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A thrilling dark-academia tale of murder, obsession and ruthless ambition set in remote St. Andrews, Scotland.
For more than a century two rival organizations of women have gone to deadly lengths to secure the valuable artifact in the hopes of finding the original medieval manuscript from which it was torn: The Order of St Katherine, devoted to the belief that women must pull strings in the shadows to exercise control. And the Fellowship of the Larks, determined to amass as many overt positions of power for women as possible…so long as their methods of doing so never come to light.

⭐⭐

Rating: 2 out of 5.

I have read a few Gilly Macmillan books and they’ve definitely all had unique plots. Based on the synopsis for The Burning Library, I was fully hooked! Two rival secret organizations run entirely by women, hunting down the same ancient artifact is the kind of academic/thriller combination I’m always looking for. 

The beginning of this book was truly delivering on the academic front. The main character, Dr. Anya Brown, is introduced right after she has translated a codex that had previously been a mystery for centuries. Anya is then aggressively pursued by several universities, all looking to add her to their roster. Anya finds herself accepting a job at a small, practically unknown university in Scotland that boasts access to an exclusive manuscript collection.

As the storyline progressed, the thriller components began to overtake the strong academic plotline. At first, this was exciting, because I’d read SO MUCH about embroidery and manuscript nuances that I was starting to go numb. But the thriller plot points quickly overtook the academic storyline, changing the tone completely. And as things started going off the rails, I realized how many gaps there were in the overall plot.

Without spoiling anything, I will say that this book truly had too many gaps in the plot while simultaneously forcing esoteric information down my throat. I really enjoyed Anya Brown and Clio Spencer’s characters, and was excited for their storylines, but the ending left me with as many answers as I started with (absolutely none). Not finding out WHY two different secret organizations were hunting down the same artifact and what power that artifact held was truly infuriating. 

Thanks to Netgalley and William Morrow for the free advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!