The Burning Page

The Burning Page

The third title in Genevieve Cogman's clever and exciting The Invisible Library series, The Burning Page is an action-packed literary adventure! Librarian spy Irene has professional standards to maintain. Standards that absolutely do not include making hasty, unplanned escapes through a burning besieged building. But when the gateway back to your headquarters dramatically malfunctions, one must improvise. And after fleeing a version of Revolutionary France astride a dragon (also known as her assistant, Kai), Irene soon discovers she's not the only one affected. Gates back to the Library are malfunctioning across a multitude of worlds, creating general havoc. She and Kai are tasked with a mission to St Petersburg's Winter Palace, to retrieve a book which will help restore order. However, such plans rarely survive first contact with the enemy - particularly when the enemy is the traitor Alberich. A nightmare figure bent on the Library's destruction, Alberich gives Irene a tainted 'join me or die' job offer. Meanwhile, Irene's old friend Vale has been damaged by exposure to Chaotic forces and she has no idea how to save him. When another figure from her past appears, begging for help, Irene has to take a good hard look at her priorities. And of course try to save the Library from absolute annihilation. Saving herself would be a bonus.Irene's adventures feature stolen books, secret agents and forbidden societies - think Doctor Who but with librarian spies!
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Reviews

Photo of Krystal
Krystal@demonhour
2.5 stars
Apr 11, 2024

this book didn't have as much risk as previous ones. they overcame the story's obstacle quite easily in my opinion. all the other characters had a more minor role and irene carried the entire story.

Photo of Becky
Becky@afoolsingenuity
3 stars
Jan 6, 2022

I don't know what to say on this one. I loved the expansion of the universe but I very much skimmed through because I wasn't in the mood for it but wanted to read before I returned it to the library. It was a good book in the grand scheme but I really struggled to finish because I didn't want to be reading so I feel like I couldn't write a full review because my feelings were marred by my indifference to everything.

Photo of Sahi K
Sahi K@sahibooknerd
4 stars
Jan 5, 2022

The third book of this installment starts off slightly after the end of The Masked City. Irene and Kai have recovered a book from revolutionary France but realize that the Traverse back to the Library has gone up in flames. Kai has no choice but to assume his true dragon form and fly back to London. When it becomes known that many Traverses have the same issue and the Library’s old arch rival Alberich is behind it, Irene tries to figure out ways to handle him and possibly attack instead of the defense being put up by the senior Librarians. The story ends with a good resolution with scope for many more adventures. This book is definitely the best of the series with a very engaging plot. We also get to know more about the Library itself, meet new Librarians, learn about its internal politics and the metaphysics surrounding Alberich’s plan to destroy it. Irene is the usual amazing protagonist – supremely confident, calm and composed and able to extricate herself from almost any disastrous situation. However, this book also shows her dealing with the consequences of Kai’s rescue, his PTSD and Vale’s chaos contamination. There is also an amazing scene between her and Vale, who is so much like her favorite literary detective. The Irene Adler – Sherlock style forbidden attraction between these two is irresistible and hopefully they will get together in the books to come. The ending of the book is also heartbreaking in a way (for Irene as well) but she does the best she can in the moment. But the next books have been nicely setup and this series can only get better and better.

Photo of Alice
Alice@chatspirates
3 stars
Nov 17, 2021

3.5

Photo of Pam Sartain
Pam Sartain@certainlygeeky
5 stars
Nov 9, 2021

The Burning Page by Genevive Cogman (The Invisible Library 3) has the return of Alberich, the former librarian, turned fae magic user, and he's up to something!   The great detective, Vale, after rescuing Irene and Kai in the previous book in a fae heavy world, is suffering the aftereffects of this, and Irene isn't sure what she can do to help him! Access to the Library is starting to go, leading to Irene being taken back to their base of operations by Kai, in dragon form!  So that's another thing that Irene needs to look into! This is an action packed book, with thrills and surprises.  I really enjoyed this book, and this series!  It's fantasy, with action, spies, and books!  The Burning Page  was publishing on 15th December 2015 and is available from  Amazon ,  Waterstones  and  Bookshop.org . You can follow Genevieve Cogman on  Twitter ,  Facebook  and her  website . My reviews for the other books in the series are below:  The Invisible Library  (book 1)  The Masked City  (book 2)

Photo of Anastaciya
Anastaciya@anastaciya
4 stars
Oct 27, 2021

So many twists in this one! I really hope the last book in the series comes out soon

Photo of Nona G
Nona G@nonabgo
3 stars
Oct 26, 2021

Good reliable fun adventure book. Not the best, not the worst, but fun light read for the summer. This is basically why I picked up these novels in the first place. This time Irene and Kai face Alberich again and I was sort of let down by the fact that they fight the big bad in the third instalment... but who knows, maybe there would be another encounter, seeing how the book ended somewhat open. I found the this third volume more entertaining in terms of adventure and thrill. A lot is happening and he action is not as dragged on as in the first two books, where I got the feeling that the author had a 300 page target that she struggled somehow to fill. This is cleaner, less forced from this point of view. We are also given a little bit more details about the Library than in the previous ones, but a lot is still left unsaid, which I find annoying. If you're going to drag the action along, at least give the readers more insight into how everything works. To me, it looks as if the writer herself has no idea what the inner works of the Library should be and she is just inventing stuff along the way. What most annoyed me, though, was the ending. We get sort of a finality, but then nothing happens. We get no glimpse of what happens in the aftermath, and the next novel is mute as well on this aspect. However, nice beach read, which is where I'm at right now getting on with volume 4.

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Sian Hutchinson @readwriteweep
4.5 stars
Dec 18, 2023
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Rochelle Butcher@rochelles_reading_journal
4 stars
Jul 5, 2024
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Tamara Wurst@tamarajoy
3 stars
Aug 20, 2023
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Grace Piper@the_anachronista
5 stars
Jun 8, 2023
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Monique Baham@moniqueb
3 stars
Mar 5, 2023
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Sian@harlequin
3 stars
Nov 2, 2022
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Laura@lauragh
4 stars
Nov 1, 2022
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Karolina Södergren@knason
3 stars
Sep 13, 2022
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Vilde@vforvilde
4 stars
Jul 25, 2022
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raven@ruddystargazer
5 stars
Jun 27, 2022
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Alexandra Dawning@alexandradawning
4 stars
May 23, 2022
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Daria Ioana Gheorghica@nighttriumphant
5 stars
Apr 8, 2022
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Susan Forsythe@bookmaven
4 stars
Mar 3, 2022
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Maria @sorceryoffbookss
3 stars
Feb 27, 2022
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Lauren Sullivan@llamareads
4 stars
Feb 21, 2022
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Amanda Gilson@dinkycrow
4 stars
Feb 13, 2022
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Liz Carpenter@lizcarp
3 stars
Feb 8, 2022