Paper and Fire
Rachel Caine
Jess Brightwell sacrificed his bright future at the Library when his friend Thomas was murdered. Determined to set the mystery at rest, Jess can’t keep his nose out of trouble – and seems determined to drag his friends in as well. With London burning and the safe havens Jess has always known crumbling, it’s not clear how he will get out of this mess.
I find it very difficult to give an objective assessment of this novel. It’s told from Jess’ perspective, which granted is rather limited. Jess is basically a book stealer by trade, and so he looks at everything with a certain degree of detachment, which is actually very useful. He could do better with hiding his emotions though!
Everything seems to happen very quickly in this novel, the time is compressed and the action is thrilling. The characters never get a real chance to rest, it’s all plot and excitement. I found it impossible to put down, even when I was giving it a little reread to refresh my memory to review it.
I would have liked to get a sense of more of the mechanics behind the ‘magic’ of the Library, which comes in parts through notes written in the Codex of other characters (usually the ‘bad guys’). I think that further information from Thomas will be useful in this, and I hope to see more in the third novel.
I wanted this novel right after I had eaten up the first novel (Ink and Bone) in one very happy sitting, but I had to wait. The wait was well worth it, and I only wish I had managed to reread the first before settling into this one. Depending on the publication of the next novel, I might manage it then. Being separated from my main bookshelves makes rereading quite hard.
I’m going to give this novel 5 stars for being fantastically twisty with characters that I loved time and time again.
Faber Factory Plus Ffp | 27th July 2016 | AU $16.99 | Paperback
Libby connected with me really strongly and left a lasting impression for me. She’s a strong female protagonist that nevertheless needs support from her family, friends and a counsellor. No woman is an island, and Libby is no exception.
I feel like I didn’t get a really good grip on Snow’s character. But then you consider that she has been locked up and completely drugged for the last 10+ years and you can’t be surprised. She felt quite cold to me, and never seemed to warm up. I’ll be looking for more character development in the second novel of this.
Martha has lost a lot of important people, and I can see why she does the things she does. But she came across as a selfish, shallow character that I simply couldn’t like very much. And considering that I was supposed to get attached so I would be worried when she was close to dying, well, I wasn’t.
This novel was awful. It was well written and everything, and the dialogue was believable, yet the plot left a lot to be desired. It was repetitive, and didn’t seem to go anywhere. I didn’t feel for any of the characters and the whole lot felt staged.
Penguin Random House | 29 August 2016 | AU $19.99 | Paperback
Who doesn’t love an underdog? Nessa is going to fight for what she has, and pretend she doesn’t care about everything else. Her legs aren’t going to stop her, when her mind is sharp. Her mind ends up being the thing that can save her. Other reviewers have picked on her being a character trope, but I didn’t have an issue with that. I appreciated that Nessa couldn’t see her own faults until it was to late – she couldn’t be too self-sacrificing after all.
This novel reminded me of another that I read a while ago, but never got around to reviewing (very naughty of me). It seemed to be aimed at younger readers, with just enough danger to excite them. Apart from the initial rather traumatic way that Izzy thinks of her brother’s death, it’s not too scary. I can’t think of the ideal audience though, apart from children and early teens who love reading. There are other novels which stand out for me a lot more strongly.
Ok, so another reviewer has pointed out that the novel is filled with predictable character types. I think that’s certainly true – plucky heroine protecting her too kind brother and tolerating the hatred of a foster brother who blames her for his parents’ fates. However, I didn’t find it offputting. It gave me more space to think about the implications of the novel, rather than having to do too much thinking about the characters.