The Invisible Library

Executive Summary: This is another one of those books that was alright, but whose premise offered me a lot more than I felt that I got. Audiobook: I have a hard time deciding how I feel about this. I had listened to Susan Duerden do [b:The Eyre Affair 27003 The Eyre Affair (Thursday Next, #1) Jasper Fforde https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1445540555s/27003.jpg 3436605] (which has a similar feel to me) and I thought she was much better there. It's not that she does a bad job exactly, it's just I felt distracted by her narration at times.It's as though she was whispering for much of the book, only I don't mean she was quiet so much as that sort of raspy sound that comes from someone whispering. After awhile I got used to it, and I thought she was alright enough, but every so often her narration would pull me out of the story and I'd be more focused on that than the plot.Full ReviewSo this book beat a beloved book of mine in the Sword & Laser March Madness tournament. I was intrigued by the premise, but after reading it, I'm a bit bummed out that it won.The idea of a secret library outside of all other parallel worlds sounds really cool. A book agent who acts as a cross between a spy and a detective of sorts sounds right up my alley. There are a lot of elements here for a fun story.There were definitely times I really enjoyed the book, particularly the end. The ending was intriguing enough to have me consider picking up the sequel at some point. I want to know more about the library itself, and the new mystery that was revealed near the end of the book.Irene is a pretty good character. Much like Thursday Next, she's capable and smart, and very likeable. Most of the supporting cast was pretty good too. As a fan of Sherlock Holmes, I enjoyed the obvious influence of those stories here.That said, I feel like too much of the book was focused on the wrong things. I wanted to know more about the library. I thought that we'd maybe get several worlds/books to be collected rather than spending most of the book on one.It could be that Ms. Cogman is just saving a lot of the “good stuff” for later in the series, but at this point I'm not sure that I'll continue on. The ending has definitely made a better case for it than the beginning, but I think I need a break from magic libraries for awhile.