Book Review: The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins

The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins
Publisher: Crown
Release Date: June 16, 2015
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Publisher’s Description:
Carolyn’s not so different from the other people around her. She likes guacamole and cigarettes and steak. She knows how to use a phone. Clothes are a bit tricky, but everyone says nice things about her outfit with the Christmas sweater over the gold bicycle shorts.

After all, she was a normal American herself once.

That was a long time ago, of course. Before her parents died. Before she and the others were taken in by the man they called Father.

In the years since then, Carolyn hasn’t had a chance to get out much. Instead, she and her adopted siblings have been raised according to Father’s ancient customs. They’ve studied the books in his Library and learned some of the secrets of his power. And sometimes, they’ve wondered if their cruel tutor might secretly be God.

Now, Father is missing—perhaps even dead—and the Library that holds his secrets stands unguarded. And with it, control over all of creation.

As Carolyn gathers the tools she needs for the battle to come, fierce competitors for this prize align against her, all of them with powers that far exceed her own.

But Carolyn has accounted for this.

And Carolyn has a plan.

The only trouble is that in the war to make a new God, she’s forgotten to protect the things that make her human.

The Library at Mount Char is a bizarre novel about a God-like figure called Father who has a library that he runs with his adopted children. Each one is in charge of a specific catalog but these are definitely not the catalogs of a typical library. The children study their extensive catalogs day in and day out. Each gains talents related to their catalogs the more they study – talents like knowledge of languages or the ability to raise people from the dead. Or the ability to commit incredible acts of violence. Definitely not your typical library.

When Father goes missing, his children find themselves unable to enter the library. They band together to find Father and to regain his library. In order to do that, some of them must enter society to find Americans who can help them.

This book is gruesome and horrific in parts but also has a fair amount of black humor that somewhat mitigates it. The humor reminded me a bit of Christopher Moore’s books. It will still take some intestinal fortitude to enjoy the book though. I happen to have that fortitude, maybe from my high school obsession with true crime books which are also pretty gruesome. The Library at Mount Char has been called fantasy by most but I think it’s more of a horror novel. Either way, I thought it was original and creative. If you like dark humor and the macabre, then this is the book for you.

(I received a complementary copy of this book for review.)