book in the series! Written with depth and description- I found myself there, experiencing it like a ‘ghost’ would. The author has a way of making you think- not telling you what to think which is what wins hearts.
We return to chaos- everyone’s gone a different direction through a different portal and no one is where they want to be. But they’re where they need to be. Sometimes I felt as confused as the characters through time and possibilities.
Livira has grown through this series and I love her determination to set things right, no matter the cost. She fights to find Evar through time and save the library. Evar’s loyalty drives him forward to be reunited with her, and there were moments that had tears rolling down my face. I came to love his family and their friends and my heart followed them through their trials as well. The adventure and suspense of everyone’s path had me holding my breath, and the ending? It hurt- but in a beautiful way.
The entire series has many profound and moving messages. I’m glad to have been able to read this series, and highly recommend it!

This review was originally posted on Books of My Heart


Review copy was received from NetGalley, Publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

I've enjoyed the Library trilogy. In the first book, Livira and Evar meet and get to know each other. They find that although their species are at war, they can love each other. They are separated at the end, Livira amd Malar end up as assistants and goes back in time to help Evar and his now adopted siblings as they grow up in the library chamber after the attack on their parents.

As with the previous book, I appreciate how Mark Lawrence begins with a recap of the story so far. His characters and world are complex. I would read the books in order. The Library crosses time and spaces. After being assistants for 200 years, Livira and Malar are killed by skeer. Evar thinks Livira is dead but they are actually ghosts.

In each time and each world there are different species who end up fighting and burning down the world. The history of the library is in one story created by two brothers. One who created it and wants to have it keep educating the species so that they might become peaceful and live together in learning. The other brother wants to destroy it. Yute, a master librarian, who mentored Livira wants a compromise where the people learn to live together.

In the first book, we learn of the human and the canith. In the next book, we have more about the canith and then the ganar who created the skeer. In all the books, we see a bit of the brothers and the Library and its librarians and assistants. Always one brother encourages discrimination and hate tearing things apart, while the other supports the Library for knowledge and acceptance of others.

The Book That Held Her Heart takes us across the worlds looking at the different stories Livira has collected over the years in different places and times. This is the essence of fantasy to me. People live and die, fight and love, but everything comes back to the pureness of ideas. The various friends and lovers spend most of their time trying to find each other.

Yute and eventually more of our characters, are going between worlds to try to save the library and perhaps find a world where they can be safe and together. Over the years, they have tried many things to save the library and promote peace between peoples. I was satisfied to learn their solution and how they were able to make it work.

Narration:
The same narrator has continued through all the books. She is Livira to me. I recognized her voices for the characters and was comfortable with them. The narration added to my enjoyment of the book. I was able to listen at an increased 1.7x speed.

Mark Lawrence's "The Book That Held Her Heart" delivers a breathtaking and emotionally resonant conclusion to his Library Trilogy, solidifying his place as a master of speculative fiction. As a fellow writer, I was particularly struck by the sheer complexity of the plotlines and the masterful craftsmanship evident in every page. This is, without a doubt, one of the finest trilogies I've had the pleasure of experiencing in recent memory. With intricate plotlines and deeply developed characters, this final installment explores profound themes of knowledge, memory, and the human heart's resilience. Lawrence masterfully weaves real-world historical elements with his fantastical library setting, creating a narrative that is both timely and timeless. 1 The book's poignant ending leaves a lasting impact, cementing the trilogy's status as a modern masterpiece. This is a five-star triumph that will resonate with readers long after the final page is turned, and leave fellow writers in awe of the sheer skill on display.

Mark Lawrence's The Book That Held Her Heart is the third and final installment in the authors The Library Trilogy. The book alternates between multiple perspectives—Livira, Evar, Anne, and others—each offering a distinct lens on the sprawling conflict. The infinite library, a labyrinthine marvel that has been both sanctuary and battleground throughout the trilogy, teeters on the brink of collapse thanks, in part, to a power hungry King and 3 different species all with their own agendas. Its fate hinges on Livira's book—one with the power to "break the unbreakable."

The stakes couldn’t be higher: hearts, families, and entire worlds hang in the balance. Livira, the fiercely determined protagonist whose journey has been shaped by the library’s mysteries, finds herself separated from those she holds dear, scattered across time and space. Evar, her counterpart and emotional anchor, is similarly adrift, their bond stretched to its limits. The narrative poses a haunting question: can love, loyalty, and hope endure when everything falls apart?

Lawrence expands the scope of the trilogy and his world by introducing Anne Hoffman, a Jewish girl in prewar Nazi Germany, whose story intertwines with the library’s timeless war. This real-world thread is a bold gamble, but one that pays off, grounding the fantastical in a poignant historical context. The library becomes a metaphor for memory, knowledge, and the human cost of their preservation—or destruction. Livira and Evar remain the beating heart of the trilogy, their relationship a thread tested by distance, time, and the library’s unrelenting demands.

Livira’s tenacity and Evar’s quiet strength are pushed to their breaking points, yet their growth feels earned, not contrived. Anne, a newcomer, brings a fresh perspective; her innocence and courage in the face of encroaching darkness add a layer of urgency and heartbreak. Supporting characters like Yute, Yolanda, Carlotte, Clovis, Kerrol, and Mayland—each get their moment to shine, their arcs converging in a climax that leaves no one unscathed.

The library’s war—pitting preservation against destruction, memory against oblivion—mirrors humanity’s own struggles with history and identity. Lawrence doesn’t shy away from heavy questions: What is worth saving? What must be sacrificed? The inclusion of Nazi Germany as a setting underscores the trilogy’s relevance, drawing a chilling line from book burnings to the Holocaust, yet never feeling didactic. Lawrence, a seasoned storyteller known for his grimdark roots, proves once again that his skill lies not just in crafting brutal worlds but in weaving intricate tapestries of human experience—here, centered around the infinite Athenaeum, a library that transcends time, space, and comprehension.

I want to, firstly, thank NetGalley, The Berkley Publishing Group, and Mark Lawrence for granting me this ARC in exchange for my honest review. This was the final book in this incredible fantasy trilogy and one of my most anticipated reads of the year!

Books 1 & 2 were each great in their own right, but I was beyond excited to dive into this one and discover the fate of our characters and the Library itself. This series follows a few groups of characters, all from different races, backgrounds, and timelines. The connecting factor is this great and wonderous library. It is more vast than you can imagine and has survived the rise and fall of civilization after civilization. In this final book, we are to learn of the fate of the library. Will those whom wish to see its destruction win out, or will our main protagonists find a way to save the Library, and maybe the world with it?

I am pleased to report that Lawrence's style of storytelling, character development, and world-building remain stellar. I have enjoyed his writing style and the way he writes his characters in each of the previous books. This book is highly quotable with some of the most illuminating and poignant quotes focusing its commentary on the power of stories, libraries, and literature. I love books that focus on these topics and that is what originally drew me to this series.

Lawrence has crafted an immersive world, centering a diverse cast of characters and has fed us an intriguing plot spanning all three books. However, some of the issues I had with the previous book remain here. The challenge of the non-linear timeline and segmented perspectives makes it hard to get a firm grasp of where the narrative is going. While it did come together in the end, I found the conclusion to be a little lackluster. It didn't have that grand feeling; a culmination of this epic story. It feels a little rushed and ends abruptly. I was shocked after flipping the back cover closed and can't help but feel that it is largely this ending that dragged down my experience of, and ultimately my rating for, this book.

Overall, I still greatly enjoyed this series. Great writing, good lessons, and an intriguing setting. A ton of characters, but each character is well written and interesting. Despite my issues with the ending, the book does feel whole and complete. I would not hesitate to recommend this series as a whole and Mark as an author. I can't wait to pick up more of his stories.

‘None of us truly know our limits. The point where we surrender hope and the point where we cease to fight may lie further apart than we imagine. Indeed, it’s often those you least suspect of endurance that will die with their teeth still locked in the enemy’s flesh.’

Put your heart in bubble wrap before reading this final installment of The Library Trilogy, because it is going to PUT YOU THROUGH SOME THINGS. This has been one of my favorite series of the past few years: such amazing world building, fantastic magical systems, characters that capture your imagination even when they only appear briefly. If you haven’t read the first two books, I’d highly recommend starting with those as there is just too much background info to understand the third if you haven’t.

This story continues the epic battle between those who want to preserve the infinite library with its multitude of spaces and times, and those who seek to destroy what they consider dangerous knowledge. Our main characters, Livira and Evar, are hurtling through fast-paced and deadly challenges, coming together and apart while dealing with some seriously heavy themes.

This is a series that I will definitely be re-reading at a slower pace; I’m tucking it away to pull out during the next long Minnesota winter.

Thank you so much to Ace Pub for the gifted copy of The Book That Held Her Heart by Mark Lawrence!

Man, this trilogy is a disappointment. After loving book 1, the sequels could never recapture that magic for me. This book was too short for its ambition. There is WAY too much going on, way too many characters in way too many timelines doing way too much jumping around to satisfy this story in 350 pages. It was also so convoluted that I struggled to care about half the things happening. A new POV was introduced and while that POV was ultimately unnecessary, I actually enjoyed that POV more than most of the others in this book.

There's a book I love somewhere with the rough outline and shape of this book. But it was never to be.

6/10

thank you net galley for this arc. i really enjoyed this story. this one has a bit of slower pacing then the first two. it also deal with some heaver themes like how knowledge is a weapon. love the world building.

An emotional and heart wrenching and to what was a solid portal fantasy/sci-fi series.

Disclaimer: I read this as a tandem read with an e-book through NetGalley as well as the audiobook through the Penguin Random House audiobook influencer club. All opinions are my own. This is my honest and voluntary review.

I have never been so gut punched by the ending of a trilogy in my life. This was absolutely fantastic. I went through a whole range of emotions from start to finish. I learned to love all of these characters. The political intrigue was absolutely stellar and I love the way that portal fantasy wove together with different timelines and dimensions.

The relationship relationships between characters and the distinct exploration of "otherness" was absolutely flawless. This book explored so many topics and started so many conversations for me. All on the backdrop of an excellent storyline with layered and in depth characters.

The storyline took me places I wasn't expecting, and it was all well done and didn't feel rushed at any point. But it also didn't feel like it dragged on or was slow either. Mark Lawrence did an excellent job of balancing plot development and character develop development so I felt like I was getting something at all times.

While the ending was absolutely gut wrenching for me it is one of the most satisfying and emotional endings. I've experienced in a trilogy. It'll be hard to top this one this year.

Mark Lawrence completes “the Library Trilogy” with the third book, expanding the world beyond universes. He introduces the ability of his beloved characters to traverse not just the time continuum of the world he has spent two books creating, but also the ability to enter another universe that takes place in the past of our current world. He solidifies the ideas he’s established in the other two books in this story by showcasing the same conflicts with knowledge, wisdom and the availability of information regardless of worlds and species.

“There’s a difference between truth and information. Even correct information is not the same as truth – truth does not mislead – correct information bereft of context can be more dangerous than a lie.”

The Book That Held Her Heart adds on to the author’s continued messaging by highlighting human nature and how easily we stick to our own biases. Despite the truth captured in words, we are driven by our own egos and desires to be right based on our own personal beliefs. It is often difficult to sway from our inner dialogues and must consistently seek out truth rather than confirmation.

“I will acknowledge that words work better in the business of changing minds when they’re on the page of a book rather than on the tongue of someone with a contrary opinion. They need to be consumed in private and in the reader’s own time. But face to face? In the moment? No. Changing your mind feels like being defeated. It wounds the ego.”

“Opinions were never founded on words – they’re just the garnish added on for show. A display of plumage to attract those of a similar mind.”

Information shouldn’t be subjective to who is receiving it. All information should be available and not shaped around biases and specific groups of people. It shouldn’t be controlled to only tell one side, to only display knowledge that fits certain narratives. That, even despite humanity’s inevitable draw to information that only supports their biases, information should remain accessible for those willing to step outside of their own partiality.


“The library can make sure that nobody has a good excuse for forgetting what happens and striving to prevent repetition. But it cannot stop even that. People have to want to know. I wish I could tell you that free and easy access to information solves these problems – it doesn’t – people find their own wells of poison to drink.”

As Lawrence’s characters continue to navigate the library and its connection to worlds, a consistent message around learning from history and preventing repeated patterns is displayed. This is particularly relevant today, and I find any literature that connects our world problems within the context of the story completely immersive. Lawrence does a fantastic job with his chapter epigraphs and creative storytelling in connecting “The Library Trilogy” to our world.

“The alphabet of scars exists so that those lessons need not be carved into our flesh a second time.”

Though I loved the continued world-building, the introduction of traveling to new universes and Lawrence’s ability to bring weighty topics out in his storytelling, I did feel like this book missed some of the magic as seen in his two previous installments. Maybe this had to do with the introduction of new characters and POVs, or simply that this book didn’t take place in the library to the extent that the first two books did. Most of the book felt incredibly tense, and while I can appreciate the high stakes of the story, it made me miss some of the interactions between characters that were so nuanced previously. The ending, however, was beautifully poetic and I think fits the story so well. It did make up for some of the issues I had listed above, and overall, this trilogy remains one of my favourite stories I have read.

A huge thank you to Mark Lawrence and Netgalley for this ARC I received late last year. I’m excited for the rest of the world to receive this book on April 8th. I still think of this story, despite it being months since I finished, and feel like it is a world I will return to in the future.

“They hated because humans are tinder waiting for the flame. The chancellor had given them an excuse to hate, the relief of having someone to blame.”

“Perhaps, having taken on the skins of ogres all together rather than singularly would make it easier to shed them and walk away. A shared offence, owned by nobody.”

The final book in the trilogy! This one definitely was the slower one of the three books and honestly, I didn't like it sa much as I liked the other books. The book felt a bit all over the place and some of the plot points just felt a little lost to me. This one deals with a lot of heavy themes and is definitely a slower read.

Thank you for Berkley Publishing for the e-ARC!

A solid end to this wonderful trilogy from Mark Lawrence! It did take me a minute to fully jump back into this world and characters. Due to this, I found that I was a bit confused at the beginning chapters. The pacing of this one to be slower than the first two books in the series but it still had all the magical, vast world building, immersive story the first two gave me! This one deals with some heavy themes but Mark Lawrence handled them really well. Despite the slow start, I really enjoyed how everything wrapped up for this series in the end! 💖

Thank you for Berkley Publishing for the e-ARC!

Never expected 20th century Nazi occupied Europe to show up in a Mark Lawrence novel but it did and wow did it work. This book is heavy compared to the first two books. It deals with so major themes such as how knowledge can be a weapon and a curse. How without knowledge we are doomed to repeat the horrible atrocities of the past. How knowledge can also lead to enlightenment and bring those who were once enemies to peace. This was an amazing conclusion to a wonderful trilogy! My favorite book of the three!

Thanks to Netgalley and Berkley for the advanced copy of The Book That Held Her Heart by Mark Lawrence. Below is my honest review.

I've read quite a few of Lawrence's trilogies over the last few years, and let me tell you this: he's a master of trilogy plotting. This one is no exception, and might honestly be the best one he's written so far.

The characters are great, the settings are random and varied and could be any time and anywhere, and the twists just keep coming.

I don't want to spoil anything, but this one ties up the trilogy in a way that seems to fit the story, but not really what the reader expects. Not gonna lie, one thing definitely added some heartbreak for me.

All in all, 4.5 stars (because of that heartbreak, jeez Mark don't do this to me), rounded up.