Review : Libyrinth

Posted by kay on August 31, 2010 6:03 pm in 2.5 stars reads | 4 comments

Libyrinth by Pearl North
Pages : 332
Genre : YA, Fantasy
Series : Libyrinth, Book 1
My Rating :

What it’s about, in my words :

In a very distant future, Haly is a clerk in the Libyrinth, a gigantic library built like a labyrinth, so much so that people actually get lost in it. Haly also has a secret : she can hear the words from the books, as if they were spoken aloud. When the Eradicants, who want the Libyrinth destroyed, capture her in their hunt for a particular book, Haly’s life takes a turn she never expected.

I wanted to love this book so much : the premise was interesting, the cover pretty and it looked like the plot had a lot going on. Sadly, Libyrinth fell short of my expectations.

While the world building was complex and engaging, the characters weren’t. I didn’t know enough about Haly to care about her, or about her friends Selene and Clauda. I found them to be mostly one-dimensional, and we didn’t learn much about them that didn’t relate to the story. I knew what they were, but not who they were. This made it very difficult to care for the book at all.

As for the writing and the story, it fell in that dangerous zone of “okay” : it wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t good, either. I kept being distracted from my reading because I couldn’t get into it. The execution lacked some fluidity, too, as the events from the story seemed to unfold one after the other like an enumeration.

As a whole, Libyrinth failed to entertain me and at this point, I don’t think I’ll read the second book coming this September, The Boy from Ilysies. But don’t take my word on this : other readers have enjoyed Libyrinth more than I did and will happily recommend it!

Series Reading Order

1. Libyrinth
2. The Boy from Ilysies