North, Pearl: Libyrinth
Libyrinth (2009)
Written by: Pearl North
Genre: YA/Science Fantasy
Pages: 332 (Hardcover)
I had this book marked to buy the instant it came out, and that's because Pearl North is the pen name for SF/F writer Anne Harris, whose book Inventing Memory I read and reviewed a while ago. Harris is a mentor at the Seton Hill Writing Popular Fiction Program (now offering an MFA!), and during my time at SHU, I really liked her as both a person and as a professor. When I heard she was writing YA, I was thrilled. So yeah, of course I picked this up.
The premise: Haly is a clerk in the Libyrinth, a library so big and so vast that people get lost and are never heard from again. Haly's got a particular talent in that she can hear the voices of books, literally. When she's close, the book in question tells its story to her and only her. This makes her role to protect the books even more personal when the Eradicants make their yearly pilgrimage to the Libyrinth to burn volumes of books. When Haly learns of a plot that will allow the Eradicants to burn every volume left in the Libyrinth, she'll do anything to stop it. But what happens next opens Haly's eyes to a world she's never known or understood, despite growing up with the voices of books guiding her her entire life. Not only does she learn who the Eradicants really are and what they really believe in, but she learns what her true purpose in life is. That purpose could unite the world if she plays her cards right, or destroy it if she lets others make her decisions for her.
Review style: stream-of-conscious style, because there's not a whole lot I feel I need to say about it. I speak in generalities, so don't worry about spoilers.
At first, I have to admit I was a little concerned about this book. The Libyrinths were GOOD because they loved and preserved books. The Eradicants were BAD because they burned them. Everything felt so black and white, and simple, and even though the blurb on the dust jacket spoils the fact this book takes place in the far-future on another world, I felt like I was reading a fantasy book that had no business being considered SF, or if it truly PROVED itself to be SF by the end, it was going to be a sudden revelation that made the book kind of weird.
I should've given Pearl North a little more credit than that. She does a fantastic job letting the world-building reveal itself on its own sweet time, and to be honest, the only time I was truly reminded that this was the far-future and another planet and therefore SF was when Haly, towards the end (if she did this in the beginning, I missed it) referred to "Old Earth" or something to that affect, and when it was made clear that the wing was actually some kind of spacecraft (through description). Sure, one can make a case that the weapons the Eradicants used were awfully SF in nature, as was the nature of the Vault, but it wasn't until the end that I felt satisfied that this COULD be a far-future world that'd developed its own cultures, etc. North wove it all together very nicely, and I really appreciated that. I felt, and this is me personally, that I didn't need to be TOLD it was SF (the blurb on the cover, the description on the dust jacket, etc). It unfolded very naturally as fantasy and blossomed into SF without anyone around me leaping up and down saying, "Look! It's a SF book for YA! See! See!" Silly publishers and their need to pigeon hole a book into a category. In truth, it's a science fantasy, and there's nothing wrong with reading it that way. I was reminded of James Maxey's Bitterwood as well as Anne McCaffrey's Dragonflight, except unlike those two books, Libyrinth doesn't have dragons. But it does have little red imps that play an interesting and surprisingly important role in the story!!!
I also have to give North credit for revealing and creating such a wonderful culture with the Singers (aka, the Eradicants) and giving them honest and believable motivations for their fear and hatred of the written word. To be honest, North made a very compelling case for that culture, so it was nice to see Haly sort of fall in love with it, even though she hated what they were going to use her for.
In truth, North does a fantastic job with each of her cultures: the Singers, the Libyrarians, and the Ilysians. I love how each culture has their preferences and prejudices, and how none of the sides are right or perfect. There's a healthy dose of feminism in this book that's not blatantly obvious, it fits in naturally with the culture, and I love the sense of Buddhism that seems to drive the ending. Admittedly, it makes me wonder how a second book in this trilogy might read, because North ties up her loose ends very well, though of course, when people are making grabs for power, they're never happy until they get it or they're dead.
Another thing that pleased me was that Haly wasn't the only POV character. Admittedly, Clauda's POV is a little late for my taste, but once we get her POV and her story, it really adds layers to the overall plot and the pace picks up quite a bit. I also loved how North used the voices of books to "comment" on current events--particularly well done was North's use of The Diary of Anne Frank. I applaud her use of that book, and I love how it was used as a driving force in the plot.
To be honest, by time I was finished with the book, I was beyond impressed. What started out something that seemed ridiculously simple and a smash-in-the-head approach about how censorship is BAD became something more complex, more subtle, and far more satisfying. There's no doubt I'll be reading the next book that comes after this.
My Rating
Must Have: what starts out as a deceptively and almost irritatingly simple book about the dangers of censorship blossoms into something much more complex and engaging once you hit the POV switch. The pace is fast through-out, but I found myself more invested as Pearl North allowed her characters to learn more about the world and the cultures that populated it, and how all of those cultures influenced the Libyrinth itself. Truly North does a fantastic job crafting not one, but two likable and relatable heroines in Haly and Clauda, both of whom have a more important story than merely falling in love with a boy (though one of them does, indeed, fall in love with a boy, that's not the POINT of her particular story). North also does a marvelous job creating not one, not two, but three separate and distinct cultures that have their own values and faiths that come across as believable and real and not one dimensional (though one of the cultures seems one dimensional from the start--bear with the book, you'll be glad you did). But one of the best things Pearl North does with this book is incorporate passages of books into the text, to the point said passages become a kind of commentary on what's happening or what's about to happen. Particularly impressive is North's use of The Diary of Anne Frank, and how it plays into the climax of the story, which is also very well done. I'll be more than happy to pick up the second book in this trilogy, though this book is tied up so well that I'm left wondering just what exactly a second book would be about! Whatever it is, I look forward to it. North has impressed me with her YA debut, and I think she'll impress you as well.
Cover Commentary: love it. I love the deep and rich Earth-tones coloring, the pages flying loose around Haly, and the little red imp on her shoulder (which I didn't notice until much, much later). I feel the artist does a good job at depicting Haly as she's described in the book, especially her uniform, though I will say I pictured her a wee bit darker. That could be me.
Next up: Stone by Adam Roberts