The Masked City

September 12, 2016
The second installment of Cogman's whimsical fantasy series (after The Invisible Library) follows the career of Irene, a spy for the international organization called the Library, and her dragon protégé, Kai. Irene has grown complacent in an alternate Victorian London, but her world is disrupted when Kai is kidnapped. She must retrieve him before a war erupts between the dragons and the Fae. Irene's quest takes her to opulent Italy, rendered in rich, alluring detail. Cogman keeps up with the voice and pacing established in the first installment as she delves deeper into the nuances of Fae politics and power. The inclusion of the Student Librarian's Handbook, however, overlaps with information revealed during the course of the novel, at times feeling redundant. Irene and Kai are faced with new challenges as the plot moves forward, buoyed by Cogman's fabulous imagined Europe. This installment lacks some of the verve of the first book, but it's still intelligent, inventive fantasy that anyone familiar with or new to the genre will enjoy.

July 15, 2016
In the second installment of her Invisible Library series, Cogman (The Invisible Library, 2016) chronicles the exploits of Irene Winters, an interdimensional Librarian seeking rare books across alternate worlds.Irene (she named herself after Irene Adler) is Librarian-in-Residence in a Victorian London not quite our own, as it boasts a Fae Embassy and werewolf gangs. Here, Irene and her apprentice, a dragon named Kai, acquire rare volumes for the mysterious Library--with the aid of Peregrine Vale, a Sherlock Holmes analogue. When Kai is kidnapped, the potential retribution from his family must be averted. Irene and Vale discover the abduction to be the work of the Fae--the dragons' ancient foes--and Irene must bargain with the scheming Lord Silver in order to track Kai to a Fae-ruled alternate Venice, leaving Vale behind. Irene must assert her own will against the Fae-dominated reality of Carnival Venice and the machinations of Kai's kidnappers. She is helped by the surprising reappearance of Vale (surprising only to Irene; one would expect a Holmes-loving Librarian to be more genre savvy!) and her own power of "Language," an ill-defined magical system by which Irene can change reality through words alone. (Language has few limits; using it is exhausting, but conveniently, Irene never becomes tired enough for this to actually impact the plot.) An epic prison break and a final showdown on an archetypal train add memorable visuals to the story...but these visuals have more impact than the characters themselves. Irene is competent, adventurous, and--that's about it; Kai fares little better than eye candy. While it seems like there should be something for everyone in this mashup of dragons, faeries, librarians, Holmes, and masked mystery, the end result is more a stew of "wouldn't it be cool..." than a tightly plotted tale.

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September 15, 2016

Librarian-in-residence Irene should be happily settling into her role in the slightly magical Victorian world to which she has been assigned, with her dragon assistant Kai. When Kai is kidnapped and taken deep into the magical realms of the fae, Irene will do anything to get him back. Her ties to the Library will protect her to some extent from the fae's powers, but their chaotic environment is poison to Kai. Getting drawn into a power play among fae nobles will require Irene to use all the talents at her disposal. From her introduction in The Invisible Library as a secret Library agent tasked with rescuing obscure novels from alternate versions of Earth, Irene has proven to be a charming, resourceful heroine. VERDICT Fans of this series and its mix of adventure and wit will be pleased that Book 3, The Burning Page, is due in January 2017, with Cogman signed to pen at least two more. [See Eric Norton's SF/Fantasy Genre Spotlight, "Imagined Multiverses," LJ 8/16.--Ed.]--MM

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2016
Following her adventures in The Invisible Library (2016), Irene was appointed Librarian in Residence to an alternate Victorian-era earth. With the help of her assistant, Kai, the youngest son of dragon royalty, and the deductive skills of the great detective Peregrine Vale, she continues to retrieve books for the mysterious, multidimensional Library. When Kai is kidnapped by a Fae Lord and whisked off to a world deep within the chaotic end of reality, Irene intends to rescue him herself. The dragons are threatening war, and to save Kai, she will have to do two things no Librarian should even consider: work with the impulsive Lord Silver (another Fae) and cross over into a magical city infested by chaos. Irene may have also lost the friendship of Vale, who is deeply offended by her determination to go alone. Series fans will be thrilled to learn more about dragon-kind and the capricious Fae, and will be eager for Cogman's third in the series.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)