The Astral Library

A Novel

By: Kate Quinn

Narrated by: Kate Quinn, Saskia Maarleveld

From New York Times bestselling author Kate Quinn comes a gorgeously written fantastical adventure which poses the question: Have you ever wished you could live inside a book? Welcome to the Astral Library, where books are not just objects, but doors to new worlds, new lives, and new futures.

Alexandria “Alix” Watson has learned one lesson from her barren childhood in the foster-care system: unlike people, books will never let you down. Working three dead-end jobs to make ends meet and knowing college is a pipe dream, Alix takes nightly refuge in the high-vaulted reading room at the Boston Public Library, escaping into her favorite fantasy novels and dreaming of far-off lands. Until the day she stumbles through a hidden door and meets the Librarian: the ageless, acerbic guardian of a hidden library where the desperate and the lost escape to new lives...inside their favorite books.

The Librarian takes a dazzled Alix under her wing, but before she can escape into the pages of her new life, a shadowy enemy emerges to threaten everyone the Astral Library has ever helped protect. Aided by a dashing costume-shop owner, Alix and the Librarian flee through the Regency drawing rooms of Jane Austen to the back alleys of Sherlock Holmes and the champagne-soaked parties of The Great Gatsby as danger draws inexorably closer. But who does their enemy really wish to destroy—Alix, the Librarian, or the Library itself? Includes a bonus conversation with Kate Quinn, Saskia Maarleveld, and Tessa Woodward (editor of The Astral Library).

Had so much potential

At first I was excited by the direction I thought this book was going to go in, though unlike her other books, I thought maybe it would be similar to a “midnight library” vibe. Unfortunately I was wrong. It turned out to be more of a Cerulean Sea type vibe. If you know that going in, maybe it will be more enjoyable.
It wasn’t a “bad” book, but the potential I had hoped for was lost and the story fell flat for me. I would have LOVED to see more ‘living inside the books’ and less outside adventure. the main character wasn’t redeeming either, which was sad.
She also spun every possible, recent political issue into the story, and even though I align, it was over the top for 1 story.
I felt like this was more of a creative writing project on tackling the importance of libraries (which I agree with) and the political climate, not necessarily a novel.
The narrator did a fantastic job as usual.
And I appreciate the creativity that went into this idea. I’ll look forward to her next book.

Not Enjoyable

I wanted to like this book because I’ve loved all of Kate Quinn’s books. It felt like a big woke lecture. It just wasn’t enjoyable. The reader had a great voice but her mispronunciation of well known Boston places was distracting.

cute read

I love Kate Quinns historical books and was so excited for this one. However, I was a little let down. It was a cute read. I get that any author's beliefs and political views may shine through in their work and thats fine, but this seemed a little more in your face, thrown in there just to throw it in and didnt make it work well. I love the concept of the story. I just dont think it was executed as well as it could have been, especially for a writer like Quinn. The characters reactions to things also didnt seem very realistic to me. I dont want to discourage anyone from reading it, it's probably worth the read, just not my favorite and I expected more.

Political

Would have enjoyed this book more if all the political opinions were left out. Otherwise this was a good.

Not my favorite from Kate

Seemed to much like other books , a time suspension novel, not original, more like Harry Potter