The 3rd novel in The Invisible Library series by Genevieve Cogman, and the sequel to The Masked City.
Someone is attacking the Library, somehow, and rumors abound that someone is killing librarians on other worlds.
Meanwhile, Vale is still suffering the effects of his visit to a high-chaos world, losing control of himself and falling prey to his own deviances.
And of course, someone is trying to kill Irene and Kai, while Alberich is pursuing his vendetta against Irene for foiling his previous plans.
The senior Librarians hope to reinforce The Library by acquiring more books from alternate worlds, dispatching librarians off on countless missions, but they still haven't figured out how the Library is being attacked to begin with.
The Burning Page is followed by The Lost Plot.
The Burning Page contains examples of the following tropes:
- Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: Whilst on the run from attack tigers, Kai is more interested in finding out if they are Siberian or Bengal tigers.
- Banishing Ritual: Irene marks Alberich's possessed library as "Not Alberich" in the Langauge to reduce him to a manageable threat.
- Batman Grabs a Gun: When faced with the reality that Alberich's attack on the Library (initiated with him building his own library to displace the Library) will utterly destroy it in moments if not seconds, Irene goes against every fiber of her being and commands all the books in Alberich's library to burn.
- Bears Are Bad News: Downplayed, sort of. The alternate Russian Empire Irene and Kai visit employs trained bears as drug and magic sniffers. Most people traveling through the sleighport react about as one might expect upon seeing a bear on a leash (with wariness and nervousness), but Irene and Kai are particularly vulnerable because they are on an undercover mission.
- Booby Trap: The killer after Irene and Kai sets up a rather elaborate one using a shotgun tied to the Portal Door leading to and from Irene's world of residence, a trio of hornet nests to attack whatever the shotgun fails to kill, and a large stack of crates on the room exit for good measure.
- Blatant Lies: When one drug-sniffing bear reacts to Kai, his handlers immediately drag it off "for medical attention."
- Breathless Non Sequitur: This is used in a rather clever and sinister fashion by Alberich who, while having what seems like a normal conversation with Irene, suddenly orders "Metal, bind her feet" in the Language without hesitation or a change in his tone of voice.
- Brother–Sister Incest: Alberich all but confirms that he sired a child with his sister. Later revealed to be averted, as the Librarian he paired with was actually a fellow (not blood-related) colleague—in olden times, Librarians referred to each other as "brother" and "sister," which naturally fell away by Irene's time.
- Closed Circle: Alberich's library. A world unto itself, with the additional complication that Alberich can stop Librarians from forming portals to the Library.
- Early-Bird Cameo: Melusine makes a brief appearance here as part of the senior Librarian emergency council before her introduction proper in Book 4 as the head of Library Security.
- Even Evil Has Standards: What really sets Alberich into a hysterical rage? Irene, a Librarian no less, setting fire to his collection of unique volumes.Alberich: BOOK BURNER!
- Fluffy Tamer: One of the Russian drug-sniffing bears approaches Kai and greets him as a visiting royal, which somehow ends up with him scratching the bear to both keep it calm and deflect from being suddenly exposed as the son of a dragon monarch.
- The killer hunting Irene and Kai has a strong affinity for exotic and lethal animals and frequently sets up traps using dangerous animals.
- Genius Loci: Alberich's library. Alberich himself demonically possesses the structure.
- Heel–Face Revolving Door: Zayanna's Blue-and-Orange Morality make it hard for her to stay on the "right" side for very long.
- Humanoid Abomination: Alberich only escapes being a full-on Eldritch Abomination because he started out human.
- Iron Lady: Catherine The Great. She, with the help of her monks, is able to quickly expel Alberich after Irene reveals that he has infiltrated Catherine's court. Of course, Catherine quickly figures out that Irene doesn't belong there either and has her locked up until she explains herself, necessitating another of Irene's escapes.
- Kill It with Fire: Irene destroys Alberich's library, and thus momentarily ends his attack on the Invisible Library, by setting fire to his books and severing his library's links to the alternate worlds.
- Living Structure Monster: The shelves of Alberich's library try to squash Irene as a finger folding in on itself might squash a fly.
- Luke, I Might Be Your Father: While Alberich doesn't hypothesize himself to be Irene's father, he does tell her that it's basically impossible for both of her parents to be Librarians. The only two Librarians to have succeeded at that did so only with the help of a huge amount of corrupting Chaos - Alberich and his sister. The implication is there, but neither party seems to have keyed on it. Likely because Alberich at least believes himself to have a son, not a daughter, and Irene has absolutely no reason to trust his claims.
- Order Versus Chaos: Features a glimpse at a high-Order world...which is every bit as scary as the high-chaos worlds seen before.
- Redemption Equals Death: Zayanna. Even after Irene rescues her from Alberich's attempt to kill her if she betrayed him, Zayanna dies pushing Irene out of the way of a collapsing shelf.
- Relocating the Explosion: Once Irene learns how to recognize the signs of an incoming attack-message from Alberich, she does her utmost to get the paper on which the incoming message is to be written out of the room.
- Start My Own: Alberich's ultimate goal is to build his own library to displace and destroy the Invisible Library.
- Stop Worshipping Me: While Kai is perfectly comfortable with his identity as draconic royalty, he finds being identified as such by a drug-sniffing bear a bit inconvenient while trying to sneak into St. Petersburg as a regular visitor.
- This Page Will Self-Destruct: Alberich can use his eldritch powers to send messages across worlds to any written material near the person wants to reach. While this messaging technique can be used without setting off fireworks, Alberich often chooses to overload his messages with chaotic power.
- Will They or Won't They?: Irene and Kai. They both clearly want to, but are held back by Irene's scruples around their mentor/student professional relationship.
