Bonjour! Rebienvenu a Book Break!
If you can't tell, we are in Paris. And we're here today because I want to tell you about
an amazing adventure fantasy book called The Mortal Word, which is set right here in Paris.
It combines everything you love from Sherlock Holmes to dragons to books! But before I tell
you too much about the book, let's go and have a look at a very special building.
So first, let me tell you a little bit about this amazing library we have come to. This
is the American Library in Paris. It was founded in 1920 so it's almost 100 years old. And
now, it is the largest English language lending library on the European continent.
Pretty amazing. And it has this incredibly rich literary history. Gertrude Stein and
Ernest Hemingway were once members, and they both donated books to the collection. They
also both contributed to Ex Libris, which is the newsletter that started back in 1923
and is still going today.
So this library has so many links to the amazing romantic literary history of Paris, but it's
also a modern fully functional lending library today, that anyone can visit. You have to
be a member, but you can get a day pass if you're just visiting Paris for the day. So
I really recommend it, it's absolutely amazing. I'm going to look around now, and tell you
a bit more about the Invisible Library series.
OK, so the Invisible Library. So this book series follows Irene, who works at the Library,
this magical inter-dimensional library which collects books from every alternate world
in existence. So Irene's job is being sent to different worlds, sometimes on very dangerous
missions, to collect books that might only have one copy of them out of all the possible
worlds. And to do that, the way that she reaches the other worlds is by opening magical doors
in the Library, that take her through to another library anywhere else in any world.
All librarians can speak the Language. This is a magical language that makes anything
you say out loud come true, so she can actually manipulate the laws of physics.
So as well as Irene, the other two main characters are her assistant Kai and her friend that
she meets in the first book Vale. So Vale is essentially a Sherlock Holmes type Great
Detective, who we meet in a parallel Victorian London. And Kai is Irene's assistant, who
was assigned to her somewhat mysteriously in the first book. And throughout the series,
there's some fun sexual tension between the two of them.
And there are two main types of world that you need to know about to understand the series.
Worlds can either skew more towards order, or more towards chaos. In the order worlds,
that's where dragons live. And they love everything to follow laws and order. In the chaos worlds,
we meet the Fae, and they just love drama. Anything you would read in a story, that's
how they live their lives. And they actually bend reality to meet more of a story type
narrative.
So the books so far in the series have been the first one, The Invisible Library, which
takes place in an alternate Victorian London.
The second one, The Masked City, which takes place in a form of Venice where it's always
Carnival. So that one, as you can guess, is run by the Fae.
Book number three is The Burning Page, where Irene is sent on a very dangerous mission
to St Petersburg.
And book number four is The Lost Plot, and this one is a 1920s-era America. So that's
lots of fun, they spend a lot of time in speak-easies. And Irene at one point is framed, and accused
of being a mobster.
So that brings us up to date just in time for book number five, The Mortal Word. And
that one is set in 1890s Paris. So let's test out Irene's favourite method of transportation,
and see where this door takes us.
It worked! This is the Historical Library of the City of Paris, and it's home to roughly
a million books, as well as hundreds of thousands of manuscripts, maps, and photographs, that
plot Paris's history from the 16th century up to present day.
Now Paris's history plays a very important part in The Mortal Word. You'll have to read
the book to find out how important, but for now let me give you the summary.
In The Mortal Word, Irene is sent to investigate a murder. After so many years of conflict,
the fae and the dragons have finally decided to sign a peace treaty. But days before the
treaty is due to be signed, one of the dragons is found murdered. And worse, it looks like
the Library might have been involved.
So it's Irene's job to clear the Library's name, find the real murderer, and get the
peace treaty back on track, before the Library has to pay the price.
So the Fae that Irene suspects is the Blood Countess, who was inspired by the real historical
figure Elizabeth Bathory, who possibly killed literally hundreds of young women to bathe
in their blood to keep herself young forever. Now, in the book, Irene doesn't know whether
the Fae is playing the part of the real gruesome serial killer, or the falsely accused woman.
So that makes her an even more dangerous enemy to have.
So overall, these are really fun fast paced cosy but smart adventure stories. And I really
love the way this series addresses gender and sexuality as well. The fact they can travel
between worlds really shows how arbitrary the different societal worlds are in different
worlds, by showing all the different possibilities.
It's a really clever series, and it's about books, which makes it even better.
So do subscribe to this channel, because we post new videos every Thursday, and next week
we're going into full Christmas mode. We're going to be posting our Christmas Gift Guide
right here, so make sure you don't miss out on that one.
And do give this video a thumbs up if you're planning to read The Invisible Library series,
and comment below if you're planning to visit Paris, because we're loving it here, it's
amazing. See you next time!