Library of Broken Worlds

The Library of Broken Worlds is an (ostensibly) YA scifi book, about an orphan named Frieda born in the Library who we learn in the opening prologue has been sent to kill the oldest god (and it's both unclear if it's possible or if she even wants to).

The worldbuilding here is delicious. I don't want to spoil too many details, but here's a taste. The Library with a capital L is on a disc in space with four material gods. They are "material", as in they are something other than what you think of as normal "spiritual" gods. They exist in space. They have physical avatars. There are tunnels which you can crawl through dangerously. To search the information of these gods feels like a physical process of planting queries and waiting for the results to grow. Librarians can also delve physically (and dangerously) to commune and ask questions of these gods more directly.

Thematically, this book has a lot going on; it's about friends and love, about colonization and abuses of power, about multilayered stories and myths and lies, about sexual trauma (not explicit), about the nature of freedom, about betrayals, about history and information, about space politics and legal shenanigans, about many worlds theory, and about identity. It also asks a bit of its readers, in terms of not spelling out how much of the world works in physical detail, and instead talking in ways that almost feel metaphorical.

I find it hard to talk about too much here without spoiling a lot of what the book is about. If you want more details, I think this Tor review does a much better job than me at pitching this book: www.tor.com/2023/06/12/book-reviews-the-library-of-broken-worlds-by-alaya-dawn-johnson/

I quite enjoyed this.