Paper and Fire

by Rachel Caine

July 5, 2016 · NAL

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Paper and Fire is the second book in the series The Great Library by Rachel Caine, and it is AMAZEBALLS. I just gobbled it up (figuratively). The first book, Ink and Bone, pretty much derailed all my plans for two days because it was just so nommy, and Paper and Fire did the same thing, largely by making the characters run at full tilt from one problem to another without sacrificing character development. Ink and Bone was also fast paced, but it included a lot of time for the characters and the world to be established, so Paper and Fire could afford to be more hectic in terms of pacing.

The Great Library is about an alternate future in which owning a book is illegal. All writing is controlled by The Great Library, which has outposts in several cities and is politically neutral. Everyone carries a Codex, which is sort of like an eBook reader – you can request a book from the Library and read it whenever you want. But only the library can print and disseminate a book, and it only shares books through Codexes – no one is allowed to own a paper book, an original copy. Anyone throughout history who comes up with an idea for a printing press is ruthlessly suppressed by The Library before their invention can be made public, so The Library both protects all books and controls access to them absolutely.

Jess Brightwell, member of a family of book smugglers, is accepted to enter the library as a student (all students either fail, which means they are kicked out, or they pass, which means they take on jobs in the Library). As Jess gets to know his classmates, he gradually realizes the same thing they realize – The Library can stifle knowledge, creativity, expression and freedom even as it protects rare volumes of words. Initially, Jess and his classmates just have to survive the strict instruction of Scholar Wolfe, which is terrifying enough. But as plots thicken, they have to survive plots against their lives.

I’m not going to elaborate much on the details of Paper and Fire because I don’t want to spoil Ink and Bone. There’s less focus on character development, which works because the characters and their relationships to each other were so well established in Ink and Bone. They run around a lot, and that works too, because the stakes and the setting are so well established in both of the books. There’s a lot of morally gray stuff, but the reader is not confused about who is fighting who, and for what (except for when there’s a plot twist, which happens often since many of the characters are using some variant of double agent strategy, and everyone’s loyalties are divided).

There’s a bit of a romance between Jess and Morgan, but they never have the time and space they would need to establish much of a relationship so they basically just pine. It’s not too angsty because they don’t have a lot of time in which they can really hone their brooding skills – they have to go back to running around.

I love this series not for the romance, but for the friendship and sense of camaraderie, for the gorgeous imagery and sense of place, for the world building, and for the concept. The concept conveys a deep love for books. A rebel group called The Burners has the motto, “A life is worth more than a book.” But as this series progresses, as many people die in Jess’s efforts to save his friends and change the way the library works, it seems that maybe a life is worth more than a book, but free and open access to books might be worth more than a life, or at least might make life worth living.

WARNING: This book is the second book in a series and not only do you have to read the first book, Ink and Bone, to understand Paper and Fire, but each book ends on a cliffhanger (more or less) and the next book doesn’t have a release date yet. This is torture. On the other hand, if I waited until the whole series came out at once, I’d have to binge it. I wouldn’t be able to eat or sleep or work or wash my hair or walk my dog until I have finished every single book. At least this way I can come up for air long enough to read the new Saga release.