A book of wonder

Mark Lawrence's The Book that Wouldn't Burn, the first in his The Library Trilogy and narrated by the inestimable Jessica Whittaker, is a book of fabulous world building and fantastic time travelling.

The story follows Livira and Evar as they discover the library, each other and the world(s) they inhabit. Finding out their history is one of the themes which runs throughout the book, as is Livira's growing knowledge of the Library and its inhabitants.

Jessica Whittaker narrates very well, and you can imagine the places in your minds eye, due to her narration as well as Mark's fine prose.

If you're looking for a new book to listen to, look no further than this, you won't be disappointed.

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2 people found this helpful

ohh my godddd!

I was absolutely captivated by this book! I found myself staying up later to listen to more of it. the story is so cleverly written. I think this may just be my new favourite book. my mind is left reeling at the concepts and ideas in the story.

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Excellent

That was the best book I’ve listened to in a long time, and I’ve listened to/read a lot of books. What book lover doesn’t want to be drawn into a magical library crossing time, dimensions and space?
The book flicks between the narrative of the two main characters who’s tales draw together over the space of the book, intersecting at times before being torn apart again. There are more twists and turns in this book than I can count, some of which turn the plot entirely on its head. It keeps you guessing at the impossible nature of the library until the last page. The performance suits the story perfectly. Can’t wait for the next one.

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A gripping listern

New to this author, I was impressed at how the book drew me in with its intricately described characters and world. I found myself listening every chance I had to reach the carefully constructed conclusion, just superb! Narration was expansive giving unique tones to each character bringing the story alive, a very comfortable listen. I hope they team up for book 2!

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Truly Phenemonal. Near Perfection.

I find it hard to put into words just how much I fell in love with this book, it's characters, and the fascinating and intriguing worldbuilding. To think I picked this up completely at random and it's genuinely one of the best fantasy books I've ever read.

The core elements are classic: plucky, precocious, outsider young girl is taken from all she knows through tragedy and does the incredibly talented inquisitive and cheeky fish out of water thing. There's a lovable, foul-mouthed soldier bodyguard, well-written romance, a split narrative with that comes together, and the futility and pointlessness of war and hatred of one people for another. But what Lawrence does with those elements, the world they create, and the way concepts are explored and extrapolated through a fantastic, wondrous, and terrifying library that straddles all dimensions, is a work of utter brilliance.

The ideas and message are great, combining mind-bending speculative sci-fi concepts and epic fantasy fun with humour, intrigue and human emotion.

I really need to go back and listen to the last handful of chapters, as some of the reveals and elements genuinely had me sobbing my heart out, while pleasantly baffled. This definitely took my brain on a long walk and made my emotions work out.

I'm absolutely gutted this came out this year and absolutely need the next book as soon as humanly possible!

The performance by Jessica Whittaker is out of this world and absolutely top tier. The range of accents, age, and emotion they embody are mind blowing! An absolutely breathtaking performance that makes me genuinely want to listen to anything and everything they narrate.

I loved this book so very much, but I do have two issues that, while absolutely weren't deal breakers, did impact my enjoyment and make me question how much I can trust the author and their views. The first is a fictional quote heading up one of the chapters that discusses very stereotypical and not gender-inclusive depictions of mothers, fathers, and pregnancy. The other is this quote:
"If a civilization is not capable of keeping a book from burning then perhaps it wasn't ready for whatever knowledge was held within"
The point is a good an interesting one in the context of the book with it referring to knowledge, particularly that of weapons of mass destruction. However, we live in a world where fascist and bigoted book burnings have taken place, and we are currently seeing truly wild and dangerous censorship and removal of books from schools and other places due to ignorance, bigotry, and rightwing propaganda. There has to be a better say to phrase this. All I could think of were the Nazi book burnings, which the famous photos come from the destruction of the research and writing of the Hirschfeld Institute, particularly those on sexuality and gender identity. We have always been ready for Queer/ trans folx because we have always existed.

I don't think either of the above points was done maliciously, but it does come across as some cisnormative ignorance that was a small blemish on an otherwise utterly brilliant book.

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Originality

I have never read a book by this author that disappointed me. This should be compulsory reading in all schools worldwide. I’ll leave it to the reader to discover why.

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Bombshell twists to say the least.

Characters intertwined in ways I couldn't have imagined...in a scale I couldn't have imagined.

It gave me the same fascinating, awe-inspiring head explosion(s) that I get when I look up and attempt to comprehend the stars. Complex, but in a fascinating, twisty way.

Reading it again would be like reading a new book, knowing what I now know.

Read it, emmerse yourself in it and listen out for the details through the excellent narration.

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Captivating

From start to finish... What an imagination! This book is addictive & hard to put down. It's imersive, detailed & brilliantly written & the narrator was perfect for the book. Look forward to book 2.

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A cracking listen

A quote from JR Heartly!!! Must be good 🌟

Slowly blows your mind as you are sucked into the world of the Library.

A heroine lead in a fantasy book, cool. Resonates with my 15 year old daughter.

Dare I say that this should be on the school curriculum ....you wouldn't be able to stop the kids loving it.

And relevant to life today in so many ways challenging the listener to confront social issues of our day through a fantasy world.

Remember (as I understand it) it's 1st part of a trilogy....youll be spending your future credits to find out what happens 😬

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Engaging tale, progresses at a nice pace

I enjoyed the story, the narration and to note, have enjoyed other Mark Lawrence books.

I sought opportunities to get this listened to, as found myself interested to reach the finale.

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