The Invisible Library (The Invisible Library #1) by Genevieve Cogman

From Goodreads

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. 

My thoughts

This is not a book that I would have necessarily chosen had it not been for my local Library Reading Group. This was our April read and I was pleasantly surprised by it. I gave this a 3.5 stars or 7/10.

This is the first in The Invisible Library series. It sets the scene nicely for further stories. Irene and Kai her assistant are dispatched to an alternative London to the one that they normally inhabit. Their mission is to retrieve a dangerous book for the Library, but sadly when they arrive it's already been stolen. They now have to go in search of the book, but who can they trust and to what lengths will they have to go to, to successfully find it?

This is a fantasy story littered with supernatural creatures and unpredictable magic. As we find out about the lives of the inhabitants of The Invisible Library and it's secrets, we realise that all is not as it appears and their lives are completely different to the outside world.

Irene is not your typical heroine, but with the assistance of Kai they make a great team. Will they be successful in their mission or not?

I enjoyed this for what it was a futuristic, magical quirky read. If you enjoy books that include some steampunk, then this will be up your street reading wise. I have to admit that I've not read many books in that genre, but I am open to expanding my reading tastes and that's the beauty of being in a Reading group as it often introduces to books that you might never have read.

I will look for further books in this series, to see how the series develops.