The Great Library #5

This the last book in the series. If you have not read the other books but want to you might want to stop reading now. There maybe spoilers ahead. You have been warned..

If you would like to read my reviews for the other books click on their titles below.

Ink and Bone and Paper and Fire (books 1 &2)

Ash and Quill (book 3)

Smoke and Iron (book 4)

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Sword and Pen by Rachel Caine

Publication date: September 3, 2019

Summary from Netgalley:

With the future of the Great Library in doubt, the unforgettable characters from Ink and Bone must decide if it’s worth saving in this thrilling adventure in the New York Times bestselling series.

The corrupt leadership of the Great Library has fallen. But with the Archivist plotting his return to power, and the Library under siege from outside empires and kingdoms, its future is uncertain. Jess Brightwell and his friends must come together as never before, to forge a new future for the Great Library…or see everything it stood for crumble.

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ARC provided by Berkley Publishing Group via NeGalley for an honest review

I am going to be honest. In some ways I loved this last book in the series, it was mostly what I was hoping for. But I was also a bit disappointed, but I can’t quite put my finger on why. It might just be last book blues, or it might be that unnecessary epilogue. But I will do my best not to let that interfere with my review, because it really was a great book.

Just like in the last book, we are being told the story through almost everyone’s perspective. I really liked this because it did give us the opportunity to learn more about all of this small group of heroes. They all fight for their beliefs and to make the world a better place for everyone. Everyone’s story was told to a conclusion that was acceptable, if sad for some.

I really liked the fact that the series as a whole was about friendship and creating a found family. All of the characters come from different parts of the world with different religious beliefs, cultures and issues. But they all come to respect each other for their strengths and weaknesses, (yes, even Dario). They come to love and trust each other and to know that they all want the same things for their world. There is light romance between some of them, but that never deters from the story or from the friendships.

Even though the world at this point is pretty well established, Ms. Caine continues to bring in new and exciting elements to the world. The weapons that Thomas and others develop are amazing in their ability to wipe out whole groups of people. The puzzles that Thomas has to solve at one point were quite clever and there were a couple of times that I wasn’t sure Thomas would get through them.

Every character arc has an ending that was about what I was expecting. But not all were what I wanted for that character. Jess especially, I wanted his ending to be happier. He is still a character that I care about, and I think there is hope for his happiness, but I would have liked a more concrete ending for him. Dario was a character that I had doubts about through out the series, but he really pulls through in the end. Khalila’s story was perhaps the best one. I loved how her character really shined through out this book. Morgan’s story had the saddest ending and one I was not prepared for. But once I thought about it, it made sense.

It is hard to review the last book in a series. You don’t want to say too much that you end up spoiling things, but you want to make sure that people will want to read the series too. This is the perfect series for almost anybody, as it has a lot of different things that will appeal to lots of different people. It verges on the steampunk side of sci-fi while also being somewhat of a fantasy. It has a found family with lots of diverse characters. A conspiracy of evil that wants to control not only the world, but knowledge which is worse. And because I haven’t mentioned them yet in this review, the automatons are something not to be missed, they are terrifyingly awesome!

This is a series that will always have special place in my heart and one that I whole heartedly recommend you start.