The Great Library Series by Rachel Caine

The Great Library series was written by Rachel Caine.  The series consists of five books.

1.  Ink and Bone, 2015
2.  Paper and Fire, 2016
3.  Ash and Quill, 2017
4.  Smoke and Iron, 2018
5.  Sword and Pen, 2019

This is the publisher's summary of the first book.

In this exhilarating series, New York Times bestselling author Rachel Caine rewrites history, creating a dangerous world where the Great Library of Alexandria has survived the test of time.…

Ruthless and supremely powerful, the Great Library is now a presence in every major city, governing the flow of knowledge to the masses. Alchemy allows the Library to deliver the content of the greatest works of history instantly—but the personal ownership of books is expressly forbidden.

Jess Brightwell believes in the value of the Library, but the majority of his knowledge comes from illegal books obtained by his family. Jess has been sent to be his family’s spy, but his loyalties are tested in the final months of his training to enter the Library’s service.

When his friend inadvertently commits heresy by creating a device that could change the world, Jess discovers that those who control the Great Library believe knowledge is more valuable than any human life—and soon both heretics and books will burn....

The first four books are mostly very good to excellent.  I found that the first half of the first book drags a bit until the middle part of the book.  The book is very interesting from the middle to the ending.  The second book is quite exciting.

The third book also drags during the first half and then gets good.  The fourth book is excellent and interesting all the way through.

I did not like the fifth book and skimmed the entire book.  I wish that the author had ended the series with four books.  Almost all reviews for the fifth book are extremely positive, but I found the fifth book to be terribly boring.  The way the fourth book ends spoils having much of any story come after it.  The author should have wrapped up the story in the fourth book.

I went hunting through reviews to try to see if even one person agreed with me about the fifth book.  I couldn't understand how I appeared to be the only person who found it boring.  The reviews of the fifth book are practically giddy.

Finally, I found some readers who saw what I did.

PlusFour:  "[B]y the time we got this final book it was like nobody involved cared anymore: the plot was threadbare, the obvious attempts to stretch already overstretched material resulted in boring prose and so much unnecessary detail."

Chelsea:  "But it went too far in that this should have been a four-book series, and this one just feels unnecessary. Yes, it is the culmination of the others, but in feel it's just...blah."

Karin:  "A skimmer. I skipped from page 95 to 275 and didn’t feel lost at all."

Okay.  It's good to know that I'm not alone, but I remain perplexed that most people think the fifth book is spectacular.

The Great Library series features a gay couple.  Their relationship is quite well developed, believable, and central to the story arc of the entire series.  These two characters are my favorite characters in the series.  The relationship is quite well done, and the series would not be what it is without these characters.

The other characters in this series are from multiple racial and ethnic groups.  Like the gay couple, the other characters really shine through their differences.  The author created a memorable group of characters, and I loved reading about their journey.

I highly recommend this series for the characters in it.  They are excellent.