Book Review: Library of Fates by Margot Harrison

Book Summary

When its librarian keeper mysteriously dies, two former classmates must race to locate a rare book from their college years that can foretell your future if you confess a secret from your past—but someone is intent on protecting what’s hidden inside.

It can write the story of your future… and hide the secrets of your past

The Library of Fates was designed to show you who you are—and who you could become. Its rarest book, The Book of Dark Nights, holds a when you write an intimate confession on its pages, you’ll receive a prediction for your future, penned in your own handwriting.

For Eleanor, whose childhood was defined by a senseless tragedy, the library offers a world where everything makes sense. She’s spent most of her life there as an apprentice to the brilliant librarian, showing other people how to find the meaning of their lives in stories.

But when her mentor dies in a freak accident and The Book of Dark Nights goes missing—along with the secrets written inside—Eleanor is pulled out of the library and into a quest to locate it with the last person she the librarian’s estranged son, Daniel, who Eleanor once loved.

Together, as they hunt down clues from Harvard to Paris, Eleanor and Daniel grow closer again, regaining each other’s trust. But little do they know that they’re entangled in a much larger web. Someone else wants the book, and they’ll go to dark lengths to get it…

My Review

I had high hopes for this, and although I wasn’t technically disappointed, it didn’t quite live up to my expectations, either. The plot was original, and the writing and characters were well done, but I think it could have been much better. The stakes were clear, but I never felt any serious tension from them until the last chapter, and it felt like a few missed opportunities happened along the way that could have fixed that. Overall, interesting enough to make be happy I read it, and I will read other work from the author, but I won’t go hunting for it.

Characters 3.75⭐

Eleanor and Daniel kept me invested, but they didn’t impress me. There wasn’t anything exceptional about either of them, and now that I think about it, Odette was likely the most interesting character. I wish she would have stayed front-and-center more.

Setting 3.75⭐

This was dual timeline, so our setting is split between Harvard (in the past) and Paris (in the current). Both settings were done well, and I appreciated the imagery the author offered. I just didn’t feel as though I’d been planted in either one.

Plot 3.75⭐

The setup for this had me very excited, but the execution was lackluster. It could have been stellar, but I feel the author missed some opportunities to rachet the tension and increase the pacing. It almost felt like a love story (note that I didn’t say romance) with the plot as the backstory, which is not what I expected or wanted from this book.

Writing 4⭐

Listening on audio always helps to hide any writing issues my editor eyes my see, so I enjoyed the production of this one. The narrators did a fine job, but nothing stood out as exceptional.

Enjoyment 3.5⭐

This was just ok. I really wanted to love it, but I feel it could have been so much better.