I was delighted to be approved to read an arc of this latest slice in Irene’s adventures – see my review of the first book, The Invisible Library. The catch was that I needed to read the previous two books, The Lost Plot and The Mortal Word in something of a hurry so that I got to it in the right order. It turned out to be a blessing – everyday life last week was rather fraught with family illness and these quirky, well-written adventures where just what I needed as an escape. Would The Secret Chapter prove to be as entertaining?
BLURB: A Librarian’s work is never done, and once Irene has a quick rest after their latest adventure, she is summoned to the Library. The world where she grew up is in danger of veering deep into chaos, and she needs to obtain a particular book to stop this from happening. No copies of the book are available in the Library, so her only choice is to contact a mysterious Fae information broker and trader of rare objects: Mr. Nemo. Irene and Kai make their way to Mr. Nemo’s remote Caribbean island and are invited to dinner, which includes unlikely company. Mr. Nemo has an offer for everyone there: he wants them to steal a specific painting from a specific world. He swears that he will give each of them an item from his collection if they bring him the painting within the week.
This latest slice of Irene’s adventures is essentially a heist story. Irene and Kai find themselves having to work alongside a team of rather dodgy characters – something she is far too used to doing. However, this crew are every bit as dangerous as the task they have been set by the shadowy Mr Nemo. I love the way Cogman plays with stereotypes – imagine a James Bond villain, complete with the Caribbean island setting and hungry sharks lurking in a hidden tank beneath their feet.
I am not going into any details as it would be a real shame to spoil this entertaining, twisty story packed with incidents and surprises. Cogman is very adept at creating an action-packed adventure without losing the overall impetus of the story, which is a harder trick to pull off than she makes it look. Once again, we learn more about the closed world of dragon society and just how dangerous they can be when crossed. I love the way in which Cogman reveals extra details about the world in which she has set the Invisible Library with each successive book. It isn’t a new trick, as all good series do the same thing – but she is particularly good at delivering new facts that suddenly change the reader’s perception of what is going on. I love it when that happens.
I ended up reading the last three books in this series back to back, which is something I generally don’t do. And it is a testament to Cogman’s writing skill and mastery of plot development that by the end of The Secret Chapter I was still thoroughly entertained and sorry when the book came to an end.
This classy series just goes on delivering and is highly recommended for fans of good-quality portal fantasies. The ebook arc copy of The Secret Chapter was provided by the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest opinion of the book.
9/10
Brainfluff 