Not-Quite-A-Review: The Masked City by Genevieve Cogman

So here’s another one of those “I’m still reading but had to share” posts… This time about The Masked City, the second book in Genevieve Cogman’s superlative “Invisible Library” series. And hooray – it’s almost as good as the first in the trilogy! I say hooray and sound surprised because, in my experience, the middle books in trilogies are often necessary evils – they need to say what they do to set up the finale, but are often not the best stories to read by themselves… This one has some moments that clearly feel like setup – the pacing slows, the exposition grows, paragraphs feel just that little bit out of flow – but on the whole it also still reads like a really good story. Now I DEFINITELY can’t wait for the final installment! Unfortunately I have to wait until January… Blecch.

Here’s a taste of the writing in this one. I just love the straightforward, no-nonsense personality of Irene – this scene sees her facing off against one of the villains of the piece. This burst of villainous loquaciousness is a prime example of Cogman’s magnificent use of language and spot-on ability to nail the human condition:

“People want stories. You should know that more than anybody. They want their lives to have meaning. They want to be part of something greater than themselves… Most people don’t want a brave new world. They want the story that they know.”

If you haven’t started the series, you really should!