ARC Review – The Secret Chapter

From Goodreads:

In the latest novel in Genevieve Cogman’s historical fantasy series, Irene and Kai have to team up with an unlikely band of misfits to pull off an amazing art heist—or risk the wrath of the dangerous villain with a secret island lair.

A Librarian’s work is never done, and once Irene has a quick rest after their latest adventure, she is summoned to the Library. The world where she grew up is in danger of veering deep into chaos, and she needs to obtain a particular book to stop this from happening. No copies of the book are available in the Library, so her only choice is to contact a mysterious Fae information broker and trader of rare objects: Mr. Nemo.

Irene and Kai make their way to Mr. Nemo’s remote Caribbean island and are invited to dinner, which includes unlikely company. Mr. Nemo has an offer for everyone there: he wants them to steal a specific painting from a specific world. He swears that he will give each of them an item from his collection if they bring him the painting within the week.

Everyone takes the deal. But to get their reward, they will have to form a team, including a dragon techie, a Fae thief, a gambler, a driver, and the muscle. Their goal? The Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, in a early twenty-first century world, where their toughest challenge might be each other.

It is always hard to give a spoiler review of a book within an ongoing series, but if you have been following this series you are going to love this one.

We have a proper Heist!

Irene our resident literary thief come peace envoy, finally gets to put those book stealing skills to good use in a Art heist. With Kai at her side she also has to wrangle several Fae and another dragon into line to steal a valuable painting. All this so she can exchange it for a book that will save her childhood home.

This is a return to the fun, fast paced, banter filled escapades Of Librarian Irene. We get to visit some very interesting worlds that are not too far away from our own, including one where Brexit had a very different outcome (I adored the dig Cogman had at Brexit, it had me giggling on the train). This is just packed to the Brim with all the archetypes you would expect from the shady private island of a Bond-like villain to the intrepid gambler and the super techie able to hack anything. As usual Cogman takes these and weaves them into a tale filled with sharp twists and turns that are just fun to follow on with.

I thought with the end of The Mortal Word that we were seeing a rise of a new story arc filled with political intrigue but Cogman has woven in even more, hinting at a greater involvement in Irene’s past and a new Fae to contend with! I am excited for the next int he series.