The Great Library of Tomorrow

September 2, 2024
This earnest high fantasy from debut author Solace mingles sorcery and metafiction, with a magic system based on the act of storytelling itself. Helia, the Sage of Hope and one of the protectors of the Great Library that connects the various realms of the Paperworld, narrowly escapes an attack by a legendary villain, the Ash Man, but her partner, the Sage of Truth, is not so lucky. Now the Great Library and its founding Book of Wisdom are vulnerable to further violence from the Ash Man. Meanwhile, discontented copywriter Arturo, plucked from Mexico City, discovers that his way with words is amplified in the Library, where his written ideas come to life. Together with a junior staffer who acquires a Sage’s Orb, an apprentice alchemist, and a wildcat airship crew, Arturo sets out to recover a missing dragon guardian and stop the Ash Man’s agents from further infiltration. Solace places emphasis on the interior struggles of characters facing up to their vocations, though it leaves the plot around them to run along very familiar lines. The one-dimensional Ash Man is more of a straw man at times, but the angst of the protagonists rings true. Readers will be curious to see where Solace goes next.

October 1, 2024
Helia, the Sage of Hope, and her partner, Xavier, the Sage of Truth, along with their Orbs, Vega and Antares, fight to defend the Rose Garden from Suttaru, an ancient villain many thought vanquished. Suttaru, along with his army of the Unwritten, destroys the Rose Garden, and Perennia, the dragon protector of the garden, is missing. After a great sacrifice, Helia heads to the Great Library of Tomorrow, where Mwamba, the Sage of Knowledge, sends her on a mission to find out what happened to Perennia. Traveling with Helia is Nu, an inhabitant of the Great Library who bonded with Antares, and they pick up a motley crew along the way. Back at the Great Library, Mwamba works with Robin, another Sage, and Arturo, a wannabe author, to find answers. In the first book in the Tomorrowland series, Solace packs in a lot of exposition and characters, and the world building sometimes veers into telling instead of showing, which slows the plot. Nevertheless, this is an action-packed debut saga about the power of books, reading, and libraries.

COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

December 1, 2024
A group of chosen adventurers set out to rescue a dragon and save the world. Perennia is missing. The dragon who lives in the Rose Garden with the Cerulean Rose--an essential ingredient in the Elixir of Life--has disappeared. Thanks to a head injury, Helia, the Sage of Hope, can't remember what happened; all she knows is that the villainous Ash Man, Suttaru, has returned to destroy all of Paperworld. At home in the Great Library of Tomorrow, she enlists help from her fellow library workers, Mwamba and Nu, to stop him. But the Book of Wisdom that powers the Great Library has been compromised along with the destroyed Rose Garden. Together with Dzin, a young Runner who recently crafted the formula for his very own Elixir of Life, the three Library workers set out to recover Helia's stolen memories and piece together what happened to Perennia. Solace has built a richly populated universe here, but the worldbuilding is more often than not spewed out in chunks of awkward dialogue, as solutions to the characters' problems appear seemingly out of thin air. This leaves the reader to learn about key plot points, background items, and MacGuffins just a hair too late, with no opportunity to figure out the book's many mysteries for themselves. The characters flounder their way through clunky explanations and paper-thin excuses for not knowing even the most basic information, which the audience must wade through to get from point A to point B. On the positive side, Helia is an active protagonist. Readers who can look past the maladroit way the novel dispenses information may be in for a treat, but many fans of epic fantasies--particularly about fantasticallibraries--will be left disappointed. A sweeping fantasy that cracks under the weight of its own worldbuilding.

COPYRIGHT(2024) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.