Book #21 of 2023: Ash and Quill (The Great Library #3)

Ash and Quill (The Great Library #3) by Rachel Caine.

I feel like I need to apologize to everyone for mistakenly giving such a glowing review to the first book of this series. If I had known the main characters were 15 years old, I would have had a lot more issues with book 1. (I really think the author mentioned they were 20-somethings in the first book. Other reviews mentioned the author retconned multiple things in books 4 and 5, so she could have shifted the ages from book 2 on, too.)

There are a number of issues with this book and with the series as a whole.

The author had originally intended it to be a trilogy, but the first book did so well, the publisher asked her to extend it to five books. So much of books 2 and 3 felt like filler -- all of them except the last bit of book 3 felt like filler. Less than the last 10% of book 3 had some plot motion, all of book 2 and most of book 3 were the same thing:

10: Main characters get caught!
20: ...oh wait, caught by a group that isn't an enemy, so they're safe for now and can rest.
30: Psych! They ARE actually bad guys, now the characters need to escape!
40: They just barely escape, on the run...
50: GOTO 10

That same cycle, repeated 2-4 times per book.

There were way too many logic-issues (like the 'swallowing the pin to hide it' thing I mentioned in my last post) and plot progress that happened with no effort by the main characters and no evidence for the readers (the author seems to have an issue with 'show, don't tell'; she likes to tell). And when I say plot progress, I mean major plot progress: Like entire countries breaking away from the Great Library's hold. Progress that made zero sense (see also: the Library able to wipe whole countries out of existence).

My biggest issue is, I guess, not the author's fault. The main characters' goal is to change the entire world, to take on the biggest superpower in the world (The Great Library, a power strong enough to wipe entire countries off the map). When I thought the characters were adults, I had issues with that happening, but now, knowing they're all 15-16 years old... I have SERIOUS, GIANT HONKING SERIOUS issues with a handful of teenagers successfully beating such a strong power and changing the world. But that's (sometimes) YA for you. Not the author's fault. I suppose.

Since I'm not continuing with the series, I checked reviews on books 4 and 5. Looks like I'm jumping ship at the right time, seems like they're going to be even less a match for my taste (focusing on the god awful romance).

Impossible though it is, I wish I had stopped reading after book 1 (as much as I had liked 1, there's no way I would not read book 2 and on). I would have ended on a really happy note instead of being greatly disappointed.