The Book That Wouldn't Burn

Mark Lawrence The Book That Wouldn't Burn The Library Trilogy - Book #1 ISBN: 9780593437933, 9780593437919 Kindle / ASIN: B0B6B5CPF6 Genre: Fantasy Goodreads Rating: Hardcover, 576 pages Published: 2023 Two strangers find themselves connected by a vast and mysterious library containing many wonders and still more secrets, in this powerfully moving first book in a new series from the international bestselling author of Red Sister and Prince of Thorns. A boy has lived his whole life trapped within a vast library, older than empires and larger than cities. A girl has spent hers in a tiny settlement out on the Dust where nightmares stalk and no one goes. The world has never even noticed them. That's about to change. Their stories spiral around each other, across worlds and time. This is a tale of truth and lies and hearts, and the blurring of one into another. A journey on which knowledge erodes certainty, and on which, though the pen may be mightier than the sword, blood will be spilled and cities burned. 2023 - ePub verification and revisions by zardox ACE Published by Berkley An imprint of Penguin Random House LLC penguinrandomhouse.com Copyright © 2023 by Bobalinga Ltd. Penguin Random House supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin Random House to continue to publish books for every reader. ACE is a registered trademark and the A colophon is a trademark of Penguin Random House LLC. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Lawrence, Mark, 1966– author. Title: The book that wouldn’t burn / Mark Lawrence. Other titles: Book that would not burn Description: New York: Ace, [2023] | Series: The Library trilogy; book one Identifiers: LCCN 2022054527 (print) | LCCN 2022054528 (ebook) | ISBN 9780593437919 (hardcover) | ISBN 9780593437933 (ebook) Subjects: LCGFT: Fantasy fiction. | Novels. Classification: LCC PS3612.A9484 B66 2023 (print) | LCC PS3612.A9484 (ebook) | DDC 813/.6—dc23/eng/20221116 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022054527 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022054528 Cover design © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd. 2023 Cover illustration © Tom Roberts Interior design adapted for ebook by Kelly Brennan This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. pid_prh_6.0_143455486_c0_r0 To my readers for sharing the journey By book sixteen, I’m running out of targets . . . World peace next! CONTENTS Cover Prologue Chapter 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 50 | 51 | 52 | 53 | 54 | 55 | 56 | 57 | 58 | 59 | 60 | 61 | 62 | 63 | 64 | 65 | 66 | 67 | 68 | 69 | 70 Acknowledgments About the Author Books by Mark Lawrence _143455486_ PROLOGUE The first arrow hit a child. That was the opening line. . . . similarly impermanent. All books, no matter their binding, will fall to dust. The stories they carry may last longer. They might outlive the paper, the library, even the language in which they were first written. The greatest story can reach the stars . . . The First Book of Irad CHAPTER 1 Livira They named Livira after a weed. You couldn’t grow much in the Dust but that never stopped hungry people trying. They said livira would grow in places where rocks wouldn’t. Which never made sense to Livira because rocks don’t grow. Unfortunately, not even goats could eat the stuff and any farmer who watered a crop would find themselves spending most of their time fighting it. Spill a single drop of water in the Dust and, soon enough, strands of livira would come coiling out of the cracked ground for a taste. Her parents had given her a different name but she hardly remembered it. People called her Livira because, like the weed, you couldn’t keep her down. “Come on then!” Livira picked herself up and wiped the blood from her nose. She raised her fists again. “Come on.” Acmar shook his head, looking embarrassed now that a ring of children had gathered. All of them were dusty but Livira was coated in the stuff, head to foot. “Come on!” she shouted. She felt woozy and her head rang as if it were the summoning bell and someone kept beating it. “You’re twice her size.” Benth broke into the circle and pushed Acmar aside. “She won’t stay down,” Acmar complained, rubbing his knuckles. “It’s a draw then.” Benth stepped between them, a broad-shouldered boy and handsome despite his broken nose. Seeing Livira’s scowl he grabbed her hand and raised it above her head. “Livira wins again.” The others cheered and laughed then broke and ran before the advance of a tall figure, dark against the sun’s white glare. “Livy!” Her aunt’s scolding voice. Fingers wrapped her wrist and she was being jerked away towards the black shadow of the family hut. Aunt Teela shoved a cracked leather bucket at her. “The beans need watering.” “Yessum!” Livira had always loved the well. She spat a bloody mess into the dust then grinned up at her aunt before hurrying off with the bucket. Her aunt shook