The Library at Mount Char

by

390 pages

English language

Published Sept. 25, 2015 by Crown.

ISBN:
978-0-553-41862-0
Copied ISBN!
OCLC Number:
944534906

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4 stars (1 review)

After she and a dozen other children found them being raised by "Father," a cruel man with mysterious powers, Carolyn and her "siblings" begin to think he might be God. When Father disappears, they square off against each other to determine who will inherit his library, which may hold the power to all Creation. As Carolyn gathers the tools she needs for the battle to come she has a play. The only trouble is that in the war to make a new God, she's forgotten to protect the things that make her human ...

7 editions

reviewed The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins

Don’t lose your heart coal

4 stars

I really struggled with the first third of this book - it felt like nightmare after nightmare with no obvious reason. Horror and gore for kicks. But the back half really justifies the first: this is a story about remembering your humanity in the face of dark times, and a little about how power corrupts. If you squint, there’s maybe something here about how terrible things are sometimes needed to maintain peace and stability, but I’m going to choose to ignore this thread. The first half of this book was harrowing; I enjoyed the second half very much.

Subjects

  • Libraries
  • Magic
  • Secrets
  • Gods and goddesses
  • Orphans
  • Imprisonment
  • Fiction