What ruined the titular library? Was it destruction from above (meteorites) or destruction from below (a sinkhole; a giant worm)? The illustrations allow either of these and more; the GM’s imagination must fill in the details. One thing about the library layout doesn’t entirely make sense: almost immediately upon entering the library, one finds oneself directly in the stacks, with no circulation or information desk in evidence. Of course, that was before the whole thing was smashed to bits. The texture of the floors and walls implies a fantasy library, but use of bound books throughout allows a GM to use this map as a small modern library as well. The “colored sketch” art style doesn’t fit my preferences as well as some other styles, but it’s well executed. The map panels overlap one another, making it easier to line everything up when printed.

This is a battlemap-scale encounter maps presented in both full color and a very viewable greyscale. The standout feature for this series is the effort the publishers went through to make it usable for virtual tabletops as well as printouts: not only did they include the map as a full-size JPG showing all the tiles together, they also put together a version for Maptools—including the vision blocking layer!

The Ruined Library depicts a central structure with two wings in a desert or barren environment that appears to have been devastated by boulders - maybe meteors, maybe thrown by giants. The shattered remains of bookshelves and their contents lie scattered across the floor. The art is well done and very attractive, but the cartography is somewhat lacking in the small details - the fallen shelves are incredibly sparse (none of them overlap) and there appears to be no other furniture in the building. Still, it definitely gets across what it sets out to.