The Forbidden Library, by Django Wexler, is the first book in The Forbidden Library series. It’s an excellent book and I enjoyed it immensely. The main character is Alice who finds out she is a type of person called a Reader, with a capital “r.” Readers like Alice can send themselves into books and capture the creatures inside of them. In order to capture the creatures, they have to defeat them first, then find a special mental thread they tug with their mind which makes the creatures just suddenly pop into existence. Some of the creatures she captures are Swarmers. They are little black fuzzball things that look cute, but have a penchant for blood. Kind of nasty unless you’ve tamed them.
Readers normally base their magic on cruelty and death magic stuff, but Alice is different. She has a nice personality and she kind of feels bad for the creatures she defeats, like the Swarm. They can’t swim, so she drowns them on accident. It was kind of the Swarmers fault, that’s the only good thing. She has empathy alright, a bunch of it, and it helps her a lot, but it makes her master mad since she’s an apprentice.
The Forbidden Library is an amazing book. I would recommend it for third or fourth grade and up. Next time I will review the second and third books in the series. You’re going to have to wait, but it will be so worth it.
This has been Logan with a review of The Forbidden Library, by Django Wexler. Thanks for listening!
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Logan H. Wilson is a 10-year-old boy from Missoula, Montana. He loves reading, of course, and is rarely seen without a book. His favorite authors include J.K. Rowling, Tolkien, Brian Jacques, and Christopher Paolini. The Eragon books are one of his favorite series. In addition to reading, he is a serious rock hound who likes looking for crystals and collecting interesting rocks. He is also interested in art and chemistry. When he grows up, he wants to be an inorganic chemist who reviews books in his spare time.