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Rate: 5/5

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Medium: Audiobook

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Overview (No Spoilers):

Lawrence has crafted an elegantly complex equation in The Book that Broke the World that brilliantly loops and weaves into unexpected directions. This second installment takes many unexplained scenes from The Book that Wouldn’t Burn and neatly slots them into the larger puzzle. Analytically challenged, I delightfully took in all of the twists and turns of the mysterious library and its cyclically tragic patterns. 

Clovis’ progression throughout this novel was my absolute favorite part of The Book that Broke the World. She’s uncompromising in her hatred, understandably so with her backstory. This hard facade started to crumble as she spent time among the humans. By then end, Clovis was still prickly, but just soft enough to make you smile. 

While Lawrence juggled a large cast so far in this trilogy, the side characters continued to evolve throughout The Book that Broke the World. We were granted the new perspective of Arpix who takes on a more central role in this second novel. While I loved seeing the world through Arpix’s eyes, it was the new point of view from an enslaved ganar, Celcha, who proved to be the biggest mystery. She lived in a very different physical location from the library. It is a quandary through most of this book as to how her story fits into the main story, both from a physical and timeframe standpoint. The connection, when it is made, is horrifying to say the least. 

Lawrence plots a journey for his characters that not only takes them beyond the library, but has them lost in time. This novel often had an overwhelming sense of hopelessness and impossibility with regard to the wayward friends ever being able to reconnect, especially as survival takes precedence. That said, happenstance and coincidence were primary currency in this story, though the connections feel driven from an outside force and not for convenience of the author. 

So much happened, especially with the revelations toward the end that I relistened to the final chapters several times to make sure I fully understood and appreciated the implications. Utterly delightful in its complexity. Lawrence had to start laying the groundwork for the dominos to be able to fall into place early in The Book that Wouldn’t Burn. Scenes that seemed to be separate and isolated had new horrifying context in this sequel. Overall, with everything that happened in these two books a reread would most certainly yield new connections that would bring even more depth to this already satisfying read. 

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Additional Insight (Spoilers Abound):

• Is Malar actually dead or will he be a ghost again. He is still such an enigma. How did he become such a great fighter? What is his backstory in general?
• We know who the Assistant is now among the pools. Celcha and Hellet’s story is so heartbreaking and also gives insight into the devastation that Livira and Elvar witnessed in the first book.
• We finally have our answer about where Arpix and the other librarians escaped to. It really helped highlight some of the time differences between traveling to and from the portals as they were there significantly more time compared to the jumps experienced by the King’s men and Yute’s cohort.
• Talk about a nightmare. The King and his men utilized the healing aspects of the circles to a horrifying degree. Even though their hunger should have been sated by the circle, they still went full grimdark. 
• Clovis had made such progress and had such an attachment to Arpix but reverted right back once she found out the King’s men were transported to her family’s time by Yute accidentally. It was this group who killed her family and made her who she was. Loops, within loops, within loops. Everything feels connected. I still couldn’t believe she left Arpix. 
• Why was there a statue of Carlotte? Where did her group of captors end up? 
• Is Jorg actually Jaspeth? The descriptions were quite similar? How is this trilogy connected to all Mark’s previous ones?