April 9, 2026
Rust, reads, and reader riots
Show HN: Rust based eBook library for Python, with MIT license
Lightning-fast eBook tool has fans cheering — and begging for Kindle support
TLDR: A new Rust-powered tool lets Python users zip through EPUB eBooks, even converting massive titles to Markdown in a blink, with a permissive MIT license. Early commenters cheer the speed and Calibre-free simplicity, while pushing hard for Kindle (AZW3) support and asking for better standards testing to keep it reliable.
The dev dropped a shiny new Rust-powered eBook tool for Python and the comments pounced like it was Black Friday for book nerds. It reads, writes, validates, and even converts EPUBs to Markdown — reportedly turning “War and Peace” into plain text in 71ms. Translation: your eBooks go from file to readable text faster than you can say “chapter one.” There’s even a no-Python-needed CLI, an MIT license (aka very permissive), and a familiar interface for folks migrating from ebooklib.
But the community’s real plot twist? One top reaction cheered the breakaway from the heavyweight Calibre stack and immediately asked for Kindle’s AZW3 format. Another worry: standards. If this tool is going to be the speedy new sheriff for EPUB, folks want a conformance suite to keep it honest. The crowd vibe: love the speed, love the license, want more formats.
Jokes flew about blasting through backlogs and “speed-reading for computers,” while skeptics squinted at the 71ms flex like, “Cool demo, but what happens with the weird edge-case books?” Meanwhile, Python fans celebrated GIL-free parallel batch processing (think: multiple eBooks at once) without needing to know what a GIL is. The headline energy: fast, friendly, and already under feature-request siege. If it adds Kindle next, expect the comments to go full victory lap.
Key Points
- •fast-ebook is a Rust-powered Python library for fast EPUB2/EPUB3 reading, writing, validation, and Markdown conversion under the MIT license.
- •It offers a Python API mirroring ebooklib for easy migration, with an optional compatibility layer for near drop-in use.
- •The library supports parallel batch processing using Rust + Rayon with the Python GIL released, enabling true concurrency.
- •Built-in EPUB validation and an EPUB-to-Markdown converter (handling common formatting) are included, with a performance claim of converting War and Peace (368 chapters) in 71ms.
- •A standalone CLI (no Python required) provides metadata inspection (JSON), validation, conversion, extraction, and parallel batch scanning.