10 hours ago December 24, 2025sarahylockwood

The Book that Held Her Heart by Mark Lawrence

Rate: 5/5

Medium: Audiobook

Overview (No Spoilers): 

The Book the Held her Heart is deep and deliberate, with Lawrence weaving an ending set up by decisions made two books and lifetimes ago.  

Lawrence left the reader with quite the cliffhanger at the end of The Book that Broke the World. Characters who we have become quite attached find themselves split into three groups that span both in time and dimensions.The groups all have motivations regarding the library that are at odds. With everyone spread to all corners of the library, the task is daunting to say the least to navigate everyone back together again for the conclusion of this trilogy. 

Of the three paths, Kerrol and Yule’s journey is the one I couldn’t stop thinking about. Lawrence manages to weave in preWWII Germany into the library in a compelling and fitting way that feels like another lost puzzle piece slotting into place.

I spent significant portions of the last half of this read pleasantly confused, trusting that the fog will lift, revealing an intricately woven piece of art.This whole trilogy has been ambitious and one of my favorites of Lawrence’s. With all of the moving pieces in The Book that Held her Heart, some of the depth to key scenes felt softened or rushed. That said, the final reveal of the puzzle Livira has been working towards is satisfying, especially with the delightful mental gymnastics that it took to get there. Not to mention, the emotional rollercoaster throughout this read when hope seemed in short supply.  

Overall, The Book that Held her Heart is both an ode to libraries and a fitting thought piece on the current state of political turmoil, which touches surprisingly close to so many of the concerns I have on a daily basis. Though with The Book that Held her Heart being written years ago, perhaps Lawrence is showcasing his prescient talents.

Additional Insight (Spoilers Abound): 

  • We finally know why there was a large statue of Carlotte! How could they get the statue right if she couldn’t be seen? What happened to her captors who she was transported with? How long did her king last without her?
  • Clovis and Arpix is a love story I can’t help but cheer for.
  • Yule and Kerrol’s excursion to 1930s Germany had me utterly gripped. My favorite part of the story. Poor Anne. I cried big ugly tears when they went back to her world. 
  • How can I go visit Livira’s bookstore? I loved that Wenworth, Volente , and Edgarallen all ended up there. Plus the twist of Livira finding Evar in a hidden piece of her bookstore made my heart so happy. There were so many ugly tears after Livira brought all the pieces of her book together and Evar was not with everyone.
  • I couldn’t believe Starval could lose enough of himself to be so bound by his assassin identity that he would try to kill Evar. Or for that point that Mayland would put him up to it. 
  • The reveal of having King Oanold being multiple different characters in each fracture of time and having them be varying degrees of morality was an interesting way of adding shades of grey to a character who should otherwise be beyond redemption. 
  • RIP to the real life Wentworth!

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