Disclaimer: This book review may contain spoilers, for those that haven’t read the first three books in the series. If you haven’t read them, I’d suggest you read my review of book 1 and 2 here, and my review of book 3 here.
{Book Review}
Smoke and Iron
The Great Library Series Book 4
By Rachel Caine
Like each of the preceding books in the series, Caine drops the reader right back into the story where she last left off. Smoke and Iron starts with Jess Brightwell, just separated from his friends, leaving them in the dark as to how he plans to win their freedom and overthrow the Library. Jess ends up in Alexandria in a last ditch effort to take down the corrupt leadership of the Great Library. Each of the friends has a part to play in Jess’ grand plan… the question is, will they figure out what that part is before it’s too late?
In this action-packed book, Jess and his friends certainly increase their momentum and develop powerful allies in their quest against the Library, but we’re left waiting until Book 5 (release date TBD but I’d assume 2019 sometime) to find out if Jess is successful.
Review/Recommendation: Man, does this series suck me in. I waited a year for this book to be released and I’m not looking forward to the wait for the final book in the series. But the wait was worth it. Smoke and Iron was the best book I’ve read in a while.
Like the other books in the series, Smoke and Iron was great – engaging and fast-paced, a plot with twists and turns, characters that I enjoyed… Where this book is different from the others in the series is the manner in which it’s told. The characters are not together for much of the book, so the novel is told from multiple perspectives – each character telling his or her own piece of the adventure. I’m sure there was a little bit about that in other books, but it was much more noticeable in this book.
The story continued to be creative and surprising – I couldn’t put this book down. It’s a little fantasy, a little… alternative history (that’s a thing, right? Just like alternative facts?)… and a lot of adventure. I am really loving this series.
Have you read any of the books? What do you think of the series?