Paper and Fire by Rachel Caine is a quick-paced story that continues with Jess Brightwell as he tries to find a way to save one friend while fighting a corrupt government.
Note: **This book was given to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.**
Warning: Being that this is a sequel of the book Ink and Bone, there will be spoilers for Ink and Bone.
Paper and Fire starts off several months after the end of Ink and Bone. We continue to see things through the eyes of Jess Brightwell, a young man who joined the Library’s service with intent to steal from them, since original books are illegal to have by anyone except the Library and its Serapeums (daughter libraries).
In the first book, Jess learns more about the Library’s nature and its stranglehold on the information of books and the potential knowledge that books can transfer to the public. During his stay, he befriends a handful of people, including one girl named Morgan Hoult, whom he develops feelings for. Unfortunately, his true purpose in training with the Library contradicts the Library’s agenda of keeping original books from public hands, and thus contradicts what he and his friends are training for. We see in the end of Ink and Bone, Jess’s involvement with some of his friends’ lives have come at a great cost.
In the second book, we follow what happens with Jess as he tries to find a way to make things right between him and his friends, including breaking more rules against the Library, which means the possibility of losing his place in the Library Garda (basically, the Library’s own military unit) and, of course, his own life.
I don’t often re-read books, so when I say that it’s advisable to re-read, or at least skim through, Ink and Bone first before you start Paper and Fire, I do mean it. Author Rachel Caine, although a very thorough writer, doesn’t ease you into the story, rehashing highlights from the first book or summarizing the characters for you. You should already know them and what they’ve gone through. I applaud Rachel in doing so, even if I had a hard time remembering some specific instances and characters. This shows a confidence in the story being written, that all the information given in the books are essential, not filler for pages.
The world that Ms. Caine has created is such a unique alternate history that one can’t help but get sucked into it, especially for booklovers. The idea that in this world, the Library is one of the most respected and honored places in the world is fascinating. The author continues to keep the readers riveted in her tale of corruption in the system that was intended to be knowledge for all people, and how that corruption can bring people to extremes, including war.
Through Jess’s eyes and those of his friends, we get to see more of the workings of the Library and what it is that those at the highest positions in the Library have been hiding for generations. But before we do, we see how Jess’s persistence gets his group together to help save one of their own.
As stated earlier, Rachel does an excellent job of continuing with the story, in moving it forward without using filler to add to the pages. There’s a lot to tell, and it’s done in a way that builds the story to a rising, steady pace, but not rushed where you can’t fully take in what’s going on, or where you don’t think a scene wasn’t given much chance to develop.
The characters were pretty well developed in the first book, and considering we see things through Jess’s perspective, we can’t see any standout developments from any of the major characters. This is not necessarily a problem, as the strength is in the overall story, but it also doesn’t necessarily give the readers much of an insight into many of them aside from Jess. (We do, however, get a better idea of a few of the supporting characters with Rachel Caine’s short stories via Wattpad.)
The author introduces some new places in book two, and some of what we can imagine them to be are very clear. In one scene in particular, the group finds a secret room that is full of awe and shock, only to see a tragedy unfold before their eyes, and the visualization of it is heartbreaking. In another, we’re able to visualize yet again the terror that are the automata as they’re reintroduced to us in various forms throughout the book.
The adventure of the story is the major feature as we see this small diverse group face challenges from all fronts, from the leaders within the Library to the automata to even those they hold dear to them. And there’s a lot of challenges for them that makes it fast-paced enough without being too overwhelming.
The whole premise of this alternate history where books are more important than people’s lives can be compared to this world. But it also brings out the realization that with good things, there are those who would take advantage of such a situation and use it for their own power. It was already revealed in Ink and Bone, and Paper and Fire only reiterates that, by expanding Jess’s world, revealing a more complex society and bringing out more dangerous characters. Looking at it this way, Rachel Caine’s Great Library series is not too unrealistic, and that’s what makes the series so enthralling.
With that said, Paper and Fire was a satisfying addition to the Great Library series.
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