The Evil Library Strikes Again | Paper & Fire by Rachel Caine [ARC]

Warning: This is the second book in a series and so may contain spoilers for the first book. Click here to read my review on the first book, Ink & Bone.

Jess Brightwell has been adjusting to life as one of the High Garda, but that’s not all he’s been doing. He has reason to believe that his friend, Thomas Schreiber, is not actually dead like he’s been told. Jess thinks that finding the Black Archives may be the key to locating where Thomas is being kept, but nobody knows if the Black Archives actually exist. As Jess and his fellow former-postulants research this sensitive topic, they will find that they have uncovered much more than they bargained for. In order to survive, each of them will have to choose: Friends? Or the Library?

This was a great follow-up to the first book. Each character stays true to their original descriptions and I felt like their motivations and actions in this book still made sense. I like the variety that we have with characters too. We have Glain who’s super tough, then there’s Dario who we all still kind of hate, and then there’s Khalila who is smart and just so kind. They all contribute to make the group dynamic really interesting and enjoyable. There are a couple of characters who I don’t enjoy as much–mostly I feel like they tend to stand in the way of moving the plot forward–but overall the group is enjoyable.

Something that I didn’t necessarily anticipate is the depth of the characters’ relationships with each other. Thinking back on the events of the first book I guess it makes sense that they’ve all formed such a strong bond, but I didn’t feel like that bond was ever really shown or developed all that much in the first book. At least, I didn’t see it. This carries over to Jess’s relationship with Morgan. All of the sudden they’re really serious about each other and I’m just left going, “Wait, what? Where did all of these super strong feelings come from?”

Overall, I’ve really enjoyed this series. This book ends on such a cliffhanger! I can’t wait for the third book to come out. Another thing is that I LOVE these covers! They’re just colorful and interesting, yet kind of subtle at the same time. I definitely recommend these books.

Overall Rating: 4
Language: Mild
Violence: Heavy
Smoking/Drinking: Mild
Sexual Content: Mild

Note: I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.