• The Book That Broke the World

  • The Library Trilogy, Book 2
  • By: Mark Lawrence
  • Narrated by: Jessica Whittaker
  • Length: 15 hrs and 28 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (81 ratings)

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The Book That Broke the World  By  cover art

The Book That Broke the World

By: Mark Lawrence
Narrated by: Jessica Whittaker
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Publisher's summary

Two people living in a world connected by an immense and mysterious library must fight for those they love in the second book in a new trilogy from the international bestselling author of The Book That Wouldn’t Burn.

The Library spans worlds and times. It touches and joins distant places. It is memory and future. And amid its vastness Evar Eventari both found, and lost, Livira Page.

Evar has been forced to flee the library, driven before an implacable foe. Livira, trapped in a ghost world, has to recover the book she wrote—one which is the only true threat to the library’s existence—if she's to return to her life.

While Evar's journey leads him outside into a world he's never seen, Livira's path will taker her deep inside her own writing, where she must wrestle with her stories in order to reclaim the volume in which they were written.

The secret war that defines the library has chosen its champions and set them on the board. The time has come when they must fight for what they believe, or lose everything.

©2024 Mark Lawrence (P)2024 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"Mark Lawrence strikes the perfect balance between intellect and heart in this second volume of his Library Trilogy."—Grimdark Magazine

What listeners say about The Book That Broke the World

Average customer ratings
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Brilliant

I was so excited for this book. I could live in this world and get lost in the story. There’s so much to explore. I look forward to what comes next.

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1 person found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Very Entertaining!

I have never pre-ordered a book before but after book 1 I couldn't wait for book 2 & it did not disappoint! I literally did not want it to end it's so good!!! Please don't make us wait too long for book 3 😊

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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  • T
  • 04-23-24

Intrigued by the first book…now in love with the second.

Apparently, I live under a rock, Books, one and two of this series are my first foray into any of Mr. Lawrence’s writing…. I hope I haven’t set myself up for disappointment, due to the excellent world building and complexity (not to mention the action sequences, occasionally snarky and wonderfully quirky sense of humor) of this series so far.
I’m sure there are more of this authors works in my very near future.
My only complaint is totally because I am an American who thinks everybody sounds like me… I believe the author uses European/UK pronunciation and sometimes it just threw me off. But really, that’s probably more on me than it is the narrator! I did enjoy her overall performance.
Overall 11/10… I am already looking forward to re-listening to the first two books just prior to book 3 coming out.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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A Great Listen

I'll start with the bad: this wasn't as good as the first book. This felt like a middle book to me; some necessary expansion of the world and characters leading into the final book. But it didn't get its hooks as deep into me as the first, and was just "good" until bringing it together in the end. Of course, I still really enjoyed it, needed to know what happened, and can't wait for the next step. It's a testament to how much I liked the first book that this book fell short and was still a 5-star book. So if the author could just use the exchange to influence the first book and make it worse, this one might look better? In all seriousness, definitely my favorite world and concept from Mr. Lawrence so far.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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Great sequel

I’m so mad I read this immediately now I have to wait forever for the next one - new characters add depth (as if we needed more lol) to this already pleasantly complicated story, and the continuing stories of our original characters evolve and intersect. I’ve had to stop trying to figure out the timeline because I finished Dispel Illusion before reading these two books and now my brain hurts. Such a good book.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Mind Boggling Adventure

The Book That Broke the World is an adventure like no other that twists through time and dimension, all while within the confines of one library. Mark Lawrence shows his genius with an ability to tell an intricate tale of people intersecting from many times and places, and yet manages to do so in a manner that is both compelling and understandable to the reader. I said book one of the series, The Book That Wouldn't burn, was my favorite book of last year. The Book That Broke the World will easily be my favorite of this year. Excellent series so far.

Jessica Whittaker delivers another great reading, giving a great book the life it deserves.

Overall, Lawrence is showing once again why he is one of the top fantasy writers of our time. If you have listened to book one, no doubt you' won't need my prompting to get book two. If you haven't, go ahead and get started. You won't be sorry.

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    1 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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Too gory

I will never read another book by this author
I really dislike when author I’d enjoy has to go a step to far and include nightmare producing scenes

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