• The Invisible Library

  • The Invisible Library, Book 1
  • By: Genevieve Cogman
  • Narrated by: Kristin Atherton
  • Length: 12 hrs and 2 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (494 ratings)

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The Invisible Library  By  cover art

The Invisible Library

By: Genevieve Cogman
Narrated by: Kristin Atherton
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Publisher's summary

One spy. One dangerous book. One deadly mission. The first in a delightful fantasy mystery series, The Invisible Library is the astounding debut from Genevieve Cogman.

Irene must be at the top of her game or she'll be off the case – permanently . . .


Irene is a professional spy for the mysterious Library, which harvests fiction from different realities. Along with her new assistant Kai, she's posted to an alternative London. Their mission – to retrieve a dangerous book. But lo and behold, when they arrive, it's already been stolen. London's underground factions seem prepared to fight to the very death to find her book.

In this world teeming with supernatural creatures and unpredictable magic, Irene soon finds herself up to her eyebrows in a heady mix of danger, clues and secret societies. And Kai is also hiding secrets of his own. Yet failure is not an option – the nature of reality itself is at stake.

'It's a breath of fresh air' – Guardian

Continue the journey with the second adventurous title in the The Invisible Library series, The Masked City. Genevieve is also the author of the Sunday Times bestselling Scarlet - which reimagines the tale of The Scarlet Pimpernel, but with vampires, mages and magic . . .

©2015 Genevieve Cogman (P)2021 Macmillan Publishers International Limited

Critic reviews

A dazzling bibliophilic debut (Charles Stross, author of the Laundry Files, including The Atrocity Archives)

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What listeners say about The Invisible Library

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    320
  • 4 Stars
    105
  • 3 Stars
    43
  • 2 Stars
    19
  • 1 Stars
    7
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    338
  • 4 Stars
    79
  • 3 Stars
    26
  • 2 Stars
    7
  • 1 Stars
    4
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    286
  • 4 Stars
    104
  • 3 Stars
    38
  • 2 Stars
    16
  • 1 Stars
    7

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Great story but audio wide range

I loved the story but the way it was recorded was not good. The level varies from a whisper to an ear shattering yell. The audio engineer should have applied compression to reduce the audio level swings.

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11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Engaging

Engaging story with good characters and plot twists. would recommend for young adult readers and adults.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Brought me back to the world of fantasy

I have been incapable of maintaining focus long enough to get through a book without taking at least one year. After getting this recommendation from a friend, I blew through it in four days love the cheekiness. I love the fascinating intersection between magic, fantasy, technology, history, and future.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Invisible library

Keeps your attention. The reader did a great job so you were able to tell the difference between characters

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

how important are stories?

it turns out stories are vitally important. (but you knew that). there is a library where all the books ate kept. the librarians go to great lengths to preserve stories from a thousand worlds. come visit the invisible library. this is a marvelous beginning to, what promises, a fantastic series.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Meh

Narrator isn’t great. Story takes random sidetracks that come out of nowhere. It’s just ok.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Loved it!!

Dragons. Books. Crime. Deceit. Adventure Alternate realities in other Worlds, seriously whats not to love ❣️ A great detective story.. read on 😎

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Better premise than story

I really wanted to love this, but about halfway through it descends into clusterfudge and was less fun to follow the story.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

I really tried (Reviewed after 2.3 books)

This series has great promise and I personally really liked several of the characters...so I really tried to give it a chance.

I think the main problem is the narrator. She is overly dramatic and in the wrong places. She makes everyone sound desperate, extremely agitated, and over-reactive- which then makes them sound idiotic (and often juvenile). I was hoping she would work out the kinks (some narrators seem to) but after 2 books unfortunately that is not the case. For a while I thought the writing was lending to the issue, but I can't speak to that as I can't get past the narrator.

I do think the writing could be more polished. it doesn't always seem to hold my attention and if I miss a part I don't bother rewinding, which to me is a significant sign.

I can't continue the series...they all just sound like inexperienced people with poor communication skills.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great start to a series

Reminiscent of one of my favorite authors, Jodi Taylor. It was Dr Who meets Sherlock Holmes. Action packed plot with characters that I expect to continue to develop. Looking forward to reading on!

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