So an sich ist ein guter roter Faden durch die unendlich große, mystische Bibliothek vorhanden. Allerdings hat es lange gedauert bis ich in die Story wirklich reingekommen bin und zum Ende hin wurde es zwar spannender, aber gleichzeitig auch verwirrender durch die vielen Zeitsprünge. Ich finde manches teilweise zu ausführlich und langatmig beschrieben. Dennoch kein schlechtes Buch und die abwechselnde Perspektive der zwei Hauptcharaktere hat mir gefallen :)

This book isn’t just a story. It’s worlds and times put into mind blowing feelings of cold, confusion, pain and curiosity. It’s the smell of dusty books. It was hard to get in at first…Livira is a rebellious character wich I really liked to grow with. Evar has my heart, I really felt his perspective . Mark Lawrence has an incredible and buffling understanding to create the world I’ve find myself in. Sometimes it was so hard to stay focused and to understand all the content but this book made me really WANT to understand everything. Because this is some type of book you won’t find again. It’s unique! A world full of questions and philosophy and monsters to face. Some great plot twists got me breaking in the end. Loved it!

Great start of a new trilogy! I got swept up by the hype about this book and I’m glad I did! The novel „The Book That Wouldn’t Burn“ by Mark Lawrence follows two characters on their journey to unravel the mysteries of the Great Library. This is the first book I read by the author and I really like his prose and writing style. The story structure was expertly crafted and many chapters ended with a cliffhanger, so I couldn’t stop reading! Throughout the book I felt similar vibes and structures as „Strange the Dreamer“ by Lainy Tailor or „Babel“ by R.F. Kuang. Paired with the irresistible setting of a mysterious, gigantic library was an definite win for me. There where so many intriguing mysteries that I was afraid I wouldn’t get any answers in the first installment of the series but I found it very satisfying. This could definitely have been a standalone book with minor changes. Furthermore I found the authors use of book quotes really refreshing and pleasant at the start of chapters. My biggest critique of the book is firstly the slow start. The first 15-20 percent are character introduction and worldbuilding that bordered on infodumping at times. I got so many information about the library at once that my brain couldn’t process it properly. Packaging it into smaller chunks would have been much easier to understand. The second aspect I often struggle with is having big time jumps in a book. I feel like I don’t know the character anymore that has been introduced to me since a personality changes from childhood to adulthood. Loosing touch like this stood in the way of being really immersed in their story. I would recommend this book and look forward to continue in the series.

When I started reading, I had not heard or read any reviews or something that would prepare me for this book... So first I expected something typical fantasy-like. In the end it was so much more and so much better than I could imagine! The beginning was a bit slow paced, but still interesting and all worth what comes afterwards. I would have loved to know a bit more about some of the characters, but that was probably being reserved for the following book(s). The world is built very interesting and I loved to get to know more and more about it. Another thing that makes this book stand out for me is that it wants to make you use your brain. Not just for piecing the captivating twists and turns and jumps together but it also gives so much tinder to think about, to question perspectives.

“all books, no matter their binding, will fall to dust. the stories they carry may last longer. they might outlive the paper, the library, even the language in which they were first written. the greatest story can reach the stars.” This book causes the reader to ask questions, challenge beliefs and seek new perspectives. If you love libraries, protectors of stories and power of books this is story is the one. The infinitely large library contains the collective knowledge of human kind and represents our legacy as a civilization and what remains once our hunger for self destruction is sated. The writing of this book is witty and heartfelt with Livira and Evar as outstanding leads. The themes of The Book That Wouldn’t Burn extend well beyond the nature of knowledge, learning and memory. Lawrence also contemplates how society develops the notion of a collective enemy, the dehumanization of “the other” and ultimately, we may discover that we are our own worst enemy. I think this is a book that transcends genres in a sense that, even readers who will not typically reach for a fantasy book will enjoy it.

Mit diesem Buch hatte ich einen eher schwierigen Start und nur aufgrund der Leserunde mit einer lieben Freundin habe ich weitergelesen. Zu Beginn fühlte es sich einfach zu sehr nach einer typischen Fantasygeschichte mit typischen, und vor allem überfähigen, Fantasyfiguren an. Weder mit Livira, noch mit Evar konnte ich viel anfangen. Dennoch faszinierte mich die Welt, die Lawrence hier geschaffen hat, was das Weiterlesen ein wenig einfacher gemacht hat. Aber ich hatte lange das Gefühl, einfach nicht mehr vom Genre der Fantasy angesprochen zu werden. Doch mehr und mehr, wenn auch nur langsam, wurde ich in diese Welt hineingezogen. Auch die Hauptfiguren wirkten immer weniger übermächtig und wurden realer und menschlicher (wenn ich das so ausdrücken darf). Und ehe ich mich versah, auch wenn es erst nach mehr als der Hälfte des Buches so weit war, hatte mich die Bibliothek gepackt. Und dann holte Mark Lawrence zum grossen Twist aus und ich war hin und weg. Die ganze Handlung bekam plötzlich eine ganz andere Bedeutung und viel, viel mehr Tiefe. Oh dear, damit hatte ich nicht gerechnet! Ich bin jetzt noch tief beeindruckt von Lawrence, dass er mich derart kalt erwischt hat. Ich gebe zu, dass ich nicht ganz alles an dieser verzweigten und verwinkelten Welt verstanden habe. Die Bibliothek ist gross, gigantisch, und ihre Funktionsweisen überaus komplex. Aber hier hat mich das Nicht-Verstehen teilweise gar nicht gross gestört, auch die Charaktere hier verstehen nicht alles. Bzw. haben zumindest anfangs nicht alles verstanden. Ausserdem ändert dies nichts an der Botschaft, die wir hier erhalten. Frieden. Verständnis. Sich entgegen kommen. Ich fühlte mich mehr und mehr an "Apeirogon" erinnert, wenn natürlich auch in einem völlig anderen Genre. Aber hier sehen wir erneut die Kraft der Literatur, der Kunst. Egal, welcher Erzählart sich eine schreibende Personen bedienen mag, wenn diese Person etwas zu sagen hat, vermag die Botschaft vermittelt zu werden. Hoffentlich ist der zweite Teil ebenso stark und ich hoffe auch, dass ich im nächsten Teil früher ankommen werde, als hier.

Das Buch wird empfohlen mit der Überschrift "erst ab 70% des Buches verstehst du, worum es wirklich geht". Und ich kann das definitiv bestätigen, jedoch war ich gegen Ende des Buches immernoch sehr verwirrt. Viele Fragen sind offen geblieben. Das World Building ist sehr kompliziert und recht lang, daher fängt die wirkliche Handlung wirklich erst ab 70% des Buches an. Ich finde die Charaktere jedoch sehr toll und werde allein wegen ihnen das zweite Buch auch lesen. Die Handlung gegen Ende war trotz Verwirrung sehr spannend und auch intensiv.

The Book being about a big library and books had me hooked. Also the part about time travel and the characters finding out what's behind it was very interesting and has a lot of potential. The political setting reminded me a bit of The poppy war but only at the beginning. But for me the first 150 pages should have been max 50 because I found it boring and nearly abandoned the book. Also I struggled a bit that we didn't find out a lot about what exactly everything is good for/ a red thread. For over half of the book. At the end I think this was on purpose. We shouldn't have known for the plot.

SPOILERS AHEAD!!!! The initial world building is great. I enjoyed reading the two very different perspectives and two very different characters. Some things were pretty obvious - the love story between Livira and Evar, the book that Evar found, etc. However, the fact that Evar is a sabber (or canith) is a truly amazing plot twist that I didn't see coming. The fighting/running away chapters and the end of the book and some sort of "filler" chapters in the middle made it a bit difficult for me to follow to be honest. There was so much going on in the end and some storylines were left hanging (since there is a second (and a third in the making) part it is probably on purpose to keep the reader interested). I was torn between a 4 and 4.5 and would probably settle with a 4.25. Definitely would recommend if you like dark fantasy & time paradox/time travel stories.

The title of the book promises a lot and how gorgeous is the fact fact that there is a huge library, books and librarians involved However, unfortunately to my greatest regret I must say this book is not for me. The prose is stunning and beautiful with many great quotes. I love it. And it is the prose that makes me read the book to the end and not dnf it. BUT it is the way the story is told that bothers me. It takes the longest time at the beginning, since it is dragging on to the verge of boredom and seems to progress the story in very slow motion. I have great difficulties connecting with anything in the story, be it the characters, the world or the plot. Only after more than half of the book do I find myself feeling comfortable with the characters and the story for maybe 150 pages, before events seem to be overtaking each other and too much happens too fast and it gets rather confusing and therefore exhausting to read on, at least for me. Only with difficulties can I get myself to read the last 50 pages. The story features some unique and very interesting and compelling concepts which aren’t executed well enough for the reader not getting confused and overwhelmed at times but rather losing the overview and coherency. After reaching the end of the book I feel the need to start reading it immediately from the beginning again in order to understand it better this time.

Right from the beginning, I fell in love with Lawrence's writing style and the way he introduces us to new characters and scenes. I will say, this is a slow read. The pace only picks up for the last third of the book and a lot of the book is spent with long descriptions and very little action but once I got past that, I found that I could not put it down. The last third was filled with so many "wtf"-moments and revelations, so many things that suddenly made sense, I was absolutely awe-struck at the way the author manages to weave so many threads together. I already bought the second part and I am so excited to see how the story continues!

[Print/Englisch] ▪︎ Spoiler möglich Ich habe über einem Monat für dieses Buch gebraucht. Es spielt aktiv über 10 Jahre der Protagonistin und inaktiv über hunderte bis tausende allgemein und umfasst damit doch einiges and Kontext. Die ersten 70% des Buches ist vor allem Aufbau, in den letzten 30% wird dann der Schalter umgestellt und es nimmt fahrt auf und viele Punkte verbinden sich. Einer dieser hat mich womöglich auch zum weinen gebracht... Die letzten 30% haben auch dieses Buch von 4 zu 5 Sterne bewegt und lässt mich auf Band 2 freuen. Die Story war lang, aber gut. Es geht um Wissen und wie dieses ein Segen und ein Fluch ist. Sowie ein nicht endendern Kreislauf welches damit erschaffen wurde. Ebenso um die Beziehung der zwei Protagonisten. Ich mochte beide Protagonisten und auch einige der neben Charaktere. Allem voran Malar, ein Soldat in Rente. Ich wollte nach all den Wochen endlich das Ende sehen, aber nun wo alle Punkte einen Sinn ergeben, bin ich traurig es fertig zu haben und auf Band 2 warten zu müssen 🥲