The Invisible Library

The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman, 341 pages

Before I launch into a description of this book, a warning: the quote on the cover describes it as "satisfyingly complex," and never a truer phrase has been written.

Now that that's out of the way: imagine a library that exists only in the cracks between infinite alternate worlds. This library collects books that bind the worlds together, while preserving the titles that only exist in those worlds. The Librarians (yes, capitalized) are something like secret agents, sent into these worlds on undercover missions to collect the books through whatever means necessary. That's the situation when our protagonist Irene travels with her apprentice Kai into a steampunk alternate London, on a mission to snag an original Grimm manuscript. But it seems the Library isn't the only party interested in the book: the Fae, a cat burglar, and a rogue former Librarian are all after it as well, leading to a much more dangerous mission than Irene had anticipated.

Yes, it is complex, but in her debut novel, Cogman has done an excellent job of world-building in a way that doesn't get bogged down in details. There's enough mystery and craziness to keep the plot rolling, and plenty of sly jokes to keep it light. I'm looking forward to the second book in this series, which comes out this fall.