The Secret Chapter

By: Genevieve Cogman

Narrated by: Kristin Atherton

Length: 11 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's summary

In this bookish fantasy adventure, a Librarian spy must fall in with a villainous group to achieve her goals. Imagine Ocean’s Eleven meets James Bond with a pinch of magic. The Secret Chapter is the sixth novel in Genevieve Cogman’s Invisible Library series.

Irene and Kai have to team up with an unlikely band of misfits to pull off an amazing art heist. Or they must risk the wrath of a dangerous villain, in his secret island lair. . .

As Irene tries to manage a fraught Fae–dragon truce and her overbearing parents, she’s given a hot new mission. The world where she grew up is in danger and only one book can save it.

This is held by Mr Nemo, secretive Fae villain and antique dealer, so Irene and Kai travel to his Caribbean retreat to strike a deal. But in return for the book, they must steal a painting from twenty-first-century Vienna. They’ll join a team of dragons, Fae gamblers and thieves, so their greatest challenge may be one another. And some will kill to protect this painting, which hides an extraordinary secret from a past age.

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. . .

©2019 Genevieve Cogman (P)2019 Macmillan Publishers International Ltd

Critic reviews

The ensuing shenanigans are wittily told, with some great one-liners and comic set pieces, and the resourceful Irene is a delightful protagonist. This is light-hearted fantasy at its page-turning best (Guardian)

Another Exciting Chapter

Loved it! New exciting dangers for Irene and Kai. Dragons, Fae and getting a rare book to save a world favored by Irene, and a highly desired rare painting. All in a days work!

Thrilling adventure for Irene, less for listener

Firstly, the story is very much on par for this series. We have our usual hijinks, Irene is clever as always and there's a lot of plot development for the overall series. I think I can see where it's going, but it's still a really fun ride.

Now for the elephant... They changed the narrator. This is the 6th book. For 5 books we had an awesome narrator that really brought the characters and series to life. Did they learn nothing from the Dresden Files?

The narrator isn't necessarily BAD, she's just not Irene. Her whole tone is very different for most things and it's especially off-putting when Kai and Irene interact. Something about the way she brings them across just changes the whole dynamic for me. Irene seems more flirtatious and coy, Kai seems less mysterious and brooding and more... I dunno, human?

From posts and comments on the author's own blog, she seems to be taking the "I'm sorry you don't like it" position, which is indeed most unfortunate. The change won't stop me from checking out the next book, but the story is going to have to pick it up a few notches to keep things in balance IMO.

Dragons, Fae and Librarians, Oh My!

Once again, Ms Cogman has kept me enthralled with her tale of adventure. She never disappoints. In addition, the narrator does a great job of keeping the characters easy to identify and provides the appropriate emotional ambience. I highly recommend this Audible book.

Great story, but miss the original narrator

I have been re-listening to these books, one after the other, which makes the change in narrator far more striking than it was when I listened to each book as it was released. While the story is up to Ms. Cogman's usual excellent standard, I am really disappointed that Susan Duerdon was replaced as the narrator. A great narrator is able to provide distinctly different voices for each character, and this new narrator does not seem able to do that. It makes it much harder to track which character is speaking when they sound so similar! She seems unable to have clearly distinguishable male and female voices. Moreover, this new narrator seems to be reading the story, rather than acting it, which makes the whole experience somewhat flat.

I am especially disappointed that the original recordings have been pulled and are being replaced with new recordings using the new narrator. I enjoy the world Ms Cogman has created enough to continue to buy future works in this series, but I am seriously considering buying them as ebooks rather than audiobooks.

Don't change narrator mid series.

This is a great series but I am struggling with the narrator change on this book. Even my co-pilot, who doesn't really pay attention, noticed everything just felt dull compared to any of the other books we have listened to together. I think I will be making a trip to the library to finish this one the old fashioned way.

A little off from Ms Cogman's previous in series

Please note, some might consider my comments spoilers.

Although I was so glad to be back in the world of the Library, Dragons, and Fae, I was disappointed in some plot aspects and the capitalization of skimpy clothing foisted upon on one our favorite main characters. So wrong in these #metoo times. I also thought Irene's premise for the undertaking was weak. It was not compelling enough for me to believe her obsession to get the job done and the more she fretted over it, the shallower it became. And I missed having more of Vale in the story. But there is a significant and rewarding twist. And the promise of a new tale. I only hope Ms. Cognman can get the wardrobe right next time!

Fun!

I enjoyed this...was it an ensemble story? The various Fae and Draconic characters were just written for so much fun! I liked the little pokes at popular fiction like... perhaps James Bond and Oceans 11? If I were plugged into those genres better, I might have loved it even more! This is the first in the series I have listened to with the newer narration, and while it was a shock, there was certainly more variety in her voices... so she grew on me.

Wonderful

Simply encapsulated by this series definitely a breathtaking read love love love performances by truly an amazing composition of work and I’m looking forward to reading the next book!

A delight!

The reading of this book was a delight! The reader was absolutely fabulous, bringing each character to life with great individuality!

Amazing!

This is the best book in the series so far! It was a little jarring at first to not hear Susan Duerdan narrating but Kristin Atherton was excellent. This is everything I want from an Invisible Library novel: Stealing, new worlds, unpredictable fae that you like even though you know you can’t trust them, and Irene and Kai. Wonderful.