by Zeno Alexander
publisher’s synopsis
With her parents off traveling the globe, Lenora is bored, bored, bored—until she discovers a secret doorway in the library and becomes its newly appointed Fourth Assistant Apprentice Librarian.
In her new job, Lenora finds herself helping future civilizations figure out the date, relocates lost penguins, uncovers the city with the longest name on Earth, and more in a quest to help patrons. But there are sinister forces at work that want to destroy all knowledge. To save the library, Lenora will have to test her limits and uncover secrets hidden among its shelves.
I liked the idea of The Library of Ever but felt it was a little lacking.
The secret library Lenora finds was super cool. I liked discovering all of the different rooms with her. I do wish that the library was explained a little more though–for instance, how do patrons find the library?
The fun facts and tidbits sprinkled throughout the novel were fun. I can see younger readers loving them, and I had fun coming across them. Do you know what happened on October 5, 1582?
The writing style was pretty simple. For example, I was always told how Lenora was feeling. If the author had leaned a little more into “show, don’t tell,” the prose could have been improved. The writing wasn’t bad–it just wasn’t as good as it could have been.
The pacing at the end also felt a little off. *(Spoilery Territory Ahead!)*
Lenora faces off with the Bowler Hats and defeats them. This, presumably, is the main climax. It didn’t feel quite… climactic enough though. It was pretty quick. After that happened, I was expecting the story to start wrapping up. But then it introduced some new story elements, and another mini face-off with the Bowler Hats happened. And then the story actually ends. Overall, the pacing just felt a little clunky and off.
*(End Spoiler Stuff)*
I listened to the audiobook, and the narrator did a great job with the story. Her voices for each character were nice and distinct.
Overall, The Library of Ever wasn’t a bad story, but it could have been better.
Cautions: brief evolutionary reference
Hailey Huntington 