I crave originality in genre fiction. Because I read so many book reviews at work (I’m the literature librarian, so I buy most of the fiction for my library), I feel like I’m awash in derivative novels attempting to cash in on settings and plots and characters that made a splash: magic schools, magic trials, magical competitions for the hand of a royal, etc. When I spot a book that looks like it might scratch my itch for fantasy that doesn’t build it’s plot around these tired elements, I leap. Kalyn Josephson’s The Library of Amorlin delighted me because not only does it avoid a lot of the things I’ve grown weary of, it seems to resist a lot of the tropes that come with them.
Our protagonist, Kasira, lives a miserable life when we first meet her. She’s a convict who opted to join the soldiers attempting to rid the kingdom of the violent beasts that stalk the land. Not only does she have to risk her life fighting these creatures, she also has to deal with the aggressive disdain of her fellow soldiers. These soldiers would be more than happy to leave her behind if she was ever injured. When a powerful politician shows up with deal to get Kasira out of the ranks, she can hardly refuse. All Kasira has to do to have her record expunged is to resurrect her skills as a con artist, pretend to be a noble, and get herself appointed assistant librarian at the Library of Amorlin. The Library is far from what you or I would think of as a library. Sure, they have books and people travel from around the kingdoms to study there, but the Library also has a menagerie of magical animals rescued by the Librarian. The Librarian, the surly Allaster, acts as a neutral diplomat between the various kingdoms when he’s not out on beast-related missions.
Kasira’s kingdom, Kalthos, is under the thumb of a religion that declares magical creatures evil. As a child, Kasira was severely punished for caring for an injured critter and, as an adult, she was tasked with killing them. So when she arrives at the Library, Kasira has to do a lot of work trying to convince everyone that she’s not going to start slaughtering anytime a creature looks at her sideways. I was fascinated to learn more about the world outside of Kalthos through Kasira’s eyes. So much of what she’s been told is wrong. Even worse, Allaster has a theory that Kalthos’s wholesale murder of all magical creatures is causing disasters across the kingdoms. (There’s a strong allegory about climate change in this novel.) The more Kasira learns, the more she struggles with the mission she’s been given.
The end of The Library of Amorlin is absolutely outstanding. Kasira has to do a lot of fast scheming to stay ahead of everyone else’s plots. Josephson doesn’t make it easy for us to whole-heartedly root for Kasira either. She complicates Kasira by letting us know just how many dastardly things our protagonist does to serve her original mission; Kasira is not above ruining other people’s lives to accomplish her goals. Josephson also resists the trope of having the female protagonist and male lead fall instantly in love with each other. Oh, there are hints that this might happen, but there’s enough betrayal in the air that the road to a happy ending is going to be a long, rocky one (assuming that road doesn’t hare off in another direction entirely).
Readers looking for fresh, original fantasy stories should check this one out.