The Secret Chapter by Genevieve Cogman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Publication Date: January 7, 2020
The latest book in the Invisible Library series is definitely better than some of the previous installments, but alas, still fails to achieve the sublime perfection of the first book. (I blame the plot's stubborn refusal to stay in Mad Victorian World, as I have dubbed Irene and Kai's current home base; none of the other worlds we see come close to matching the glorious batshittery of that one, so part of me just keeps wondering why we keep leaving the awesome world to go see so many less awesome worlds. I'd thought the events of the most recent book set up plausible ways for Kai and Irene to stay put in a plausible way, but if this book is anything to go by, that's not to be.)
The good news: It's time for a heist! It's hard to go wrong with heists. Irene, with Kai tagging along, gets roped into joining a crew of Fae (and one interesting dragon) who are stealing a mysterious painting in a version of Vienna under constant lockdown by a special government agency hunting magical creatures. (With an added twist I saw coming much sooner than I wanted to.) Along the way we learn some very interesting info about Kai's family, and then some very interesting and very dangerous info about different members of Kai's family, which seems like it'll be very relevant in future books.
The less good news: the plot meanders a bit, the heist could have been a bit better, and I had trouble differentiating between several members of the heist crew.
Overall: a good installment, but not a great one. I was entertained, which is the most important thing, and some tantalizing tidbits of dragon lore tied everything in with the overarching series plot in a reasonably interesting way. This was better than some recent installments, but again: still not quite up to the level of the first book.
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