The Dark Archive by Genevieve Cogman
I would like to thank Stephen from Black Crow PR and Pan Books for an advance copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review
Publisher – Pan Books
Published – Out Now
Price - £8.99 paperback
A mysterious archive. A powerful enemy. And a cunning plan.
Danger is part of the day job for a Librarian spy. So Irene’s hoping for a relaxing weekend. However, her jaunt to Guernsey proves no such thing. Instead of retrieving a rare book, she’s almost assassinated, Kai is poisoned and Vale barely escapes with his life. Then the attacks continue in London – targeting those connected with the Fae-dragon peace treaty.
Irene knows she must stop the plot before the treaty fails. Or someone dies. But when Irene and friends are trapped underground, in a secret archive, things don’t look so good. Then an old enemy demands vengeance, and a shocking secret is revealed. Can Irene really seize victory from chaos?
Archenemies and Heroes are a staple of fantasy and science fiction. Having dark shadows of our favourites who show what they could have been (and vice versa) is fascinating and as the two spirals around each other in orbit the tension will mount. Professor Moriarty hardly appears in the canon, yet we sense he’s Holmes lifelong adversary (which all other spin-offs seem to enjoy exploring a lot). In Genevieve Cogman’s latest instalment of her Invisible Library series we get a sense of a long-awaited confrontation that pleasingly again shakes up the wider storyline and raises the stakes for Librarian Spy Irene Winters and her friends.
We dive into the deep end to find Irene and her friend the Great Detective Vale out of their traditional steampunk London and investigating a strange issue in Guernsey and of course for Irene a chance to get her hands on a book not found anywhere else in the multiverse. It’s a pleasing diversion for her as recently a set of strange assassination attempts suggest someone is playing with Irene and her two apprentices Kai (Dragon Prince) and Catherine (Fae). Irene already has her hands dull having two forces who have for many thousands of years signing a peace treaty and her team is now expected to represent a new way forward – adding the chance anyone of them could die makes this a situation that could threaten many worlds. But on top of this Irene slowly gets confronted by brain controlling cybernetics; the return of dead enemies and behind it all a puppet master that she really hopes is not too familiar.
I will caveat this doesn’t feel the best starting point for new readers to the series as this sees the culmination of several plot points over the entire series. But for regular readers YOU NEED THIS…ahem. If you’re familiar with the Holmes story the Final Problem, then you’ll have a sense of an endgame. Taking Irene out of her usual location and often putting the master strategist on the receiving end of another just as cunning as she is. This has tension and a sense of someone who really knows what they’re doing – often Irene is the one the story has taking situations to her advantage and this time I never got that feeling. She responds quickly to each development, but nothing feels easily won or overly familiar – this feels like a big season finale in terms of arcs being concluded and also changed forever.
Another really pleasing element is we really see the wider cast that Cogman has slowly built over the stories all have lots to do; many of whom like Vale and Kai now more aware of Irene’s real job are supportive and active applying their own skills to the situation but we also see minor characters like Inspector Singh and Fae manipulator Sterrington all take key roles in pushing the stories along. On the other side of the coin we also get some unexpected returning villains and their storyline is an intriguing puzzle that drives the story along to a quite impressive finale in an strange magical version of the Sagrada Familia on a very different world to our own. Finally, we get a new focus on Irene’s newest companion Catherine a fae which means many people don’t trust her and Irene finds Catherine acts a little too rashly and dishonestly while also reminding her of her own younger days. I loved her storyline because it also shows us how much Irene herself has changed since we first met her and now she acknowledges she is an experienced agent in her own right now – a delicious double act to watch develop.
This is a story long-time fans have been set up to expect for some time and I was so pleased it delivered a powerful storyline that I was never too sure where it was leading. You really do feel Irene has a worthy opponent this time and that makes the story a tad unsettling and a great fantasy thriller, but one delivered with Cogman’s wit, love for genre and sense of humour. It also reminds us that the multiverse we first saw and the forces in it are changing rapidly and more is to come. Thoroughly recommended and I am soooo looking forward to see where the series goes next!
