A fantasy novel series by Genevieve Cogman, starting with the first novel The Invisible Library.
Irene is a professional spy for the mysterious Library, a shadowy organization that collects important works of fiction from all of the different realities. Most recently, she and her enigmatic assistant Kai have been sent to an alternative London. Their mission: retrieve a particularly dangerous book. The problem: by the time they arrive, it's already been stolen.
London's underground factions are prepared to fight to the death to find the tome before Irene and Kai do, a problem compounded by the fact that this world is chaos-infested — the laws of nature bent to allow supernatural creatures and unpredictable magic to run rampant. To make matters worse, Kai is hiding something—secrets that could be just as volatile as the chaos-filled world itself.
Now Irene is caught in a puzzling web of deadly danger, conflicting clues, and sinister secret societies. And failure is not an option—because it isn’t just Irene's reputation at stake, it’s the nature of reality itself...
Books in the series:
- The Invisible Library (2014)
- The Masked City (2015)
- The Burning Page (2016)
- The Lost Plot (2017)
- The Mortal Word (2018)
- The Secret Chapter (2019)
- The Dark Archive (2020)
- The Untold Story (2021)
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Tropes found in the whole series
Tropes found in The Invisible Library Series as a whole
- Alternate History: Every "alternate" has a different history, for example the one that Irene and Kai are in for most of the first book is a reality where the British never conquered India and Russia colonized China and Japan.
- Background Magic Field: The forces of order and chaos, while embodied by dragons and Fae respectively, are also raw forces of power that calcify and corrupt every world and every object they touch. The most orderly and chaotic worlds are dangerous even for their native residents.
- Both Order and Chaos are Dangerous: The Fae, representing chaos, see humans as little more than background characters who act out whatever role the Fae have for them at the moment. Dragons, representing order, are presented as more reasonable on a personal level, but worlds under their influence have a tendency to develop authoritarian governments. The Library tries to stay neutral and avoids getting involved in conflicts between the two.
- Can't Argue with Elves: Dragons have many advantages over humans (most notably their longevity and their ability to shift between human and draconic form), but they act as if every aspect of dragon society is superior to all others and sincerely believe that humans should worship the ground they walk upon.
- Compelling Voice: The Language can be used for this, although it will wear off eventually and leave the affected person perfectly aware the something was done to them.
- Corporate Dragon: Despite the fact that Dragons in The Invisible Library are based mainly on Eastern dragon tropes, in The Masked City, Irene meets the King of the Northern Ocean in a cyberpunkish dimension where he and his court take the form of the CEO and executives of a MegaCorp.
- Cosmic Keystone: Played with. The various worlds in The Multiverse tend to drift towards either stagnating order or destructive chaos on their own, but retrieving a book from that world and adding it to the Library's collection can help stabilize that world.
- Damsel in Distress: Played with in every possible way. Irene is far less helpless than she appears, but this often means her going into very dangerous situations, often involving foes familiar with her unusual abilities. Her male companions are just as likely to be put in similar situations for similar reasons.
- Dimensional Traveler: All Librarians are able to travel between worlds by either using one of the many doors linking the Library to other worlds' libraries or by creating a door using the Language. Dragons and Fae also have their own means of interdimensional travel.
- Eldritch Location: The eponymous Library. It is an enormous building located in a timeless space that seems to be in the middle of a sprawling but unpopulated city. It has a peculiar and somewhat nonsensical layout which occasionally requires people to crawl through small passages to get from one wing to another, and is connected to other realities by sympathetic links based on unique works of literature.
- The Fair Folk: The Fae, beings from outside of time and space that see themselves as the protagonists of their own personal stories and think of normal humans as background actors that exist to fulfill their particular narrative. The really powerful ones have become their story and cannot exist in worlds were reality is less friendly to their nature.
- Fantasy Kitchen Sink: Each alternate world has a certain degree of magic and technology. Depending on how chaos-infested and/or magical a world is, this can manifest itself in vampires, werewolves, fairies...
- First-Episode Twist: Kai's identity as a dragon is crucial to understanding his character and drives multiple plot lines in later books.
- Genre Savvy: Irene knows how chaos-infested worlds change themselves to fit stories and actively tries to keep herself in a heroic role.
- Great Big Library of Everything: Zig-zagged. While the Library does not have the sum total of all human knowledge, it does include unique stories from all across The Multiverse (and language books to teach the languages needed to read them).
- Hiding Behind the Language Barrier: Whenever Kai and Irene are in an area where they might be overheard by their opponents, they pick a language to hide their conversation behind.
- I Gave My Word: Justified. The Fae have their typical compulsion to fulfill their given word, and Librarians can bind their spoken words to reality with the Language. Characters who make this sort of vow to non-Librarians and/or non-Fae occasionally need to remind these people of that fact.
- I Know Your True Name: The Language works on this, with the added twist that failing to be specific enough will cause it to affect anything within earshot that fits the description. Further, this is part of why Librarians use aliases, for their own protection.
- The Fae, as one might expect, are especially vulnerable to being called by their true name.
- Inn Between the Worlds: The Library sits outside of all worlds and is linked to any world that a book in its collection could call home. The more unique books the Library has from a world, the stronger that connection is.
- Language of Magic: The Language can warp reality to do whatever the speaker wants it to do, within limits - using it on living things or at larger scales takes a noticeable toll on the user.
- Locked Out of the Loop: Most people the Librarians interact with in alternate realities have no idea that the Library exists.
- Magical Library: The nature of the Library is such that every book added to its collection strengthens its connections to The Multiverse and stabilizes the alternate worlds within.
- Magically Binding Contract: Speaking a vow in the Language binds its speaker to the letter of their spoken word. Similarly, a Fae's given word is also binding.
- Magic Librarian: Irene and her colleagues.
- Magitek: The alternate world Irene spends most of her time in has zeppelins powered by magic and aether lamps.
- Meaningful Name: Librarians have a tendency to pick these for their covers, and Irene has to caution Kai not to pick aliases that will give too much away.
- Irene tends to get teased by more experienced librarians for her chosen alias, especially once they note she's teamed up with a Sherlock Holmes expy.
- The Multiverse: There are infinite realities.
- Nom de Guerre: All of the Librarians adopt aliases of some personal meaning. From time to time, Librarians will snark over others' choices of aliases.
- The Omniscient Council of Vagueness: The Three Founders of the Library.
- Order Versus Chaos: The overarching conflict of the series is the Forever War between the dragons (representing order) and the Fae (representing chaos). The Library considers itself part of order, but sees its primary goal as the preservation of knowledge and so tries to stay neutral in larger conflicts.
- Our Dragons Are Different: All of the dragons seen in the series are based on eastern lines, being long and sinuous with strong ties to the elements as well as the forces of order in general. Dragons can also appear as humans, ranging from scaled but somewhat human-looking to indistinguishable from a normal human.
- Place Beyond Time: Time doesn't pass in the Library. This has its ups and downs, as while people can live forever there, any injuries they have never heal unless directed by the Language.
- The Power of Language: As might be expected of a series where Librarians alter reality with the spoken word, but the series also frequently touches upon the power of saying certain things, thoughts, and feelings out loud. Sometimes no words are needed, but other times, expressing a thought in words gives it far more power than letting it go unspoken.
- Puny Earthlings: Fae view humans as little more than set dressing, while dragons simply see humans as inferior beings. Even Librarians tend to look down on normal humans, though in fairness their connection to the Library does give them special powers.
- Really 700 Years Old: Downplayed, but implied to be true about many Librarians, since people do not age while in the Library. Irene herself has been alive for about 40 years, while still being physically 25.
- Refuse to Rescue the Disliked: Conversed. Irene muses at one point that while she may not have any fellow Librarians who want her dead, there might be a couple who wouldn't rush to save her when her life is in danger.
- Supernatural Sensitivity: Beings of order and chaos can sense their opposite force. Dragons with elemental powers can also sense the presence of their element.
- Sympathetic Magic: The Language often runs on the power of symbolism, seen most often by linking a worlds' libraries with the Library. That is to say, a large collection of books carries enough resemblance to the Library to borrow some of its power and allow Librarians to open Portal Doors to the Library.
- Theory of Narrative Causality: Chaos infested worlds run on this - Fae and the underpinning forces of chaos in those worlds will actively work to alter events to fit plot structures. In especially chaos infested worlds humans are little more than puppets or set dressing that act according to Fey whims.
- Wrong Genre Savvy: One of the hazards of high-chaos worlds is getting caught up in a story and misunderstanding your place in it.
Tropes found in the novel
Tropes found in The Invisible Library Novel
- Alas, Poor Villain: While watching Alberich struggling and screaming, Irene feels her heart "lurch in unwanted sympathy".
- All for Nothing: The calm Alberich finally loses his temper when he learns where the MacGuffin is, turns out he didn't have to go through his increasingly elaborate schemes.
- Ambiguously Bi: Irene mentions that her type is dark and morally questionable people, which led to the story with the thief. Later, said thief is revealed to have been a woman.
- And the Adventure Continues: Irene is promoted to be the Librarian-In-Residence of B-395, and given permission to bring Vale into the fold.
- At the Opera Tonight: According to Inspector Singh, the leadership of the Iron Brotherhood were in an opera theatre that got blown up, and control fell to an unknown woman who may be related to Alberich.
- Badass Bystander: During the alligator attack, several guests are mentioned to be using their concealed pistols and ray guns to fight back.
- Badass Family: Even before Irene or the reader learns the truth of his family, Kai mentions that they are very competent in sorcery.
- Bad Vibrations: During the silverfish attack, Irene notices a newspaper moving on its own, and deduces the presence of a subsonic generator.
- Bait-and-Switch: When thanking Kai for his role in banishing Alberich, Irene notices he is still upset and angry, she continues her thanks...for him helping save Vale's life. It successfully diverts Kai's attention.
- Ballroom Blitz: All the characters are at a ball, new characters are being introduced…and then the party gets interrupted by mind controlled alligators.
- Big Bad: Alberich, who has reached near-mythical status by the time Irene is made aware of him.
- Big "WHAT?!": Understated, when Bradamant reveals the book she stole was a fake, the narration says: everyone was talking, mostly along the lines of What?
- Blackmail:
- There is much speculation about whether the deceased vampire Lord Wyndham or the suspicious Fae Ambassador Silver were doing this against each other.
- While not seen doing so, the elder Miss Olga Retrograde is known to engage in such activities.
- Cadre of Foreign Bodyguards: Silver, the Liechtenstein ambassador, employs the local British werewolf gang the Whitechapel Roaring Boys. Vale and Singh notices Hairy Jimmy watching Vale's door, and Silver has them with him during the confrontation at the Natural History Museum.
- Calling Card: Turns out Belphegor leaves them, hers is a card embossed with a golden mask signed with her name.
- The Casanova: Silver is supernaturally charming, due to being a Fae. Irene has to make a conscious effort to resist his advances even when she's appalled by his behavior.
- Change the Uncomfortable Subject: Kai is the newcomer and has plenty of questions, some of them stray into territory Irene would rather not discuss. Not wanting to be seen as dismissive, Irene honestly tells him what subjects she is unwilling to discuss and what can be postponed for later.
- When Bradamant gives a very one-sided explanation of Irene's history with a cat burglar, Kai notices how uncomfortable it was making Irene, and quickly starts a discussion about poetry.
- Charm Person: As one of the Fair Folk, Silver is one and uses this ineffectively against Irene, who is protected by the Library mark, and more successfully against Ramsbottom, the secretary of Professor Amelia Betony.
- Classy Cat-Burglar: In the past, Irene met one during her time as a trainee. In the present, there is Belphegor, an unidentified woman who wears a black catsuit with a golden mask and has stolen several prized books. Initially, Belphegor is blamed for not just the theft of the MacGuffin but for the murder of Lord Wyndham.
- Code Name: Both the Invisible Library and the Iron Brotherhood have their members choose one. Part of this is partially because Fae magic can be bad news if the user knows their target’s true name.
- Because of this, Alberich did not recognize who Jennifer Mooney is when Vale asked. Alberich admits he only knew her as ‘Damocles’.
- Contrived Coincidence: Irene did feel getting assigned this particular mission and student was suspicious, she outright thinks that her boss was playing politics and seemed overly prepared to send her out.
- Crazy-Prepared: Vale carries not just weapons, but a strychnine derivative to use as a stimulant. He also, for some reason, has a female dressing gown in his home despite not being involved with any women.
- Dances and Balls: While she uses it more for networking, Silver invites Irene and any companion of her choice to the Liechtenstein Embassy for a grand ball.
- Dead All Along: Dominic Aubrey
- Deadpan Snarker: Not just Irene, plenty of characters have their moments.
- Death by Irony: Almost played straight. At one point, Irene claims she and Kai were exterminators and preventing a silverfish infestation. Guess what attacks them later?
- Demonic Possession: In alternate B-395, radios have the troubling tendency to get taken over by demons.
- Do Not Taunt Cthulhu: She wasn’t intending to, but after Irene is forced to tell Alberich where the book is, he explodes with a “Do you think that’s funny?!”
- Dramatic Irony: Lampshaded by Irene when real silverfish appear.
- Dramatic Wind: When Silver confronts Bradamant and the others in a museum, his hair and clothing are apparently caught in a wind, but his goons are not affected.
- The Dreaded:
- Alberich is so dangerous, the Library, as obsessed with secrecy as it is, will still go through quite a bit of trouble to send a very disruptive message to Irene while she's in the middle of alternate-Victorian London.
- Another example is Kostchei, Bradamant's supervisor and a more fearsome handler than his counterpart Coppelia.
- Dread Zeppelin: Despite their common use, zeppelins are mostly built in Liechtenstein, which is a nexus for the Fae, and require their magic to work properly. The rest of the world does not trust Fae.
- Driving Question: Where is the book, and who has it?
- Early-Installment Weirdness: The Language doesn't have the Cast from Stamina restriction found in later books, the use of the Language as a Compelling Voice has a more negative stigma against it, and reference is made to the Library living on Narnia Time.
- Eldritch Abomination: Alberich's true form, so horrific that Irene could hardly look at it, let alone describe it.
- Evil Tower of Ominousness: Referenced, Alberich promises to give Irene to the White Singers and the Fallen Towers, the reader is not told what those are.
- Flat "What": Since Irene does have her deadpan snarker moments, her reactions sometimes fall to this.
- Foreign Cuss Word: Kai sometimes lets those out and not even Irene, fluent in multiple languages, know what they mean.
- For the Evulz: When Alberich first openly tries to kill them, Irene notes he is powerful enough to do it in many ways, but he chooses to slowly drown them, in the dark, in pure malice.
- Framing the Guilty Party: The Iron Brotherhood ends up taking the fall for most of Alberich’s crimes. Vale even says he and Singh will ensure it.
- Good Is Not Nice: While the Library is a good - if neutral - force, their agents are spies who conduct themselves as such, Vale himself points out the moral ambiguity of Irene's actions.
- Hell Is That Noise: Irene notices the odd sounds before the alligator and the silverfish attacks, neither compare to the roar of a dragon.
- Hero Killer: Alberich is known not just to kill Librarians but for sending pieces of them back.
- Humanoid Abomination: Alberich is revealed to be this, due to being so heavily corrupted by Chaos.
- I Can Still Fight!: Whether it’s because of Irene’s injuries or Kai’s junior status, our protagonists rarely just accept rest.
- I'm Not Here to Make Friends: As part The Masquerade, Irene is aware she should not be befriending Vale, at least not without ulterior motives. Bradamant and Kai both call her out on this.
- Implied Death Threat: One member of a werewolf gang says that they would want to have "a nice quiet chat with Mr. Vale down some dark alley".
- Improperly Paranoid: Irene is actually aware her thoughts often lead to this, and usually tries to stop herself. In the end, she even acknowledges the urge to check if everyone she knew was Alberich in disguise will fade.
- I Need a Freaking Drink: After receiving an emergency warning about Alberich, a disturbed Irene asks Kai to pour her a drink. After her fourth meeting with Alberich, she asks for two, to help with her shock.
- The Jeeves: Silver employs a manservant known only as Johnson. This manservant is loyal and usually more levelheaded than the dramatic Silver.
- Karma Houdini: While she had been helpful, Bradamant also faces no consequences for her more treacherous actions.
- Kicking Ass in All Her Finery: Bradamant is wearing a Worth gown, a dress from one of the best dressmakers in the time period and meant to draw attention, when the alligators attack. Not only is Bradamant still able to fight, she manages to keep the dress undamaged the whole time.
- Kick the Dog: Bradamant has a history doing this to all her students, Irene is no exception.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: Alberich offers this as an option for Irene to walk away, reminding her that her elders know of Alberich's power and that simply leaving could be considered sensible. When Irene expresses doubt, he admits that option means he was still going to kill her, but he promises to do it painlessly.
- Lamenting Wasted Potential: At different points, both Silver and Alberich attempt to recruit Irene through this. Irene dismisses both attempts as insincere.
- Let's Get Out of Here: Whether it’s because they’re now in the scene of a crime or someone needs medical attention, circumstances often force our characters to move quickly. Irene herself has several moments wishing she and Kai could leave this alternate world.
- Locked Out of the Loop: Librarians should not be telling outsiders about their organization, so Irene initially refused to tell Vale anything. Vale first accepted this, but eventually he could no longer turn a blind eye to what was happening, and Irene eventually tells him the truth.
- Shortly after, Vale drags Singh away in the hopes of eavesdropping on Irene and Bradamant speaking freely. Irene recognizes this and purposefully chooses to speak in Japanese, knowing that Bradamant and Kai could understand, but that the other men would not.
- MacGuffin: An original Grimm fairy tale book, last known to be in the vampire Lord Wyndham’s possession. Even before his murder, several factions are competing to possess the book.
- 👁 This example contains a YMMV entry. It should be moved to the YMMV tab.
Magnificent Bastard: Lord Wyndham could have been one. A wealthy vampire who publicly only brought the book because of its high price and society interest, he was revealed to have been planning to use it against Silver, and set up multiple schemes to ensure neither Silver nor any of his enemies could take it. Irene even wonders if Wyndham prepared his last scheme in anticipation of his own murder, and given Silver's confession that he probably would have killed the vampire, she was probably right. - Mean Boss: Both Coppelia and Kostchei are described as such. According to Irene, a lifetime among books didn't cultivate depravity and debachery as much as a love of mind games and politics, and those games could turn dark. Kostchei is described as reclusive, exacting, and frightening enough that no one dares to argue when he makes his 'requests'.
- Subverted when Irene personally meets Coppelia again, where except for a few barbs Coppelia proves to be a Reasonable Authority Figure, although that may be because Coppelia is happy with Irene's mission results.
- Meaningful Name:
- Kai comes up with fake names for himself and Irene on the spot, and she is mildly annoyed to realize he's given them both names of characters from The Three Musketeers, translated from French.
- Aubrey and Alberich are related names, Aubrey being derived from Alberich.
- My Card: Vale gives one to Kai when he invites Kai and Irene to speak further at his home.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Kai and Irene agree that the name 'Kostchei' is a bit dramatic, as Irene knows it as a Russian fairy tale villain name that also translates to 'the Undying'. Later, it's revealed Kostchei has a disturbing influence on other Librarians.
- Noodle Incident: Mentions of Irene's previous missions are often treated as such. One includes a cat burglar, another a conversation with a dragon, and multiple references to the fae.
- Normally, I Would Be Dead Now: After triggering Alberich’s trap, Irene admits she could have died if Kai had not been present.
- Nothing Personal: Irene has her own reasons for turning down Kai's proposition. Bradamant claims this when she poisons Irene, but as she decides to monologue about Irene's perceived flaws, Irene doesn't believe it.
- Oh, Crap!: The moment Irene realizes the truth about Dominic Aubrey.
- Pun: When discussing Lord Wyndham, Vale says they should not speak ill of the undead. He paused, but nobody laughed, so he moved on.
- Replicant Snatching: Alberich can steal people's skin and wear it.
- The Reveal: Kai is a dragon, which Irene finds out when Alberich tries to drown them and Kai commands the river spirit not to. Later on, the reveal that Aubrey has been Dead All Along, and Irene was previously dealing with Alberich wearing his skin as a disguise.
- The Rival: Bradamant, the librarian who first trained Irene.
- Rule of Three: After three meetings, Alberich outright tells Irene to pay attention on their fourth. This turns out to be their last meeting…at least in this book.
- Running Gag: During the ball, even when she tries to decline, almost everyone Irene talks to keeps giving her food. To be fair, Silver is the party host, Vale is secretly passing her information, and Kai points out she needs to eat to recover from her injuries.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: In the debriefing of B-395, Dominic explains that being a vampire or werewolf is not illegal, but assaulting or murdering someone due to those urges is. He then says money helps ease those rules, and that Lord Wyndham had plenty of it.
- Secret Circle of Secrets: There are many secret societies in B-395.
- Secret Identity: Librarians are expected to build or adopt an alias while visiting alternate Earths. When put on the spot, Kai introduces himself and Irene as Kay Strongrock and Miss Winters. Irene later calls him out on basically cribbing the names from The Three Musketeers.
- Secret Test of Character: Vale tests Irene's conviction by openly questioning the legitimacy and legality of the Library.
- Servile Snarker: All characters have their snarky lines, even the help. When Silver asks his manservant if Silver had committed any crimes, Johnson actually looks at his watch before responding "Not within the last three minutes, sir."
- Sherlock Homage: Vale is essentially his Earth's version of Sherlock Holmes, a comparison which gets Lampshade Hanging.
- Sherlock Scan: Vale does this and this is how he picks up that Irene and Kai aren't who they say they are.
- Spanner in the Works: Alberich admits he intended for a simple snatch-and-grab of the book, Irene explained it was never possible given Wyndham’s knowledge of the Library and position in society.
- Stealing the Credit: Bradamant has a nasty habit of doing this, not just to Irene but to many other students. Irene starts to suspect this trait may also be because of Kostchei, Bradamant’s superior and a man with a questionable reputation.
- Steampunk: Alternate B-395 is at steam-punk levels of technology.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork:
- Kai initially did not want to work with Vale after the latter confessed to being estranged from his family.
- Irene and Bradamant play the trope straight.
- Terms of Endangerment: Silver only calls Irene "little mouse", whether he's threatening or simply conversing with her. Of course, as Irene never identified herself and Silver keeps overlooking her for her 'master', he may not actually know her name. He also calls Bradamant "my dear" and "my dear enemy".
- This Is Gonna Suck: Irene knew early on that this mission was not going to be a straightforward assignment. Of course, she had no idea just how bad it was going to be.
- Verbal Backpedaling: The Yoruban ambassador describes Lord Wyndham as inclined to boasting, claiming that such is the nature of vampires. He hastily adds that he knows some pleasant vampires.
- We Would Have Told You, But...: Vale suspected, and Coppelia later confirmed, that the senior librarians did know ahead of time that Alberich was in alternate B-395 but chose not to say anything. To be fair, Irene was given a dragon as backup and an emergency warning, but at that point she was already committed to the mission.
- What the Hell Is That Accent?: This is how Vale figures out that Irene and Kai aren't English, as, according to him, Kai sounds like he's from Shanghai and Irene sounds a bit German.
- World of Weirdness: B-395 includes vampires as members of polite society (and werewolves as members of less polite society). The question is not whether vampires and such exist, but whether or not they're illegal.
- You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Irene and Bradamant have this reaction when they finally learn of the book’s location, even Alberich shares it when he learns the truth.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Bradamant seemingly does this to Irene, stabbing the latter with a hat-pin coated in poison once they learn the book's location. She actually just used curare to paralyze Irene and left her in a relatively safe position, but Bradamant makes it clear she wouldn't care if Irene does perish.
