The Book that Held Her Heart by Mark Lawrence

Book Review

Elloise Hopkins

Anne Hoffman was minding her grandfather’s second-hand bookshop when a noise from within the many out-of-sight aisles captures her attention, for none had entered the bookshop. There is the sound of rain outside, and a falling book inside. Now a policeman arrives from outside, hostile, and a compelling stranger appears inside. He has come from the library, he tells her. It is not a safe time for a Jew in this place, nor a safe time for books. Anne finds herself, willingly or not, swept along in a quest.

Mayland stopped Livira from going with Evar, and now they are ghosts, back in time, back at her home in the Dust where she began. Then even farther back, near Crath City, or at least where the city had been, to discover a path of destruction through forest, village and crops, the dead still lying where they fell. Whatever happened, or is about to happen, Livira will not give up the thought of finding Evar.

Arpix has gone from librarian to prisoner, beaten, threatened and trapped in the library, with Lord Algar and soldiers turned cannibals in order to survive. Arpix must find a way to escape, but for now finds himself within the pages of Livira’s book, watching her present through someone else’s eyes.

The Book that Held Her Heart begins with an excellent recap of events for the prior books – a must given the deep intricacies of this series so far. For this reader, this final book in The Library Trilogy resonated the most, perhaps because the library, that began as a space of seemingly endless rules, space and mystery, has become more tangible over time – we have learned some of what is expected, and understood some of its possibilities.

The characters in this book too seemed more alive, more vibrant, again perhaps because those we have already traveled with we now know of old, and those new additions came with immediate needs and motivations that helped pick up the narrative pace and propel us more towards a conclusion… a conclusion that Evar and Livira have been moving towards for so long. Anne is a standout all of her own – plucky, determined, and everything we, the reader of today, would look for, no matter the time she finds herself in.

This book explores the true historical horrors of Nazi-controlled Germany of our own time and world, alongside the destructive and the complex relationships between the Canith and human characters in the library’s universe, and of course the destructive and complex relationships of race in our own time. Despite the deep themes, a strong thread for each of our key characters keeps events moving forward, towards the conclusion we know is inevitable, yet again hits just as deeply when it arrives. This trilogy has been a richly delivered investment, and one that the conclusion rewards in plenty.