Ruthless and supremely powerful, the Great Library is now a presence in every major city, governing the flow of knowledge to the masses. Alchemy allows the Library to deliver the content of the greatest works of history instantly—but the personal ownership of books is expressly forbidden.
Jess Brightwell believes in the value of the Library, but the majority of his knowledge comes from illegal books obtained by his family, who are involved in the thriving black market. Jess has been sent to be his family’s spy, but his loyalties are tested in the final months of his training to enter the Library’s service.
When his friend inadvertently commits heresy by creating a device that could change the world, Jess discovers that those who control the Great Library believe that knowledge is more valuable than any human life—and soon both heretics and books will burn…

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Ink and Bone is a spectacle of awesomeness. I really enjoy Rachel Caine, I have her Weather Warden, Outcast Season andMorganville Vampires series and have enjoyed them all. So when I heard she was starting a new series I grabbed the first book. Then I didn’t read it for three months, and now I am sad I waited so long to read it but happy that it pushed me a few months closer to book two (Paper and Fire). The world built was rich and dynamic and oh so captivating. Set in a world where the great library of Alexandria was never destroyed; it instead is the leading power. The Great Library pushes down what it considers subversive thought and controls all of the knowledge. Books are not allowed to be privately owned and strict punishment is handed down to those who are caught owning and running illegal books. Jess, the lead, is deeply conflicted and torn between his family and his future and is a character you can truly root for. The characters were vibrant and detailed, even the ones you know are going to end up as cannon fodder. The plot was very inventive and full of action. A lot of first in a series books are so focused on world building that they are light on the action and this was not the case. I was very glad that Ink and Bone was not a cookie cutter dystopian YA novel; it was a fresh take on an alternate time line and it was great.

Favorite lines – ‘Don’t lose faith.’ Faith. Faith in what? He’d believed in the Library, the ideal of it, anyway. He’d believed that it was doing good, and more, that it wanted to do good. But now he’d seen the dirty underside, and he couldn’t hold on to his faith much longer.

Biggest cliche – “How can the most powerful entity in my world be bad? They have to be good, they’re so powerful!”

Have you read Ink and Bone, or added it to your TBR?