The Untold Story is kind of the end of the Invisible Library series, but in the post-script there is the suggestion that maybe that’s not quite right; maybe there will be an Act 2 of sorts at some point in the future. For most of the series, there’s been a couple of major questions that do get answered as well as several others brought up in more recent volumes, including why was Alberich trying to destroy the Library, who are Irene’s birth parents (and why could that matter), what happens when a Librarian dies, how much about the Library do the Fae and Dragons know and how might they be connected to it, are Kai and Irene going to get to stay together, how is Catherine (being Fae) fitting in as a Library apprentice, etc.
The grand answer to most things lies in the mystery of the founding of the Library (This has been hinted at for a couple of volumes now), and the answer has to do with multiple versions of the same story that Irene has already or now has to track down; the question of which might be the real or most useful one to save themselves and everyone else (mostly) is kind of a real literary research question. It was also kind of brilliant to have Irene and many of the other characters openly choose to model themselves on literary stereotypes as this fits into the whole meta-literary theme of the series. An interesting thing about this final installment is that there is a lot of time spent negotiating or politicking, and characters notice this, and comment about how the Librarians and Library in general should really spend more time doing Library things like reading and researching. The power of narrative and how subtle that can get is also a directly discussed element, and it’s applied directly to Irene’s life, first by her allies and then Irene herself has to questions some things about her past and current trajectory. There a strong dose of figuring out who did the wrong things for right reasons and right things for wrong reasons, and still not being quite sure about it all in the end, just that there is some kind of end. Just maybe not forever. 3.5 stars rounded up because it is a decent end of a good series but maybe not quite as sparkly reading as some previous volumes.
