The invisible library series

[Aktive]

At the moment Im at the second of the series. I think its better than harry potter. It can be the next harry potter killer.

[hildea]

Thanks for the recommendation, I've been meaning to check it out!

Here's the series blurb from Genevieve Cogman's site, for others who haven't heard of it:

The Invisible Library marks the start in a brand new adventure series, featuring stolen books, secret agents and forbidden societies. This book has struck a real chord with ardent in-house fans, with readers seeing hints of The Night Circus, Sherlock Holmes, Ben Aaronovitch and also Jasper Fforde in the writing. ...

The story follows Irene, a professional spy for the mysterious Library, which harvests fiction from different realities. Along with her enigmatic assistant Kai, she’s posted to an alternative London. Their mission – to retrieve a dangerous book. But when they arrive, it’s already been stolen. London’s underground factions seem prepared to fight to the very death to find her book.

Adding to the jeopardy, this world is chaos-infested – the laws of nature bent to allow supernatural creatures and unpredictable magic. Irene’s new assistant is also hiding secrets of his own.

Soon, she’s up to her eyebrows in a heady mix of danger, clues and secret societies. Yet failure is not an option – the nature of reality itself is at stake.

Originally Posted by Aktive

I think its better than harry potter. It can be the next harry potter killer.

I doubt that will happen, unfortunately. Lots of series are better than Harry Potter, without getting anything near those sales. This series is at five books and haven't gotten anything near that attention so far, so it's not likely that it will happen now.

[Aleron Ives]

There are eight books in the series now. The website is very out of date.

[Quoth]

I have what's labelled as an "uncorrected proof" as a paperback from Tor of the first book.
1) It's not the same sort of thing as Harry Potter. Which might be good as HP was a lucky success, not because it's brilliant.
2) I think a blurb like "seeing hints of The Night Circus, Sherlock Holmes, Ben Aaronovitch and also Jasper Fforde in the writing*" is pure crayon dept.
3) It was OK, but not so great that I went and looked for more. I looked just now and eight paperbacks in a box set are £33 approx. Eight as Kindle ebooks is £45.57. In Ireland there is no VAT on paper books but there is VAT on ebooks.

I know print costs are only a part of cost, but still I do expect the ebook version to be a bit cheaper and now they usually are.


Indeed many series, including the books that J. Rowlings mined for HP, are better than HP no matter what age you are. But I have all the HP books (read twice) and all the DVDs or maybe BD (but never watched Deathly Hollows).

David Walliams is a poor copy of Roald Dahl and has now made £100M.

Mega success in publishing (paper or movies or music) is more a combination of marketing and luck, not excellence. Also book awards are often dominated by literary snobbery, not what keen regular readers or mass market (not same thing) like.

[* I do like Jasper Fford's Thursday Next, and Nursery Tales. Maybe I like his Dragonslayer books better, though I thought the last one weak. Invisible Library has a tenuous connection. I do like most of Sherlock Homes and see no connection. I started reading Ben Aaronovitch's "Rivers of London" and hated it. DNF, IMO over hyped. Fortunately Invisible Library is nothing like "Rivers of London". The Invisible Library is good on its own merits and really is nothing like the books /authors in the blurb. I think Ben Aaronovitch and Jasper Fford are a bit Marmite and The Invisible Library likely has a wider appeal.]

[svenlind]

Originally Posted by Aktive

At the moment Im at the second of the series. I think its better than harry potter. It can be the next harry potter killer.

Thanks for the recommendation. I decided I would try it and I found it in a dark corner of my Calibre library

[John F]

Originally Posted by Aktive

At the moment Im at the second of the series. I think its better than harry potter. It can be the next harry potter killer.

I'm making my way through the series after reading this thread. Currently on book 5. First series that I've read back to back in a while. Very enjoyable.

Although I wouldn't consider it a Harry Potter killer. What was the previ9us Harry Potter killer?

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by John F

I'm making my way through the series after reading this thread. Currently on book 5. First series that I've read back to back in a while. Very enjoyable.

Although I wouldn't consider it a Harry Potter killer. What was the previ9us Harry Potter killer?

He that shall not be named tried and failed. Harry Potter was madly successful, but it's not the best. Big sales and really good are not the same. David Walliams has done really well, yet he's a poor knock off of Roald Dahl. Jacqueline Wilson hoped to beat J. Rowlings.



I certainly might read the 2nd Invisible Library, but TBR pile is very high.