The Book That Wouldn't Burn

After the gas explosion at the laboratory, Livira soaks cloth with water to use as a makeshift mask, helping herself and Arpix to crawl out of the poisonous fumes. She then returns to drag Malar to safety. Once the alchemists provide them with emergency treatment, they are all taken to meet Hiago Abdalla, the senior alchemist, who suspects that they brought trouble with them. However, Livira counters that the explosion was caused by an apprentice who fled just before the explosion.

Released from the laboratory, Livira reflects on Abdalla’s warning about the dangerous alchemical weapons stored within, which could bring down the mountain itself. Her discussions with Arpix and Malar lead her to a revelation: that human civilization seems to progress through cycles of progress and ruin, repeatedly reaching a peak of knowledge only to fall back into ignorance.

Livira, driven by curiosity and suspicion, follows Deputy Librarian Ellis through the library to uncover a hidden secret that only the highest-ranking librarians are rumored to access. Livira trails Ellis through various chambers, avoiding detection by hiding in shelves, climbing across the tops of bookcases, and occasionally using her black book to cloak herself in darkness. She shadows Ellis for two days and finds him entering a reading room in Chamber 97, which she suspects holds the secret that she is searching for.

Livira follows Ellis into an unusual reading room with hundreds of desks and a strange, grey stone structure at its center: a Mechanism. Livira waits outside and falls asleep. When she wakes, she finds that the door to the Mechanism was left ajar. She enters the Mechanism to find herself in a dark realm filled with knowledge, terror, and vivid memories of battles fought long ago. She realizes that she is inside her dark book. When something strange crawls up her leg, she panics, yelling for help, and is ejected back into the light. The Raven perches nearby, watching her.

Evar emerges from the pool, deeply shaken by what he saw of Clovis’s brutal past. While sitting by the pool, he is surprised to find Livira, now older, running toward him. While Evar feels that it has only been a day since he last saw her, Livira insists that years have passed. They soon realize that they are experiencing this space differently. Evar sees pools and trees, but Livira describes those same portals as doors of light; she sees massive tapwoods. As they talk, Livira challenges Evar to think through his approach to finding the mysterious woman, suggesting that he needs a more systematic method.

Livira accompanies the Raven to the portal that leads to the Exchange. Using a rope-and-book contraption, she moves the body of the assistant away from the portal. Livira notices silver blood where the assistant lay, but she is more focused on the fact that she can access the portal again.

In the Exchange, Livira and Evar discuss the mechanics of the portals. They determine that moving along columns may change worlds, while moving along rows alters time. They realize that they are from the same place, but different times; Livira lives in Evar’s past. They decide to experiment with another portal, only to find themselves in a toxic world that nearly suffocates Livira. After escaping, Livira realizes that these portals lead to various realities, some of which are hostile. Suddenly, several Escapes emerge from the portals. While Evar and Livira try to fight the monsters off, there are too many, and one knocks Livira through a portal.

During the fight with the Escapes, Evar loses track of Livira, who disappears through a portal. He flees by diving into another pool, hoping to escape the horde, and emerges in an empty chamber. He soon finds an assistant that is nearly identical to the one he knows. Although she doesn’t speak to him, she points the way out. He follows her directions and exits the library. Outside, under a night sky filled with stars, he gazes down from the mountainside at a city that is about to be attacked.

Livira emerges from the portal, dazed, to find herself being pursued by the assistant, which has been corrupted by an Escape. As Livira tries to evade the assistant, it tells her that Jaspeth wants her. She manages to narrowly escape by passing through a door that only allows her and the Raven through, leaving the corrupted assistant behind.

After her escape, Livira stops in the library’s labyrinth and continues her growing habit of writing on the flyleaves of nonfiction books that are scattered throughout the library. This allows her to capture her experiences, thoughts, and emotions, including her memories of Evar.

Three years pass, during which Livira seeks for a way to reach Evar, but the library conceals the location of the Exchange. Her longing for Evar is complicated when she imagines that he has moved on and settled with his mysterious woman. Meanwhile, Crath’s constant innovations fuel its progress, but with the encroaching threat of the canith, tensions rise.

As Livira climbs the ranks within the library, Master Ellis plots to remove her, seeing her as a potential rallying point for those who oppose the king’s harsh treatment of people from the Dust. Master Yute summons Livira and Meelan to his home, and they descend the mountain, accompanied by Malar.

On the way to meet with Master Yute, Malar tells Livira that the canith are amassing outside the city walls. Though officially at peace, Crath’s streets are filled with wounded soldiers and refugees. Rumors say that the canith are driven by an even greater enemy: the skeer.

Once they meet with Yute, he leads them to the lesser palace, where they join Crath’s elite in a lavish hall in order to attend an appointment ceremony presided over by the aging King Oanold. Livira watches Lord Algar as he presents his niece, Serra Leetar, for her role as a junior diplomat. To Livira’s shock, Meelan reveals that Serra is his sister. Then Yute stands and announces to the king that Livira is to be officially appointed as a junior librarian.

Evar descends the mountain and enters bustling streets that he has only read about. His wanderings through the city are tinged with sadness, as he realizes that this city likely exists in his distant past and that everyone he sees is long dead.

As dawn approaches, Evar goes to the city’s wall, where soldiers stand guard against the canith army camped outside. When fires appear on the northern slopes of the mountain, the city panics. In the chaos, Evar tries to warn the officers that the fires are a diversion, but they cannot hear him. The canith army charges the wall. Unable to bear watching the impending slaughter, Evar withdraws.

King Oanold is enraged by the appointment of Livira, a “duster,” as a librarian. Yute defends her and secures Livira’s position for the time being, and they leave under the watchful eyes of the royal court. Outside, Algar warns Yute that there will be consequences, but Yute refuses to retract his choice.

On their way back, Malar fends off an assassin sent by Algar and is injured in the fight. They bring him to Yute’s home, where he receives medical attention. Later, Yute tells Livira that to prevent another civilization-ending collapse, he is trying to slow progress, preserve stability, and give society a chance to escape self-destruction.

Livira is attacked in the plaza by a canith. Meelan steps in to shield her, but a soldier shoots the canith with a gun before it can reach them. Livira is left shaken and frustrated. She confronts Yute, demanding more effective weaponry that could defend the city, but he warns that every new weapon could harm their own people as much as it protects them.

Livira’s life as a librarian is consumed by her duties and her obsession with finding a way back to the Exchange to reunite with Evar. She finds more information on the Raven and learns that there is an even more powerful guide that can access more of the library. However, that information is censored. Finally, after years of dead ends, she breaks into the private quarters of the head librarian, Yamala, hoping to find a book that contains the key to the Exchange: The Forest Between. However, she has barely begun her search when the door opens.

Livira’s plan to infiltrate the head librarian Yamala’s private library almost fails when Yamala herself enters the room, but Livira avoids detection thanks to her skill in stealth, which she has honed through practice in the Mechanism. After Yamala passes without noticing her, Livira resumes her mission and locates the book, which is locked. Her triumph is momentarily interrupted by the arrival of a huge black hound. She recognizes it as Volente, the guide from the censored book, and crawls between its legs to escape as Yamala returns. Livira evades capture, though the dog trails her and only stops when Yamala calls it back.

Returning to her quarters with the book, Livira is surprised to find her friends waiting for her. They try to probe into the details of her love life, but she is distracted. Livira eventually gets away, only to find Volente waiting in her bedroom.