Masked City

400 pages

Published Dec. 3, 2015 by Pan Books.

ISBN:
978-1-4472-5625-0
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OCLC Number:
931002402

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4 stars (15 reviews)

Librarian-spy Irene is working undercover in an alternative London when her assistant Kai goes missing. She discovers he's been kidnapped by the fae faction and the repercussions could be fatal. Not just for Kai, but for whole worlds.

Kai's dragon heritage means he has powerful allies, but also powerful enemies in the form of the fae. With this act of aggression, the fae are determined to trigger a war between their people – and the forces of order and chaos themselves.

Irene's mission to save Kai and avert Armageddon will take her to a dark, alternate Venice where it's always Carnival. Here Irene will be forced to blackmail, fast talk, and fight. Or face death.

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A madcap romp through Venice

4 stars

In this second instalment of the Invisible Library series, Librarian Irene is installed in a Victorian London with her apprentice Kai. When Kai is kidnapped, Irene has to travel to Venice in a Fae-dominated world, where it's permanently Carnival. Irene must rescue Kai to prevent a war, but doing so will violate the Library rules. The result is a slightly chaotic romp through Venice, as Irene seeks to outwit the kidnappers and the many obstacles they place in her path. We learn more about the nature of the Fae and of the Dragons, but as Irene is acting outside of her role as a Librarian, this episode is far less focused on books.

Review of 'Masked City' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

I struggled with this one and almost didn't finish it. About sixty per cent of the way in it became easier to get through but for a while there I thought I was going to set it aside.

I think part of the issue was that this novel was just too fantasy for me. Which I know, right. It IS a fantasy novel. But I feel like the first book in the series was more urban fantasy/steampunk than outright fantasy. And this one had those elements in it, but there was a lot of Fae and Dragon stuff and a lot about fae magic and fantasy politics in regards to wars between Fae and Dragons etc. Despite enjoying some urban fantasy, I'm not a huge fan of the fantasy genre as a whole so I think I struggled with that.

The other issue for me was that it wasn't really …

Review of 'Masked City' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

The second instalment in this series made the alternate worlds seems much more like book worlds, which has fuelled the comparisons to Jasper Fforde’s Thursday Next books. This time Irene finds herself in a version of Venice ruled by the Fae and whilst Lord Silver isn’t exactly her friend, he’s not the enemy he once seemed. Though one has never entirely trust a Fae.

This alternate Venice is a high chaos alternate; the kind that are padlocked and barred from the Library. To travel there risk becoming contaminated. The narrative of this world bends itself around the most powerful, in this case the Fae in charge. Irene must avoid becoming noticed by the main players of this story and remain a background character. If it’s not her story, then surely she’ll be killed if she crosses the protagonist.

I really enjoyed the way storytelling was portrayed. There are narratives so …