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The Library at Mount Char Scott Hawkins 9780553418620 Books

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The Library at Mount Char Scott Hawkins 9780553418620 Books

This novel is broadly about children raised by a god in a vast library, each child tasked with learning their own "catalogue" (healing, violence, animals, mathematics, languages, etc.) and all the resultant harrowing things that happen to them as they mature. It's about revenge and love, and it raises questions about self-determination versus "destiny". The settings include mundane, familiar places and a strange universe that is a "superset" of ours. I found it joyously fun to read. Scott Hawkins did a great job coaxing me eagerly to the next page and next chapter. He answered my "reader's questions" shortly after I read certain portions, or answered them later, but almost never left a natural question unaddressed. He gave the main character, Carolyn, a character arc that was satisfying to see constructed and fulfilled. Maybe the best part for me was that, even though this is a fantasy novel, I did not have to work too hard to suspend disbelief. Immersion was easy.

I'm picky about what I read from the fantasy genre, and consequently wind up starting, but not finishing quite a few books as a result. I like Gaiman, I like hard sci-fi. And I have come to detest the hackneyed gimmick of "chosen", special twenty-somethings who are going to change their dystopian worlds. Thankfully, refreshingly, this is very different, very wonderful. The story demonstrates appreciation of old mythological archetypes (like Gaiman has) with just enough introduction of exotic mathematic and philosophical theories to ground the fantasy but not confound or distract readers.

The characters are fun and interesting. They're terrifying because of their human characteristics and sometimes sociopathic behaviors acquired during apprenticeships in godhood. When they surprise us with certain actions, the actions are not wholly out of their character UNLESS it is the result of purposeful third-dimensional development.

Scott teased out the correct kind of honest details about growing up and being a young child in the late 70's to make certain settings and interactions between characters feel authentic. Dialogue is well-written and there's nothing extraneous in the narration. Pacing is perfect. I want there to be a sequel, but at the same time I want this to be the only thing of its kind forever, and I am putting off reading it again as a treat to myself when I finish other books in my to-read pile. Can't recommend it highly enough. And I'll be checking out the writing links Scott provided in his acknowledgements in a bid to improve my own work.

A note regarding one-star reviews I've read that are critical of violent scenes and sexual content: This book is not (IMO) overly gory or graphic, and the rape that occurs is described by the character it happens to in the course of a dialogue with another character in what I would consider tasteful terms, the nature of the thing itself considered. There are gunshot wounds described well and appropriately; there is a scene of devastation in a jail when the Mars-like character David comes in to abduct someone, but there is nothing described in here gratuitously. It is all part of the plot and character development. Regarding "confusing timelines", the book is not absolutely linear. There are flashbacks. They are well-placed, IMO, and hell, for a story about a god and his wards who have mastery over things like time and death and small universes, I would feel a little confined if the story was absolutely linear. I have 99% confidence that WRITERS will love this book.


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The Library at Mount Char Scott Hawkins 9780553418620 Books Reviews

This is a 5 star book.

I usually reserve this rating for the classics, the Pulitzer prize winners.

You can list what makes a book great. A great story. Characters that you identify with and care about. Ideas that change your mind set. This book has these qualities in spades.

But there is more. And it has to do with the classification. It's listed as fiction, but you will find it under fantasy. But, that is not what it is. It is about knowledge, research, theory, practice, and science. Science that is not real to us. Possibly, science that never will be. But science is always perceived as magic when first revealed and demonstrated. Writing itself is a practice that flummoxed and confused earlier peoples, certain it was magic and wizardly.

This book shows the practice of
* manipulating space and time in more than 4 dimensions.
* bestowing immortality, and resurrecting the dead.
* seeing into the future, and manipulating the past "The past kneels before me."

Carolyn constantly repeats the phrase "It's not magic, it's not a trick". There is no wizardry, it's study and learning.

It's a cruel book. It's a grim book. Horribly atrocities are committed by both the villains and the heroes -- without guilt or regret
"Another time Father pierced her heart with a stiletto, but only after telling her what he would do, setting the knife before her on a silver tray, and letting her contemplate it for three full days and nights."

It's a hard book. Steve's life is weighed down hard with grief and guilt. And Carolyn has lost herself, every part, except her "coal heart"

Steve struggles with understanding, struggles with his loss; desperately learning how to give compassion to others -- compassion that he has needed desperately throughout his life.

Carolyn tries to re-discover herself, find herself again. Breath life into her heart of coal.

Should you read this? If you want to see the beauty of joy replacing anger and despair, then yes!
This novel is broadly about children raised by a god in a vast library, each child tasked with learning their own "catalogue" (healing, violence, animals, mathematics, languages, etc.) and all the resultant harrowing things that happen to them as they mature. It's about revenge and love, and it raises questions about self-determination versus "destiny". The settings include mundane, familiar places and a strange universe that is a "superset" of ours. I found it joyously fun to read. Scott Hawkins did a great job coaxing me eagerly to the next page and next chapter. He answered my "reader's questions" shortly after I read certain portions, or answered them later, but almost never left a natural question unaddressed. He gave the main character, Carolyn, a character arc that was satisfying to see constructed and fulfilled. Maybe the best part for me was that, even though this is a fantasy novel, I did not have to work too hard to suspend disbelief. Immersion was easy.

I'm picky about what I read from the fantasy genre, and consequently wind up starting, but not finishing quite a few books as a result. I like Gaiman, I like hard sci-fi. And I have come to detest the hackneyed gimmick of "chosen", special twenty-somethings who are going to change their dystopian worlds. Thankfully, refreshingly, this is very different, very wonderful. The story demonstrates appreciation of old mythological archetypes (like Gaiman has) with just enough introduction of exotic mathematic and philosophical theories to ground the fantasy but not confound or distract readers.

The characters are fun and interesting. They're terrifying because of their human characteristics and sometimes sociopathic behaviors acquired during apprenticeships in godhood. When they surprise us with certain actions, the actions are not wholly out of their character UNLESS it is the result of purposeful third-dimensional development.

Scott teased out the correct kind of honest details about growing up and being a young child in the late 70's to make certain settings and interactions between characters feel authentic. Dialogue is well-written and there's nothing extraneous in the narration. Pacing is perfect. I want there to be a sequel, but at the same time I want this to be the only thing of its kind forever, and I am putting off reading it again as a treat to myself when I finish other books in my to-read pile. Can't recommend it highly enough. And I'll be checking out the writing links Scott provided in his acknowledgements in a bid to improve my own work.

A note regarding one-star reviews I've read that are critical of violent scenes and sexual content This book is not (IMO) overly gory or graphic, and the rape that occurs is described by the character it happens to in the course of a dialogue with another character in what I would consider tasteful terms, the nature of the thing itself considered. There are gunshot wounds described well and appropriately; there is a scene of devastation in a jail when the Mars-like character David comes in to abduct someone, but there is nothing described in here gratuitously. It is all part of the plot and character development. Regarding "confusing timelines", the book is not absolutely linear. There are flashbacks. They are well-placed, IMO, and hell, for a story about a god and his wards who have mastery over things like time and death and small universes, I would feel a little confined if the story was absolutely linear. I have 99% confidence that WRITERS will love this book.