Full review at Smart Bitches, Trashy Books 
 Paper and Fire is the second book in the series The Great Library by Rachel Caine, and it is AMAZEBALLS. I just gobbled it up (figuratively). The first book, Ink and Bone, pretty much derailed all my plans for two days because it was just so nommy, and Paper and Fire did the same thing, largely by making the characters run at full tilt from one problem to another without sacrificing character development. Ink and Bone was also fast paced, but it included a lot of time for the characters and the world to be established, so Paper and Fire could afford to be more hectic in terms of pacing. 
 I'm not going to elaborate much on the details of Paper and Fire because I don't want to spoil Ink and Bone. There's less focus on character development, which works because the characters and their relationships to each other were so well established in Ink and Bone. They run around a lot, and that works too, because the stakes and the setting are so well established in both of the books. There's a lot of morally gray stuff, but the reader is not confused about who is fighting who, and for what (except for when there's a plot twist, which happens often since many of the characters are using some variant of double agent strategy, and everyone's loyalties are divided). 
 I love this series not for the romance, but for the friendship and sense of camaraderie, for the gorgeous imagery and sense of place, for the world building, and for the concept. The concept conveys a deep love for books. A rebel group called The Burners has the motto, "A life is worth more than a book." But as this series progresses, as many people die in Jess's efforts to save his friends and change the way the library works, it seems that maybe a life is worth more than a book, but free and open access to books might be worth more than a life, or at least might make life worth living. 
 WARNING: This book is the second book in a series and not only do you have to read the first book, Ink and Bone, to understand Paper and Fire, but each book ends on a cliffhanger (more or less) and the next book doesn't have a release date yet. This is torture. On the other hand, if I waited until the whole series came out at once, I'd have to binge it. I wouldn't be able to eat or sleep or work or wash my hair or walk my dog until I have finished every single book. At least this way I can come up for air long enough to read the new Saga release. 
 - Carrie S.