The Book That Broke the World, Mark Lawrence
The Book That Broke the World, Mark Lawrence
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The Book That Broke the World

Author: Mark Lawrence

Narrator: Jessica Whittaker

Unabridged: 15 hr 28 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Published: 04/09/2024

Synopsis

Two people living in a world connected by an immense and mysterious library must fight for those they love in the second book in a new trilogy from the international bestselling author of The Book That Wouldn’t Burn.

The Library spans worlds and times. It touches and joins distant places. It is memory and future. And amid its vastness Evar Eventari both found, and lost, Livira Page.

Evar has been forced to flee the library, driven before an implacable foe. Livira, trapped in a ghost world, has to recover the book she wrote—one which is the only true threat to the library’s existence—if she's to return to her life.

While Evar's journey leads him outside into a world he's never seen, Livira's path will taker her deep inside her own writing, where she must wrestle with her stories in order to reclaim the volume in which they were written. 

The secret war that defines the library has chosen its champions and set them on the board. The time has come when they must fight for what they believe, or lose everything.

About The Author

Mark Lawrence was born in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, to British parents but moved to the UK at the age of one. After earning a PhD in mathematics at Imperial College London, he went back to the US to work on a variety of research projects, including the “Star Wars” missile-defense program. Since returning to the UK, he has worked mainly on image processing and decision/reasoning theory. He never had any ambition to be a writer, so he was very surprised when a half-hearted attempt to find an agent turned into a global publishing deal overnight. His first trilogy, The Broken Empire, has been universally acclaimed as a groundbreaking work of fantasy, and both Emperor of Thorns and The Liar’s Key have won the David Gemmell Legend Award for best fantasy novel. Mark is married, with four children, and lives in Bristol.

Reviews

Goodreads review by John on August 02, 2024

My complete review is published at Grimdark Magazine. The Book That Broke the World? More like the book that broke my brain and shattered my soul. Mark Lawrence strikes the perfect balance between intellect and heart in this second volume of his Library Trilogy, which began with last year’s highly acc......more

Goodreads review by Chloe on April 07, 2024

My disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined. After book 1 was so good, how is the sequel so bad? Now, I've very aware that this is going to be an unpopular opinion. The main difference between book 1 and 2 is that while book 1 was very character-led, this one is more focused on exploring t......more

Goodreads review by Adam on April 23, 2024

Stunning, heartbreaking, and powerful. Vastly different from book one and all the better for it. A brilliant follow-up to The Book That Wouldn't Burn, Lawrence takes a sharp turn with this sequel, providing the reader with a much narrower focus on fewer characters and plot threads while answering ma......more

Goodreads review by Sara on June 25, 2024

It took me a more time than usual between finishing this book and writing the review, and I’m somehow still looking for the right words to do it It doesn’t really matter, ”All of these words are noise. The only role the brain plays in these decisions is to come up with the explanation after the heart......more

Goodreads review by Kyle on April 17, 2024

2.5 stars rounding up to 3 because I think the book itself isn't bad, I personally just didn't enjoy the direction it took and the overall narrative. My dislike is 2 fold. Firstly this book focuses on the overall theme/ideological conflict of the story and that theme/conflict is just not very nuance......more

Quotes

"Lawrence makes the intertwining stories fascinating and propulsive, with enough scattered clues and shocking twists to keep the pages flying. This will keep readers up long past their bedtime." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"This is a wonderfully immersive fantasy whose meta message, about the power of books to change the world, is not to be missed." - Library Journal

"Mark Lawrence strikes the perfect balance between intellect and heart in this second volume of his Library Trilogy." - Grimdark Magazine

"This is Lawrence at this best....absolutely brilliant book, go, read." - SFF Reviews

Praise for The Book That Wouldn't Burn:

“The most tightly plotted novel I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading…it’s truly magnificent.” – BookRiot

“This tale of knowledge and its cost flies by thanks to the gripping mystery and beautiful worldbuilding...Readers will be desperate for more.” – Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Gripping, earnest, and impeccably plotted." – Kirkus (starred review)

"A fantastic setting, a feisty heroine, and hints of a deeper mystery that calls to mind the depths of Frank Herbert's Dune and its intertwined cultural and religious issues." – Library Journal

"Reading Mark Lawrence's latest novel, The Book that Wouldn't Burn, feels like having your mind blown in slow motion." - Grimdark Magazine

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