The Lost Books: The Scroll of Kings: 08/11/18

The Lost Books: The Scroll of Kings by Sarah Prineas is a middle grade fantasy set in a world where most people have lost the their trust in books and have locked them away in libraries. Librarians with magical pages (here actual flying pieces of paper or parchment) keep the books safe and the people safe from the books. But now someone, or rather, something, is killing the librarians.

Alex, probably the only, young apprentice librarian, has gone to the queen to save her from whatever evil is lurking in the royal library after both his librarian, and the queen's librarian have mysteriously died. His way in is to pretend to be his dead mentor, except no one can remember ever seeing such a young librarian before.

Meanwhile, the queen is young herself, and frustrated at how condescending her uncle, the former regent is to her. She's not ready to be queen but at the same time she believes she can do a better job at it than her uncle. But it seems that everyone is trying to make everything more complicated.

It's a good mystery in a fantasy setting that is fresh and new. It has expected elements like swordplay and castles but it also has a different sort of magic and different sort of technology that's either high tech or magic tech. There is a history behind the Lost Books and the closing of the libraries that could easily be expanded.

With a title that uses a colon, it seems like The Scroll of Kings should be the first book in a series called The Lost Books. So far, I haven't found any evidence that this book is anything other than a standalone. I would love to see the world expanded and watch as Alex and maybe the queen's brother go on quests to wrangle up the other Lost Books.

Five stars

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