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<p>On his webpage, author Scott Hawkins describes his debut novel, &#8220;The Library at Mount Char&#8221; as being &#8220;kinda-sorta about homicidal librarians.&#8221;</p><p>Homicidal librarians weren&#8217;t mentioned in the book description, which talks about a secret library, a missing deity and a woman determined to end up on top in an epic struggle, all of which sounded interesting even before I read the homicidal librarians description.</p><p>It&#8217;s hard to categorize &#8220;The Library of Mount Char.&#8221; Is it fantasy? Horror? Speculative fiction? All of the above?</p><p>The basic plot follows Carolyn, who was left an orphan after a disastrous picnic in her neighborhood. Several other children were also orphaned and were taken in by Adam Black, a mysterious older neighbor who adopted them all.</p><p>Adam Black is, of course, not what he seemed. He is terribly cruel and has immense power. He takes each child as an apprentice of sorts, giving them each control over one catalogue in his vast library. They are not permitted to study beyond their assigned catalogue. Punishments are horrifying and severe.</p><p>This is the world Carolyn was raised in. She lived in the mysterious library with her 11 adopted brothers and sisters, studying languages, while they all studied other subjects: war, death, healing, math, to name a few.</p><p>But now Father is missing and presumed dead. The children &#8212; now around 30 years old &#8212; are expelled from their home with powerful forces preventing them from approaching it. And Father&#8217;s enemies are drawing closer.</p><p>The librarians seek refuge in the house of a lovely old woman who cooks non-stop for them. They haven&#8217;t been out in the real world for years and have little idea of how to properly dress, what modern technology is or in some cases, how to speak English.</p><p>In the interest of returning to the library and preparing to fight Father&#8217;s enemies and if possible, locate them, Carolyn enlists Steve, a former thief, to help them out.</p><p>This launches the plot into a mad caper involving lions, killer dogs, bribing a president and a whole lot of violence.</p><p>&#8220;The Library at Mount Char&#8221; is a weird book. It&#8217;s funny, but in a very dark way. It&#8217;s incredibly creative. I frequently can see what&#8217;s coming a mile away in a lot of the books that I read, but I had no idea what was going to happen next. I was on the edge of my seat with each chapter.</p><p>The novel is hugely imaginative, despite having moments of extreme violence and gore. Carolyn, the main protagonist is a bit hard to read as she never had a normal childhood, but Steve helps to humanize both her and the plot.</p><p>I&#8217;m keeping this review on the shorter side because this really is a book that needs to be experienced by the reader. Fans of Joe Hill or Neil Gaiman will find themselves right at home and hopefully add a new favorite author to their libraries.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">&#8216;The Library at Mount Char&#8217; is hugely imaginative, despite having moments of extreme violence and gore. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/web1_Mount-Char.jpg</photo0><caption0>&#8216;The Library at Mount Char&#8217; is hugely imaginative, despite having moments of extreme violence and gore. </caption0><photoCredit0>Submitted photo </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Dorothy Sasso</p><p>On the Books</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p dir="ltr"><strong>&#8216;The Library at Mount Char&#8217;</strong></p><p dir="ltr"><strong>Author:</strong> Scott Hawkins</p><p dir="ltr"><strong>Pages:</strong> 400</p><p dir="ltr"><strong>Publisher:</strong> Broadway Books</p><p dir="ltr"><strong>Rating:</strong> Four out of five stars</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Dorothy Sasso is a former Soap Opera Digest writer and a private school teacher. She is busy reading books and raising her two daughters.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

On the Books: ‘The Library at Mount Char’ weird, darkly funny, creative