It’s time to celebrate the finale of the Great Library series!
And to capitalise on the pun opportunity I have been given — it was great. šš¤Ok I’m good now, I’m fine…
But truly this series is exquisitely incredible, thrilling and heart-wrenching and full of violent Ravenclaws (which, quite frankly, is amazing to read about). I don’t often stick with long series because I have the attention span of a gnat. But I’ve craved every book since Ink & Bone released back in 2015!
Today I’m part of the blog tour for Sword and Pen.
It’s really sad to say goodbye š«But it was also a stunning ending.
Keep reading for some immensely epic giveaways + my review + and an excerpt from Thomas!
(And huge thank you to Berkley Pub and Rachel Caine for having me as part of the tour!)
⢠Catch up on my reviews of the first 4 books:
Goodreads | Booktopia | Book Depository | Amazon
With the future of the Great Library in doubt, the unforgettable characters from Ink and Bone must decide if it’s worth saving in this thrilling adventure in the New York Times bestselling series.
The corrupt leadership of the Great Library has fallen. But with the Archivist plotting his return to power, and the Library under siege from outside empires and kingdoms, its future is uncertain. Jess Brightwell and his friends must come together as never before, to forge a new future for the Great Library . . . or see everything it stood for crumble.
Rachel Caine is the New York Times, USA TodayĀ andĀ Wall Street JournalĀ bestselling author of more than fifty novels in a diverse range of genres and categories. Sheās been honored with multiple awards from RT Booklovers Association and the Texas Library Association, and was honored with two spots on the 2012 āMost Favorite Books of UK Schoolchildrenā list.Ā In 2006, she created the Morganville Vampires series in young adult, and premiered the TLA-listed novelĀ Prince of ShadowsĀ in 2015, and the new Great Library series withĀ Ink and BoneĀ in 2016.Ā Rachel and her husband R. Cat Conrad live and work in Fort Worth, Texas.
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Open for an excerpt
Sword And Pen was stressfully brilliant, powerful and absolutely destroying.
I actually had to take a moment to breathe after I finished because, like Jess, I spent most of the book gasping and dying between paragraphs that were obviously designed to spear me right through the feels. This books wasĀ so so intenseĀ and it delivered everything I needed in a finale. Including making me not know if a single character I liked would get through. I was tHAT stressed!! I was so stressed!!!!
things I did while reading:
(a) pressed the entire ARC to my face and scream/cried at Santi calling Jess his and Wolfe’s son
(b) panicked about Jess’ life expectancy
(c) said I hated it and loved it in a single breath
(d) took too many photos for my bookstagram
(e) died and came back as a library haunting ghost of appreciation
Last books are always hard to review because I don’t want to give spoilers! š
But this totally delivered with a tight-action-packed plot, that was full of war and battles, super high stakes, and valiant sacrifices. It also had tons of stupid teenagers thinking they’re invincible (I love them) and Wolfe getting grey hairs because his kids are irresponsible about their health (I love him). It had so so so many satisfying plot twists. I was just beaming by the end.
It managed to be painful on the feels, heartbreaking at times, and also intenselyĀ rightĀ and satisfying. That’s a hard balance to pull off in a finale, and I applaud the entire series for constantly delivering to my super high expectations.
A little run down about what the characters were up to…
Jess gets himself seriously seriously hurt and I definitely ached for him through the entire book. His ptsd and depression spiral is gut-wrenching. I love him so much ahhh.
- Wolfe and Santi didn’t have a lot of chapters in this one but I loved every scene they were in. Their devotion to each other is incredible; gay dads of the century. We stan. ššš»I also love that Santi gave up hoping people would be sensible and just started pairing everyone off so at least the hot-heads had someone to temper them down.
- Thomas is off solving lots of puzzles; also being a super weapons genius while being the softest bean ever.
- Dario is such a snake I love him. Tbh he bad more chemistry with Jess than Morgan/Jess did but ok.
- Khalila no spoilers but AHHHH SHE IS A QUEEN AND I LOVE HER. She really just proves herself in this one and I adored her arc.
- Glain has always been like the smallest part of the squad but she is badass and I do like her.
- Morgan was super powerful and kinda scary with it, but I did appreciate her whole storyline for this finale.
Spoilers About The Finale
(seriously DON’T click until after you’ve read it!)
I also love how the book balanced destruction, violence, and hope.
Ultimately, the series is about fighting for what you believe, for making sure no one person has the ability to dictate the spread of knowledge through the world. The book is about knowledge being power…about found-family being the truest part of your heart…and about freedom. It got so so dark in this book. But it gave us those slivers of light that we needed to cling onto.
It was perfect. Freaking perfect. I’m NOT over it and will be melting inside for at least 600 years.
And click here to enter an exclusive giveaway just for my followers!
| what do you think? |
have you read this series or is it on your TBR?? tell me which cover is your favourite too!! (mine is Paper & Fire because I love orange so much)
I’m reading this very very soon and I can’t wait. Also I really don’t want it to end!
I hope you adore it too!
This blog post was great. šš
And I LOVE the cover of Paper and Fire too! the colours and also DRAGONS.
Right?! It doesn’t get better than dragons š¤
I’m so excited for this finale! I have really enjoyed the books so far and am looking forward to seeing how it ends. Thanks so much for sharing!
It absolutely lived up to my expectations!! I was so so happy š
This book!!! Was so good! I was stressing so much while reading it because first off, every time Brendan was mentioned it was like a knife to the heart. Legitimately, every quote I highlighted referenced Brendan, I will never be over it.
I was so happy when Khalila became archivist! Though honestly, I was kind of scared at first because the archivists kept on dying and I did not want her to die. I feel the same way that you do about Morgan. I was never suuuper connected to her character, so I ended up liking the way the rest of her arc was handled. Unlike Brendan. I will never have peace.
Right?! I was just GAHHAHFSHADO the whole time reading, but it pulled everything togother so incredibly beautifully. I couldn’t ask for a better ending. Khalila is forever mY queen. šš