Bookreview: The Lost Plot

Bookreview of The Lost Plot

This is my bookreview of The Lost Plot by Genevieve Cogman. It is the fourth book in The Invisible Library series about the interdimensional Librarian spy, Irene Winters.

Summary

“The Lost Plot is an action-packed literary adventure. In a 1930s-esque Chicago, Prohibition is in force, fedoras, flapper dresses and tommy guns are in fashion, and intrigue is afoot. Intrepid Librarians Irene and Kai find themselves caught in the middle of a dragon vs dragon contest. […] this could even trigger war. Irene and Kai find themselves trapped in a race against time (and dragons) to procure a rare book. They’ll face gangsters, blackmail and fiendish security systems. And if this doesn’t end well, it could have dire consequences for Irene’s job. And, incidentally, for her life…”

The above blurp is borrowed from the authors webpage.

Verdict

If you’ve read my reviews of The Invisible Library, The Masked City and The Burning Page you already know I’m generally a fan of the series. The Lost Plot did not disappoint.

From being introduced to how the universe is working in the first book, through Fae conspiracies and intrigues. This book throws us head first into a high politics situation among the Dragon faction. A Librarian has died and another has gone missing and of course it’s all tied together.

The Lost Plot is a well-crafted combination of advanced drama within the Dragon society and mobsters and gangs of the city. All with Irene and her assistant Kai in the middle. The pace is fast and as a reader you hardly have any time to catch your breath but it works. Irene is being thrown around the city, being mistaken for a mafia boss and being followed by various groups.

Two Dragons competing for a high-profile job, are ruthlessly going for a certain book and both want Irene to either help or stay out of the way. Irene once again is faced with saving her friends, choosing where her loyalties are and risking her life and her job.

Subplots and characters

I was thrilled with the character gallery in The Lost Plot, as there are so many different types of characters. Everyone has ulterior motives, an agenda and conflicts in some sense, and none of them feel boring and flat. If anything, Cogman knows how to craft interesting personas.

All the subplots make up a riveting and exciting reading experience, with a lot of information to juggle at any time. The clean-cut characters make it easier to follow all the threads laid out by Cogman. Irene’s deductive reasoning skills help us a lot too. Irene Winters continues to be one of my all-time favourite female book characters, and she really gets to show off some of her skills in The Lost Plot. You also sense that Irene has grown a lot throughout both this book but also the previous three.

The Lost Plot has everything you need of conspiracies, high level politic drama, car chases, explosions, dangerous hiding from multiple bad guys, a special book treasure, mafiabosses, a corrupt big city and intense dialogue. It’s perfect when you seek excitement and adrenaline!