In her debut novel, Pearl North takes readers centuries into the future, to a forgotten colony of Earth where technology masquerades as magic and wars are fought over books.
Haly is a Libyrarian, one of a group of people dedicated to preserving and protecting the knowledge passed down from the Ancients and stored in the endless maze of books known as the Libyrinth. But Haly has a secret: The books speak to her.
When the threat of the rival Eradicants drives her from her home, Haly learns that things are not all she thinks they are. Taken prisoner by the Eradicants, who believe the written word to be evil, she sees the world through their eyes and comes to understand that they are not the book-burning monsters that she has known her entire life.
The words of a young girl hiding in an attic—written hundreds of years before Haly’s birth—will spark the interest of her captors and begin the change necessary to end the conflict between the Eradicants and Libyrarians. With the help of her loyal companion Nod, a creature of the Libyrinth, Haly must mend the rift between the two groups before their war for knowledge destroys them all. Haly’s life—and the lives of everyone she knows—will never be the same.
A powerful adventure that unites the present and future, Libyrinth is a fresh, magical novel that will draw in young readers of all genres.
Haly is a Libyrarian, one of a group of people dedicated to preserving and protecting the knowledge passed down from the Ancients and stored in the endless maze of books known as the Libyrinth. But Haly has a secret: The books speak to her.
When the threat of the rival Eradicants drives her from her home, Haly learns that things are not all she thinks they are. Taken prisoner by the Eradicants, who believe the written word to be evil, she sees the world through their eyes and comes to understand that they are not the book-burning monsters that she has known her entire life.
The words of a young girl hiding in an attic—written hundreds of years before Haly’s birth—will spark the interest of her captors and begin the change necessary to end the conflict between the Eradicants and Libyrarians. With the help of her loyal companion Nod, a creature of the Libyrinth, Haly must mend the rift between the two groups before their war for knowledge destroys them all. Haly’s life—and the lives of everyone she knows—will never be the same.
A powerful adventure that unites the present and future, Libyrinth is a fresh, magical novel that will draw in young readers of all genres.
It's been a while since a book really knocked my socks off, and this one did the trick! I really enjoyed this story, and all of the wonderful questions it brought up. Maybe it's the anthropologist in me, enjoying the interplay of all the different belief systems, that made me really sink into this world, but I had a lot of fun reading this book. The quotes from other books that I've read were fun to pick out and identify, too. I'll admit, this book may be more "adult" than others, not because of violence or sex or anything, but because of some of the concepts. Not many teens enjoy reading about the clash of cultures, both for those that do (and I would have totally been one of them), this is a fun read. And it's going to be part of a trilogy--yay!
Leaving you a note
ReplyDeleteHi Meradeth: I found you over at GLA's Dear Lucky Agent contest. I love your imagery of train tracks and I enjoyed your book review so I thought I'd leave a note. Libryinth looks intriguing and I will add it to my booklist. If only I didn't have to sleep!
I live in Northern CA too. Just north of Sacramento in the middle of the walnuts and prunes. I love it here, especially since we are seeing signs of spring while everyone else is buried in snow.
Come visit my blog. I wrote a book for middle-grade readers, Guardian Cats and the Lost Books of Iskandriyah, which I am trying to publish. I'm a huge fan of libraries!
Good luck with the contest,
Rahma
Re: Leaving you a note
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for stopping by! It's always kind of a shock when I find someone's been here, but I love it! I checked out your blog and added it to my reader--you have some great entries, and I'm totally going to check out AutoCrit :)
Best of luck with the contest!
-Mer