The Invisible Library

The Invisible Library, Book 1

By: Genevieve Cogman

Narrated by: Kristin Atherton

Length: 12 hrs and 2 mins

Publisher's summary

One spy. One dangerous book. One deadly mission. The first in a gripping, fantasy mystery series, The Invisible Library is the astounding debut from Genevieve Cogman.

Irene must be at the top of her game or she'll be off the case – permanently . . .

Irene is a professional spy for the mysterious Library, which harvests fiction from different realities. And along with her enigmatic assistant Kai, she's posted to an alternative London. Their mission – to retrieve a dangerous book. But when they arrive, it's already been stolen. London's underground factions seem prepared to fight to the very death to find her book.

Adding to the jeopardy, this world is chaos-infested – the laws of nature bent to allow supernatural creatures and unpredictable magic. Irene's new assistant is also hiding secrets of his own.

Soon, she's up to her eyebrows in a heady mix of danger, clues and secret societies. Yet failure is not an option – the nature of reality itself is at stake.

Continue the journey with the second adventurous title in the The Invisible Library series, The Masked City. Genevieve is also the author of the Sunday Times bestselling Scarlet - which reimagines the tale of the Scarlet Pimpernel, but with vampires, mages and magic . . .

©2015 Genevieve Cogman (P)2021 Macmillan Publishers International Limited

Critic reviews

A dazzling bibliophilic debut (Charles Stross, author of the Laundry Files, including The Atrocity Archives)

It's a breath of fresh air (Guardian)

Female character harassed and *apologizes* for it

(Note: The narration is well done; this review is about the content.) I was enjoying the general shape of the story until the main character is unnecessarily, obnoxiously propositioned by her partner - and the way that situation is written/handled was offensive enough that I stopped the story and returned the book. One of the very few times I’ve ever needed to do that. (Thank you, Audible, for making that an option.) It may not bother all readers, but it definitely bothered me.

I am a Librarian

This was a bit too drawn out and overly down for my liking. While it had the makings of a great story it seemed to get lost in all the details the author was trying to put in. The main character Irene needs a confidence booster in the worst way and if I heard I am a Librarian one more time I thought I was going to scream We Know That Already!
Narrator was wonderful and had a great voice and voices. Just wish the story lived up to the hype.

Great story but audio wide range

I loved the story but the way it was recorded was not good. The level varies from a whisper to an ear shattering yell. The audio engineer should have applied compression to reduce the audio level swings.

Fun story

Glad I ignored the negative reviews as I thoroughly enjoyed this audiobook. I don’t know why people complained about the narration as I thought the narrator did an excellent job and the sound quality was perfect. As a child I always dreamed of being a book store owner or librarian and just spending my days lost in books so the concept of the “Library” drew me in. Overall, I felt it was an action packed gripping story with a good amount of mystery, a bit of humor, and a whole lot of fun. Would definitely recommend.

Great narration and world building

I thoroughly enjoyed this one, which surprised me. I didn't have a lot of expectations going in. The world building is impressive. I love the idea of a central library in the multiverse collecting unusual books. And this world includes books and librarians! Plus fae, vampires, zeppelins, and awesome detectives! Irene and Kai make a great time. Plus the baddie is super bad. What I think that really worked for me was Kristin Atherton's narration. All of the voices and accents are distinct. Even the male characters. Definitely a narrator I'll look for again! 

it may have been a great story. could not hear it.

mixing was awful. either too loud or not loud enough. kept adjusting sound and replaying section. finally tired of it and quit.

The reader is awful. Cadence is just bad.

While the Kindle book is entertaining the audio book is horrible, The reader (just a reader, not a performer) has a cadence that is bum bum bum pause bum bum bum pause. Saying it is irritating is being nice. Compare her to Bronson Pinchot or Zara Ramm (two of the best) and it's not in the same universe. Please hire trained vocal actors in the future.

Pleasantly Surprised

I was pleasantly surprised how good this book was! I was just looking for something different then I normally listen to. I really enjoyed the story and the narrator.

Engaging

Engaging story with good characters and plot twists. would recommend for young adult readers and adults.

Can't finish the first book

I have 700+ Audible books, some of which I've listened to at least a dozen times. This is a horrible narration. I should say, "this is a horrible...reader...who...has no idea how to...articulate a sentence." Seriously. Commas are pauses. Adjectives, articles, prepositions and pronouns aren't. I'd love to like the premise of the book, but I can't get past the narrator.

New Narration makes all the difference!

I bought this book a couple of years back and couldn’t listen for more than 5minutes I ended up returning it. I noticed it had been updated with a new narrator so gave it another go…what a difference! Great book for lovers of Jodi Taylor/Jasper Fforde and the like

A new narrator gives the story a huge boost.

I have long enjoyed this series of books, but sadly, like many others, was put off buying many of the first Audible versions thanks to a poor narrator. I hate being so negative about a person who will have done their best, but it was a shame the narration let down the overall audio version.

Now the early books are being re-released using the narrator who took over reading the later books in the series, and the difference is amazing. Truly, having better narration lifts the whole book to a much more enjoyable level.

The book is a mix of emotions, from fun moments, yet it has twists and turns, and leads you into a world that engages you. A great fantasy novel for those days you want something easy to listen to, but with enough meat to the storyline to not be too boring or too cliched.

Fantastic Narrator

What a difference a good narrator makes. Kristin Atherton really brought this book to life, so much better than the previous recording with Eyeore reading. Just a pity that it is the american version (women wearing men's underwear? underpants? really?)Great story, great plot, well formed character.

I Can't Recommend This Book

I read the reviews and thought, "this is right up my alley." Unfortunately, I have gotten through chapter 6 and simply can't listen to any more. The narrator is quite acceptable but the story has left me completely bored and I simply can't justify spending any more of my time on it. I would return it but, apparently, we can't return books simply because we can't finish them. So, I can only warn others and not spend my money on this series in the future.

It grew on me.

This book did not quite take me out of my comfort zone but it certainly took me down an unfamiliar cul-de-sac. I’ve read stories of the supernatural, magic, magical realism, historical crime…you get the idea, but I’d never read anything in the Steampunk line. And, all in all, it wasn’t unappealing. I will admit that it took me a while to warm to the style, simply because I found some of the narrative a bit consciously ‘ironic’. I didn’t understand why points of high tension were undercut with what seemed to me mistimed levity. It didn’t seem funny, merely facetious. Having said that, I totally acknowledge how subjective humour is — one man’s meat is another man’s poison, and all that… What I did discover was that the action and adventurous elements of the novel more than made up for my slight annoyance with the off-kilter tonal shifts.

The characterisation was strong. Irene and Kai are a strongly conceived pairing with sexual tension simmering between them from the outset. The mystery and detective elements were also well crafted, as was the moral dynamics surrounding the themes of honour and loyalty, trust and ambition. The world building was original enough for me to remain interested when normally the exposition demanded of the fantasy genre in this regard has me skim reading.

The novel and perhaps the Steampunk genre, as new as I am to it, seem to have the Young Adult market firmly in mind — both the language and content are definitely on the demure side. If I’m honest, it was a little too modest on the Irene and Kai intimacy front, if you ask me. Still, it’s jaunty enough for those longer in the tooth to enjoy too.

Suffice it to say that if you’d asked me a third of the way through the book if I’d read the sequel I’d have replied with a definite negation; ask me now that I’ve finished and the answer is a sincere affirmative.

Narrator was good too.

Brilliant story........

Well written. What an imagination. I read this book a long time ago and was hoping there would be more. Excellent writing.
And I am so glad they were re-recorded by Kristin Atherton. However much I enjoyed the story. I could not have listened to the person who recorded the earlier version.
Kristin is excellent. What a vocal range she has. And perfect intonation
The narration had a few too many pauses in the wrong places at first. But then she really relaxes into it. I am definitely a fan of Kristin’s reading.

Looking forward to the next book.

At last

I'm so glad that this story has been re-released with a different narrator so I can finally enjoy it.

Action filled Victorian steampunk

Fun, exciting and kind of sweet. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Lovely to find new fantasy books to listen to while renovating my home.

Thanks God for the new narrator

Thanks God, they re-did the first audio with Kristin Atherton! It was so damn good!
I was totally immerged in the audio. The plot, the characters, the world-building. I ABSOLUTELY loved everything!

good original story.

loved it,plot was brilliant, didn't struggle to finesh,was gripped from start to finish, looking forward to the sequel's,kind regards mark William bailey.👍