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Book Blog: Ink and Bone, by Rachel Caine
The first book I read for the first time after the summer solstice was Ink and Bone by Rachel Caine, an author whose Morganville Vampires books I've been enjoying for some years. Ink and Bone, like the rest of her work, is classified YA; fairly light weight, with teenage protagonists and the focus on those teenagers rather than the adults in the books.
This is a truly fascinating alternate history with an ancient what if; the survival of the Great Library of Alexandria, instead of it being destroyed in (?) and the effect that would have on human civilisation. [Note: I tried to look up this event and found only speculation and suspects!] I was also intrigued by the premise that this survival turned out to be not altogether beneficial, to say the least. What was free sharing of knowledge became, through the centuries, overarching control of all books and through this, the lives of all people. The story picks up in the year 2025, which looks more like a steampunk future.
The author doesn't go into details into how the mechanisms of the Library work. These seem to be to be a sort of alchemist's answer to the Internet, if the Internet was controlled by one governing body and everything on it was only what that governing body wanted to be there. Indeed, I couldn't be sure whether it was science, alchemy or magic which was the primary force behind the Library.
The characters are students, or postulants seeking to enter the Library's service, sixteen-year-olds from all over the world. Quite a few have reasons other than the traditional for wanting to sign up. Jess Brightwell, the main protagonist, belongs to a family of book smugglers in London, who supply actual, original books to people; something which is strictly forbidden by the Library. His family think it could be useful to have somebody on the inside.
The book is very well written and it kept me up at night to finish it. You don't just see the Library; there is a whole changed world as a result of the Library's influence, including an ongoing war between the English and the Welsh. I'm looking forward to more in the series. No idea how many there will be, but there were about 16 of the Morganville Vampires' books. I hope the ensuing books live up to the promise of this one and the many loose threads it dangled.
This is a truly fascinating alternate history with an ancient what if; the survival of the Great Library of Alexandria, instead of it being destroyed in (?) and the effect that would have on human civilisation. [Note: I tried to look up this event and found only speculation and suspects!] I was also intrigued by the premise that this survival turned out to be not altogether beneficial, to say the least. What was free sharing of knowledge became, through the centuries, overarching control of all books and through this, the lives of all people. The story picks up in the year 2025, which looks more like a steampunk future.
The author doesn't go into details into how the mechanisms of the Library work. These seem to be to be a sort of alchemist's answer to the Internet, if the Internet was controlled by one governing body and everything on it was only what that governing body wanted to be there. Indeed, I couldn't be sure whether it was science, alchemy or magic which was the primary force behind the Library.
The characters are students, or postulants seeking to enter the Library's service, sixteen-year-olds from all over the world. Quite a few have reasons other than the traditional for wanting to sign up. Jess Brightwell, the main protagonist, belongs to a family of book smugglers in London, who supply actual, original books to people; something which is strictly forbidden by the Library. His family think it could be useful to have somebody on the inside.
The book is very well written and it kept me up at night to finish it. You don't just see the Library; there is a whole changed world as a result of the Library's influence, including an ongoing war between the English and the Welsh. I'm looking forward to more in the series. No idea how many there will be, but there were about 16 of the Morganville Vampires' books. I hope the ensuing books live up to the promise of this one and the many loose threads it dangled.
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