Title: Ink and Bone
Author: Rachel Caine
Series: The Great Library #1
Publisher: NAL
Publication Date: July 7, 2015
Source: Publisher
Imagine living in a world where the Library is pretty much in charge. They have the only access to real books and everyone else only has access to special digital copies that don't really exist. The access only lasts for so long and then after that, the words are deleted. Each time someone wants to read the book, the words have to be created through a very complicated way, using Alchemists, and that way is diminishing.
Then, since books are limited and hard to get a hold of, there is a group of thieves that steal and sell real copies of books. Some of which are very expensive because they are the only copy in existence. Those who can afford them sometimes only want to have them in their own personal collections...but others want to be the only ones who ever have access to the book so they EAT them.
And then, there is the group that is against the Library in its entirety. They take books so they can do public demonstrations by burning them. They attack Libraries and Librarians.
Once you have imagined this, you more or less have the world of Ink and Bone. It is a futuristic world of the one we currently live in. However, it is far from wonderful. Aside from what I already told you about the world, there are also countries at war with one another. And there is a lot of turmoil between pretty much everyone no matter where you turn.
Our main character in Ink and Bone is Jess Brightwell. He is a son to one of the illegal book sellers. And his father has forced him to go to the Library and to try to become one of those in the inner circle.
You guys have no idea how complex and wonderful this world is. There is so much to it and so much going on. You never quite know what is going to happen and to who! It keeps you on your toes the whole time!
I also really enjoyed the school aspect. It was depicted in a way that I would have loved to go there myself and to study. If I couldn't go to Hogwarts, I would want to be able to go there.
I think I loved pretty much every single character we came across, well...at least those characters we were supposed to love. They were all very well developed and had a lot of layers to them. Almost every single character was well crafted. The only exceptions to this was when they were characters meant to live very much in the background and to not really be noticed.
All in all, I loved this book. I could see how it could have actually been our world if we solely went with digital books and removed all physical copies. It wasn't too much of a stretch really from what we already have. Just twist some history points around and you have the world that Ink and Bone gives us. Very very creative and wonderful.
My Rating
5 Stars
This review is based on a copy provided by the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.
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