Finished *The Burning Library* by Gilly Macmillan and couldn’t put it down. It’s a slow burn in the best way—layered, atmospheric, and full of emotional depth. The past and present weave together into a haunting story about secrets, memory, and grief. Perfect if you like your thrillers thoughtful and a little literary.

3.5 stars

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the advanced copy and opportunity to review The Burning Library.

The story is very well written and the distinction between characters was easy to follow. It's a story where you don't know how all the pieces and characters fit together at first, but there's a clear understanding you won't be in the fog long.

I enjoyed the mystery and the relationships between the characters. The downfall for me was not understanding the Latin words and historical content. You don't need to understand to enjoy the story, but with all entanglement of riddles it would have enhanced the story if I did.

This story was incredible. Two super secret groups of historians are battling to save a secret and support women leaders throughout centuries. Kind of like the DaVinci Code, going all through Europe looking for clues. Gosh I hope this is going to be a movie.

A solid standout for any fans who are looking for a dark academia setting and a plot rife with intrigue and high stakes.

I'm admittedly struggling because, while I could not put this down, I found the ending rushed and slightly unsatisfying. Dark academia, medieval manuscripts, and secret societies? Sign me up. I loved the character of Dr. Anya Brown - reminded me of both Deborah Harkness's Diana Bishop (minus the witches, vampires, and daemons) and Dan Brown's Robert Langdon. The concept of two rival all-female secret organizations was intriguing, though at times somewhat confusingly executed. The supporting characters of Sid and Clio were a perfect compliment to Anya, and I also very much enjoyed the various locales and art/art history/history nuggets. While I think I understand what Macmillan was seeking to achieve with the ending, I turned the last page wanting more (and more answers).

I loved the way the book is written, rich in detail, old buildings, academia, and history. Truly atmospheric, and it was something that pulled me in. However, the story fell flat for me. It went nowhere and was not exciting or mysterious.

Thank you to William Morrow for an ARC of The Burning Library by Gilly Macmillan. The Burning Library is a satisfying, emotionally resonant mystery perfect for fans of domestic thrillers with a gothic twist—think Rachel Abbott meets Ruth Ware. It’s not a complex puzzle, but a chilling, immersive ride that leans hard into atmosphere and family bonds. If you're in the mood for a moody, brisk read by a crackling fire or a stormy night, this is a distinctive pick.

I was really excited for this one as I love dark academia but unfortunately this one fell flat for me. I struggled getting invested in the story and it never really grabbed my attention.

This is fast paced! This story has many twist and turns but is so intellectually stimulating that I felt smarter after reading!

Huge thanks to NetGalley for the ARC! The Burning Library hooked me from the very first page. It’s a gripping, emotional, and layered story full of secrets, lies, and twists I didn’t see coming. I loved the shifting perspectives and how each one added something new to the mystery. Macmillan’s writing is smart and immersive, and the way she explores identity, truth, and the past really stuck with me. If you enjoy literary thrillers that make you think while keeping you on edge, this one’s a must-read!

Set in the moody landscape of Scotland, this novel follows Dr. Anya Brown as she searches for the elusive Book of Wonder. She becomes entangled in a struggle between the radical Larks and the persuasive Kats, two factions with starkly different visions for the future of women’s influence. A layered tale of power, legacy and the power of women at its core.

I was so excited about this book, because I typically love Gilly Macmillan's writing. This one was horrible for me. There was not any point where I was excited or itching to turn the page. I felt bored, unengaged and just ready for the book to be over.

This is a dark academia novel told from multiple points of view. This is classified as general fiction and mystery/thriller which I understand but the twist and the lead up were just not there for me.

Thank you NetGalley and William Morrow for this e-ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

I. Loved. This. Story!

The Da Vinci Code meets Indiana Jones, The Burning Library was an intensely gripping and exciting thriller with mysterious paths to an incredible ending.

A little out of her element in a seemingly espionage type of book with two female clandestine societies but well done. I appreciate the problem solving and riddles. Great characters.

Dr. Arya Brown has just graduated with her doctorate and is surveying the employment options. Her mother is very ill with cancer, so she is hesitant to move to the US, where Yale is located. When she is offered a lucrative opportunity at an extremely small location in Scotland, she and her boyfriend, Sid agree - that’s the job and location for them.

Once moving to Scotland, though, Sid learns that weird things have been happening to staff members over the past few years - disappearances or deaths.

Soon, the mystery begins to unravel as to why Anya was brought to Scotland, who owns the manuscripts that she was lured to catalog, and the underground agencies that are chasing after the knowledge within them.

A centuries-old manuscript. Rival secret societies. And a body on the beach. The Burning Library blends academic intrigue with modern mystery in a way that’s sharp, cerebral, and sneakily propulsive.

I loved how the story unfolds through multiple POVs, across both factions and varying degrees of ambition and desperation. Anya may be our main thread, but we’re never stuck in her limited understanding. We know more than she does, which adds this delicious tension to the slow, scholarly unraveling. You’re not so much solving the mystery as watching it circle tighter and tighter around her.

The feminist secret society angle was fascinating, especially the contrast in ideologies. One group thrives in the shadows, pulling strings and whispering in ears. The other wants women in power publicly… even if they’re willing to get a little ethically murky to make it happen. That tension is really the engine of the book, and it never lets up.

My only tiny quibble? Sometimes the pacing lags a bit under the weight of historical exposition—but if you’re here for secret societies and manuscript lore (and let’s be honest, I absolutely was), it’s a satisfying, well-plotted read that sticks the landing.

I received an advance copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review—and honestly, if I’m ever invited to a shadowy research institute in a misty coastal town, I’m saying no.

Yale University’s Beinecke Library possesses the 15th-century Voynich manuscript, a codex so mysterious and untranslatable that it would stump even The Da Vinci Code’s Robert Langdon. But Macmillan (The Manor House) daringly incorporates this unique book as a possible clue to an even more cryptic ancient text in a twisty feminist thriller that features deadly secret societies, a sleuthing scholar, a Scotland Yard detective, and an action-packed quest that begins in Scotland and ends in Italy. On a remote Scottish island, Eleanor Bruton, a member of the Order of St. Katherine, or the Kats, is studying an antique piece of embroidery for clues to a valuable title, The Book of Wonders, when she is brutally murdered. Her killers work for a rival women’s group, the Larks. While the Kats seek power over men through their traditional roles as wives and mothers, the equally ruthless Larks represent feminist modern women. Caught unwittingly between the two groups is Anya Brown, a brilliant, newly minted PhD., who has been hired by the elite Institute of Medieval Manuscripts in St. Andrews to study a private collection of rare materials. In London, DC Clio Spicer suspects that the “accidental” death of her mentor might be connected to Bruton’s killing. Despite the anticlimactic conclusion, Macmillan takes readers on an exciting adventure that will please Katherine Neville and Dan Brown fans.

I’ve liked other Gilly Macmillan novels, but The Burning Library didn’t work for me. The varied perspectives and shifting storylines felt hard to follow. I didn’t quite understand how things were coming together, which made it difficult to get into the thriller aspect. I’m sure this will be popular for many, but it’s not for me.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book sounded right up my alley, but unfortunately it just did not land for me. There were so many perspectives that I had trouble keeping them straight, and it made it hard to get into the story. The tension never seemed like it was allowed to build (until the very end) because due to all the perspectives, I always had more information than the MC did. I also, as others have mentioned, never really understood the motivations of the competing secret societies, even at the end the power or purpose of the "book of wonder" was never revealed.
There were some highlights, the section at the end in Verona was interesting, and a creative use of real places and artifacts, and less bouncing around between perspectives. I wish the whole thing had been more similar to that.

The Fellowship of the Larks and The Order of the Katherines are two powerful and secretive women-led groups, locked in a fierce rivalry over the mysterious and long-lost Book of Wonder. Both are willing to do whatever it takes to claim it.

Dr. Anya Brown, a brilliant young scholar with a photographic memory, arrives at the Institute of Manuscript Studies hoping for a fresh start. But when she begins uncovering secrets connected to her own family, she’s pulled into the dangerous world of these rival societies.

At the same time, Detective Clio Spicer from Scotland Yard investigates a strange book theft tied to a murder—and discovers a dark history linking back to the Larks and Kats. As both women dig deeper, they find themselves in the crosshairs of forces determined to keep the past buried.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.