Ash and Quill by Rachel Caine - OPTIONAL

Ash and Quill (Great Library #3) by Rachel Caine, 356 pages.  Berkley (Penguin Random House), 2017.  $10  

Content: Language: PG-13 (37 swears); Mature Content: PG; Violence: PG-13.  

BUYING ADVISORY: MS, HS – OPTIONAL  

AUDIENCE APPEAL:  AVERAGE  

Jess and his Scholar friends are trying to escape the power-hungry rulers who run the Library.  When they travel through a portal they end up in Philadelphia, where they are locked in prison because the Philadelphians think that Jess and his friends support the Library’s unbalanced idea that books are more important than people.  Jess and his good friend Thomas convince those in charge in Philadelphia that they can make a printing press that will enable the knowledge found in books available to all, but they want more freedom.  With the little bit of freedom granted them, Jess and Thomas must find a way out.  

I don’t love this series.  I like Jess and I like the idea of the plot, but most of the time (as I’ve said in other reviews about this series) there is a lot of action and not enough story or character development.   The violence includes a graphic scene of a person being killed by a lion.  

Reviewer, C. Peterson.