Maya and the Book of Everything

The Great Library #1

by Laurie Graves

One Girl, One Boy, One Book Against the Forces of Evil Maya is on a train from New York to Boston, and a woman drops a book in her messenger bag. She realizes the woman is being stalked by a grim-faced man, whom Maya dubs “the man who didn't smile.” He desperately wants that book-the Book of Everything. Maya and the book make it safely to Boston and then by bus to Maine, but the man who didn't smile is in close pursuit. The Book of Everything comes from a place called the Great Library. The book can do unusual things: its pages are seemingly endless, and it can zip people back and forth in time. Unfortunately, there is another book-the Book of Cinnial-sent to Earth by a group of adversarial librarians, whose purpose is to stop the Book of Everything. They do this by spreading lies and by trying to capture the book. Andy is a boy from the past, and Maya meets him when the Book of Everything whisks her back to Andy's time in the 1970s. Soon, he and Maya travel to another world-Ilyria-and become embroiled with another Book of Everything, a deposed duke, warring brothers, a magical forest, and a toad queen. Will Maya and Andy be able to save both Books of Everything? Will truth or lies prevail? And what, exactly, is the Great Library?

Genres: Fantasy

311 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 28, 2016

Reviews

[April · Rating 3 out of 5]

The plot sounded really interesting, but this was a little more fantasy based than I typically like. I enjoyed Maya's character, how she met Andy and finding out more about the Great Library. I didn't realize that this was the 1st in a series, so the ending was not quite as finished and resolved as I would have liked. I also felt the ending was rushed with one of the major plot lines suddenly resolved too neatly. I think I would have liked to explore that plot line more, but maybe that happens in the next book.

[Donna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maya and the Book of Everything is a Young Adult, Sci-Fi, Fantasy novel. Although these categories are outside of my typical reading genre (far outside, actually), I found this novel to be absolutely delightful.

Laurie Graves has a brilliant imagination and the ability to weave in ordinary details in unexpected ways. She writes in clear, easy to devour prose. I became completely caught up in her many clever plot twists.

Another reviewer mentioned that Maya and the Book of Everything would make a great movie. I wholeheartedly second that.

If you would like to know more about Laurie, she is a fiction writer and blogger from Maine. Her blog, 'Notes from the Hinterland' features rural life, nature, food, photography and other musings. Maya and the Book of Everything is the first of three books (so far) in her young adult fantasty set, The Great Library Series. If you haven't had a chance to read Laurie's writing, I highly recommend it. Why not pop over to her blog and see for yourself. She most likely will have the coffee on!

[Dawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first in a 3 part series about a young girl who gets involved in a huge plot where the bad guys want to keep information from the people, and the good guys (librarians) have a magic book of everything that the bad guys want. Definitely more involved than what I just tried to describe.

I'm not really into science fiction, but this one has librarians as the good guys! And time travel back to the 70s which I lived through so it's interesting to see how it was portrayed. PLUS, there seems to be a few political statements relevant to today tucked away here and there.

I read this because I am blogging friends with the author. The third in this series just came out, and I started there but quickly found I needed to begin at the beginning.

I gave it three stars because I have problems reading magical, not real, books...but there's a lot of real in this, and if you're at all inclined toward science fiction and can overlook the impossible, I think you'd really enjoy this.

[Cassandra · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing. This was a recommended read, but I won't be recommending it to anyone.
The concept was good, execution was okay, but the overall story was lacking anything remotely compelling.
And I hate head-hopping from mind to mind without a change of scene, or even a reason.
And I hate stories that don't have a proper ending. Even if they're part of a series, this is a book I paid for, and it disappointed me.