JULY 2015 - AudioFile
In this urban fantasy/horror story, Caroline and her adopted siblings have been raised in the “library” for 25 years by a “father” who is at least 600 years old. Each has a separate “catalogue” to master, and the combination of their expertise and talents underlies this original tale. Narrator Hillary Huber infuses the three main narrators with very different but, in each case, engaging manners that contrast with the weird events they find themselves involved in. Huber draws on a vast store of voices and personalities to vividly portray the siblings and the many others who come within their sphere of influence. She maintains a subtle intensity that bursts into moments of explosive energy. J.E.M. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine
Publishers Weekly
04/13/2015
In Hawkins’s terror-driven debut, set in a twisted version of our world, the library at Garrison Oaks serves as both heaven and hell, a place where mastery of the library’s 12 sections can bring untold power or unending misery. Twelve children orphaned in a mysterious disaster are taken in by Father, the stern librarian at Garrison Oaks. The library’s millions of books cover topics ranging from the mundane to the downright spooky, and the orphans become Father’s students, each assigned to a specific area of the library for study. Young Carolyn’s section is languages, both human and other—but first and foremost she is learning fear, obedience, and deep, quiet hatred of Father. Readers may struggle with the opening sections, where much happens and little is explained, but they will be relieved by the belated inclusion of flashbacks that answer many questions. Hawkins’s cunning plotting is backed up by crisp dialogue, a sensation of constant dread, and a solid, subtly weird setting. Agent: Caitlin Blasdell, Liza Dawson Associates. (June)
From the Publisher
A spellbinding story of world-altering power and revenge . . . Hawkins has created a fascinating, unusual world in which ordinary people can learn to wield breathtaking power—and he's also written a compelling story about love and revenge that never loses sight of the human emotions at its heart. A wholly original, engrossing, disturbing, and beautiful book.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“An extravagant, beautifully imagined fantasy about a universe that is both familiar and unfamiliar. . . . Hawkins makes nary a misstep in this award-worthy effort of imagination. You won't be able to put it down.”—Booklist (starred review)
"A bizarre yet utterly compelling debut . . . might remind readers of Robert Jackson Bennett's or Neil Gaiman's horror/fantasies.”—Library Journal (starred review)
“A terrific book, full of dark mystery and genuine beauty.”—Richard Kadrey, New York Times bestselling author of Sandman Slim
“A first-rate novel… a sprawling, epic contemporary fantasy about cruelty and the end of the world, compulsively readable, with the deep, resonant magic of a world where reality is up for grabs. Unputdownable.”—Cory Doctorow, New York Times bestselling author of Little Brother and Makers
"Funny, horrifying and original…the kind of story that keeps yanking you off in ridiculous new directions every time you think you know what's coming next."—David Wong, New York Times bestselling author of John Dies at the End
"The most genuinely original fantasy I’ve ever read. Hawkins plays with really, really big ideas and does it with superb invention, deeply affecting characters, and a smashing climax I did not see coming."—Nancy Kress, Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author of Beggars in Spain
“This book is batshit crazy. From the very first pages, the story grabs you by the guts and doesn't let go. It mashes together fantasy and thriller, love stories and dark comedy, into a wild trip at once unpredictable and unforgettable. You'll never look at a librarian in quite the same way.”—Keith Donohue, New York Times bestselling author of The Stolen Child
“A pyrotechnic debut...The most terrifyingly psychopathic depiction of a family of gods and their abusive fathersince Genesis.”—Charles Stross, Hugo and Locus Award-winning author of Accelerando and The Apocalypse Codex
"Don't pick up this book unless you want to read something you've absolutely never read before. The Library at Mount Char is funny, bizarre, moving, frightening, and surreal. The most original work I've read in ages."—Walter Jon Williams, New York Times bestselling author of Destiny’s Way and This is Not a Game
Library Journal
★ 05/15/2015
Carolyn was one of a group of children adopted by a godlike father figure, brought to a library outside of normal time and space, and taught various disciplines. When Father disappears from the library, Carolyn and her siblings must go out into the world, our world, to find out what happened to him. If they fail to recover Father, there will be other forces trying to fill the power vacuum. The off-kilter cast of characters who are the librarians seem even more alien when juxtaposed with the normal humans who get caught in their schemes, with Carolyn as the most relatable and her sibling David, librarian of war, a truly monstrous construction. Carolyn seems the most in touch with her abandoned humanity, but it becomes clear that she is plotting and her plan could destroy not only herself but the universe. VERDICT This bizarre yet utterly compelling debut might remind readers of Robert Jackson Bennett's or Neil Gaiman's horror/fantasies.
JULY 2015 - AudioFile
In this urban fantasy/horror story, Caroline and her adopted siblings have been raised in the “library” for 25 years by a “father” who is at least 600 years old. Each has a separate “catalogue” to master, and the combination of their expertise and talents underlies this original tale. Narrator Hillary Huber infuses the three main narrators with very different but, in each case, engaging manners that contrast with the weird events they find themselves involved in. Huber draws on a vast store of voices and personalities to vividly portray the siblings and the many others who come within their sphere of influence. She maintains a subtle intensity that bursts into moments of explosive energy. J.E.M. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2015-04-01
A spellbinding story of world-altering power and revenge from debut novelist Hawkins. Carolyn's life changed forever when she was 8. That was the year her ordinary suburban subdivision was destroyed and the man she now calls Father took her and 11 other children to study in his very unusual Library. Carolyn studied languages—and not only human ones. The other children studied the ways of beasts, learned healing and resurrection, and wandered in the lands of the dead or in possible futures. Now they're all in their 30s, and Father is missing. Carolyn and the others are trying to find him—but Carolyn has her own agenda and her own feelings about the most dangerous of her adopted siblings, David, who has spent years perfecting the arts of murder and war. Carolyn is an engaging heroine with a wry sense of humor, and Steve, the ordinary American ally she recruits, helps keep the book grounded in reality despite the ever growing strangeness that swirls around them. Like the Library itself, the book is bigger, darker, and more dangerous than it seems. The plot never flags, and it's never predictable. Hawkins has created a fascinating, unusual world in which ordinary people can learn to wield breathtaking power—and he's also written a compelling story about love and revenge that never loses sight of the human emotions at its heart. A wholly original, engrossing, disturbing, and beautiful book. You've never read anything quite like this, and you won't soon forget it.
