The library at Mount Char

enne📚 reviewed The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins

4 stars

I was hooked by the setup in this book of a group of adopted children, partially pulled out of time by a god-like Father, and each set to learn one specific branch of knowledge and ancient power. My favorite part of this book was the slow unfurling of background machinations and scheming that all paid off in the end. The characters somehow manage to be somewhat relatable even as the book continually demonstrated how extreme power alienates them from their own humanity.

Parts of this book reminded me of Charles Stross's Merchant Princes series, especially around the US government attempting to "negotiate" with people who have fantastical power.

I will say also that this book goes to some very dark places, so content warning for abuse and violence and and torture and trauma. To put it one way, when somebody has enough power to read minds, bring people back from …

I was hooked by the setup in this book of a group of adopted children, partially pulled out of time by a god-like Father, and each set to learn one specific branch of knowledge and ancient power. My favorite part of this book was the slow unfurling of background machinations and scheming that all paid off in the end. The characters somehow manage to be somewhat relatable even as the book continually demonstrated how extreme power alienates them from their own humanity.

Parts of this book reminded me of Charles Stross's Merchant Princes series, especially around the US government attempting to "negotiate" with people who have fantastical power.

I will say also that this book goes to some very dark places, so content warning for abuse and violence and and torture and trauma. To put it one way, when somebody has enough power to read minds, bring people back from the dead, or go back in time to manipulate the past, there's very little escape from their will and manipulation.

sarah reviewed The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins

Compelling but so much torture

3 stars

So much about this book was great—the story, the characters, the slow but insanely compelling roll of it. But there is a huge amount of physical abuse in it and that abuse gets excused at the end too easily for me as something that was necessary for an end goal. So I devoured this book and then felt really gross when I finished it.

P. E. T. Conroy reviewed The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins

Let down by weak writing

3 stars

The writing isn't it's strongest part. The story is strong, the characters quirky, but the ending is weak if mostly satisfying. Resurrection seems to be the main fantastical tool used with few archaic Arabic sounding words that just feel thrown in. The size of the library becomes a little too Warehouse 13 or those TV movies and series 'The Librarian' or 'The Librarians' - where this story diverges is not in missing artifacts or books, but rather in the focus on 'The Librarians' being criminally insane and it's an adopted-family feud. I did enjoy this book, but it lacked something in the story, the writing was the weakest part, dialogue was fine, but the actual writing was the weakest part.