Ink and Bone, by Rachael Caine

Imagine if the great library of Alexandria had not been destroyed; how would the world be different? Caine brings to life the evolution of an autocratic nation state that controls the world’s information and its info tech. Private ownership of books is outlawed and the library has an army to enforce its laws, which override those of nation states. It is opposed by the fanatical burners, who want to destroy the perversion the library has become, and by a network of book smugglers, for whom profit is all. The library recruits trainees from across the world to become future archivists, librarians and armed guards. Jess Brightwell is from an English crime family that has a secret agenda in getting him into the library’s training program. Several of his fellow students have their own secrets, which could prove deadly. Can the young trainees learn enough to oppose the great institution from the inside and how much will they risk to do so? This gripping and complicated alt-history is dark and dystopian, with the possibility of friendship and love the only shining lights of hope.