The Dark Archive by Genevieve CogmanMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
What a good day—my copy of The Dark Archive arrived and I dropped everything to plunge into it! Who needs clean floors or sparkly bathrooms? Those tasks will wait.
Irene is dealing with a new Fae apprentice as she oversees the new treaty between the Fae and the Dragons. Catherine, the new apprentice, and Kai, being the representatives of Chaos and Order, are obviously going to butt heads. This wouldn't be as big an issue if there wasn't yet another assassination attempt on all three of them.
Cogman is very proficient at setting up challenges for her characters. Irene has to have a particularly twisty brain to come up with the creative solutions required to extricate them from the traps and captivities. I was happy to have a bit more Kai page time in this installment. We get a bonus dragon when his elder brother insists on involving himself too. This sets the brother up for a whole bunch of learning that his royal self was not anticipating. Ha! If anyone can teach him, it'll be Irene.
Catherine is, of course, a relative of Lord Silver's. Unfortunately Lord Silver himself has skipped town to save his own hide. I miss having him oozing around Irene making suggestive comments and driving Kai crazy. Silver is such an excellent villain, it's a shame to hustle him out of town.
There are obviously more books planned. Irene and Kai's relationship is based on the shaky assumption that their superiors don't decide to send them in different directions. Catherine has potential to be an interesting choice of apprentice. Shan Yuan, Kai's brother, seems to have ulterior motives that would be fun to explore. Plus there are a couple of big reveals at the book's end that set things up nicely for the further adventures of Irene Winters. That is excellent.
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