The seventh installment of the Invisible Library Series continues to deliver the pacing, plot, and characters readers have come to depend on. Ms. Cogman’s ability to write consistently un-puttable down books is one of her writing superpowers. There continues to be a mix of magic, science, adventure, and a couple of evil inventions thrown in for good measure.

With an ultra compressed timeline (even for this series), the characters are under constant danger in events that unfold in only a few days time. The format of this book diverages from the last couple of books and really is action-based and focused on setting up the overarching series climax in what (at the time of this review) appears to the eighth and last book in the series.

This book doesn’t introduce a slew of new characters, which is probably for the best since there are some real hum-dinger plot twists to consume the reader’s attention. The two new characters are Shan Yuan, Kai’s brother, and Catherine, Irene’s new Fae apprentice.

Because of the complex backstories and events, be sure to read this series in order.

Content Analysis:

Profanity/Language: 9 mild obscenities.

Violence/Gore: Report of murder; devices that violently take over a person’s mind result in an encounter where devices burrow into humans, blood, smell of blood, electric shocks, tripping, deaths; characters are shot at during various points in the book; verbal threats of harm/death; explosives with intent to kill and resulting in massive destruction; characters are poisoned; individual dies in a mysterious nature in front of someone (turns to dust); magic used throughout the book to incapacitate and sometimes this results in injuries; extended scene of arson; extended discussions arount murder contracts; encounter in which an individual is knocked unconsious; a character is shot/killed point blank; using magic causes pain to the individual using it; individuals are captured/kidnapped, rendered unconscious; references to violent events from previous books; discussion around taking over another person’s body (magic/science); hostages; extended scene involving fire, shooting, destruction of property, injury by bullet; a magic image has been made with someone’s blood; destruction of property; character cuts self in a painful manner in order to use their blood to break a spell; characters tackle, punch, wrestle, mention of blood; someone trys to inhabit another’s body through magic/science which is extremely painful for the host/target; a captured individual has their neck snapped at the order of someone in a brief scene as others look on.

Sex/Nudity: Male and female touch each other with affection (shoulder, waist, etc.); verbal expression of love; reference to someone being their lover; characters hold hands; characters embrace; crude sexual remark; male character makes a unwelcomed, suggestive comment/advance to a female character and looks suggestively at her bosom.

Mature Subject Matter:

Death/murder, arson, politics.

Alcohol/Drug Use:

Reference to cocaine; reference to opium den; adults drink socially.