This is an outrageously good science fiction/fantasy book.  I rarely find a book that has elements of both; and manages to also be a truly great read.

We meet Livira first, as a child, living in a barren wasteland of a town.  The town grows a single crop, beans, which are tithed to the faraway city.  Livira's life is upended the day the town is visited by a dreaded sabber; a dog-like creature who kills all the adults and enslaves the children.  The sabbers and their captives are attacked by a human patrol of soldiers.  The orphaned children are eventually led to the city; another great unknowable future ahead of them.  In the city, Livira's cocky confident attitude wins her a chance to be a revered Librarian.  But only one old man has confidence in her; the rest of the Librarians see her only as a stupid burden who will never measure up.  But what that one old man saw may be the entire city's salvation one day.  The city and the great Library are under siege from the sabbers and while some have great faith in the city's ability to protect them, others are not so certain as the numbers of the sabbers increase every year and their desperation becomes more evident.

On the other story thread, we meet Evar.  He and his siblings actually live in the library; although, none of them have seen another person for decades.  They were raised and attended by two of the Library's creatures: a Soldier and an Assistant.  The Library has a great many mysteries, such as those two, but the Mechanism may be the greatest.  It was designed to give the user a virtual experience of any book that they might bring with them into the Mechanism.  As children, Evar and the others were caught inside the Mechanism and never released.  They spent decades within the machine; living their lives inside the one book they had with them when they entered; all but Evar.  He was the only one released from the Mechanism without decades of honing a particular skill as he entered without a book; using the Mechanism as a refuge when his people were overrun by sabbers.  And he was the only one who refused to continue using the Mechanism. He and his siblings - in spirit if not in fact - live isolated within a chamber of the Library with no knowledge of how to escape.  They are united in their hatred of the sabbers and the desire to escape and find more of the enemy to kill.

Meanwhile, Livira grows to be a young woman and one of the more capable Librarians; able to navigate the labyrinthine stacks and locate desired books. She starts to suspect the elder Librarians know something she doesn't; maybe something about the origins of the Library and a key to unlocking doors that won't open to her. 

Both Evar and Livira learn, quite by accident, that the Library was meant to be used in far more creative and far-reaching ways than even the elder Librarians know.  The two meet and then lose each other time and again.  Both are desperate to find the other; someone who can understand them.  And, again, quite by accident, the two discover the true purpose of the Library; a purpose that neither of them can reconcile with their ingrown prejudices.  But if these two can't learn to work together, there's no hope for the City.  The Library has weathered such catastrophes before and it will exist long after the City falls.  It and the people will regrow and rediscover the secrets - every single time.

This is really a bare-bones description; there is so very much more.  The worldbuilding is amazing and Lawrence has a deft hand with dealing out the bits in a gradual way while continuing to conceal great truths.  When Livira and Evar learn how to travel within the different chambers; it kind of blew my mind.  And when Livira learned how to summon specific books and discovered how the Assistants 'assisted', it kind of blew my mind.  But it wasn't until they finally got an inkling into the true purpose of the Library and its history that I just gave in and bowed down to Lawrence's vision. It is that good.

The great reveal at the end is really wonderful; not completely original but so well-disguised that it was a surprise to this reader.  This is touted as a beginning to a series so we'll have a chance to see Evar continue his search to find his true love, Livera; no matter where the Library may hide her.  ~~  Catherine Book

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