2024, fantasy, series, book about books ( )

As I sat down with this book, the second in the Hell's Library series, I was reminded of the things that sort of bothered me about the first book. The same things bothered me here. My inclination is to blame myself -- I must lack some level of imagination, to fail to envision the setting. By which I mean, not just the very fact of a library/archive that is housed in Hell, but the relationships and the realities of the characters who populate it. There aren't very many characters here -- Claire (dead human), the former librarian, now arcanist; Brevity (muse), the new librarian; Hero (displaced character from a book), the new assistant librarian; and Ramiel (fallen angel), the assistant arcanist. These are all left over from the previous book, which ended with everything kind of going to shit (kind of par for the course in Hell, I would imagine), as Claire somehow (I forget how, exactly) is unable to stave off a coup of the library by the (now late) arcanist, a demon, which results in the destruction of a whole bunch of books from the library. This is extremely heinous, and as this book begins, the destroyed books have leached off a big puddle of ink, which does various bad things to the different types of beings. Claire gets stained by it, and another muse, Probity, shows up to help (or more like, to direct) Brevity to investigate the nature of the ink. Actually, the relationship I reacted to most strongly was Probity and Brevity, because Probity is the worst kind of bully, the kind who pushes you around ruthlessly, while telling you just how much she loves and respects you. Her true nature is eventually exposed, but not until a lot of damage is wreaked, upon Brevity and all the others. I took one star, because I found myself floundering at times, but if I could give back half a star for the inclusion of Elysium, and the beginning of an explanation of what muses are (I have a soft spot for classical mythology and related themes), I would. Hackwith does a good job of including other "realms," or cultural visions of the Underworld/Afterlife beyond your basic Heaven and Hell, which of course are very different among the many peoples of the world, but I still got kind of lost now and again. As confused as I was, from time to time, about the nature of Hell, Hackwith does offer an explanation about midway through, which I found very enlightening. I almost thought I might like to go there. "The best of humanity can be found in Hell. I'll fight any theologian on this fact. Hell is a place you sentence yourself to, which by necessity requires a solid bit of self-reflection. or, at the very least, a death's-bed awareness. Mortality has a way of forcing one to be honest with oneself; none of the frivolous barricades we erect in life withstand it. You find the failures here, but you also find the strivers, the yearners, the eyes open enough to see the distance between where they are and where they could have been. Hell is a place for the dreamers that have woken up, and the books still asleep." (page 214) ( )

When a puddle of ink mysteriously appears in the Arcane Wing, Arcanist Claire, Librarian Brevity, book character Hero, and fallen angel Ramiel attempt to solve the puzzle separately only to discover they might actually need each other.

I loved the first book, The Library of the Unwritten, so much and really couldn’t wait to dive into the next book. I was approved for this months ago, but had so many other books to read it was almost like sitting on pins and needles every time I saw it on my Kindle. All the little quibbles I had with the first book, with how it started off kind of slow and the characters felt a little too living, were gone. The Archive of the Forgotten kind of just dumps you into the story and, since most of it takes place in Hell, it’s easier to remember the human Claire is, in fact, dead. Overall, a worthy follow up to the first book, and I now can’t wait for the third book.

The Plot: The Puzzling Ink
Since the events of The Library of the Unwritten, Claire has been installed as the new curator of the Arcane Wing and Brevity has become the librarian in the Unwritten Wing. But their relationship has been tenuous at best, with both women avoiding the other. The same doesn’t hold true for their assistants Rami and Hero, respectively. Nor for one damsel from the Unwritten Wing.

When Claire discovers damsel Rosia, yet again, in the Arcane Wing, it brings Claire and Brevity back together, but on shaky ground that doesn’t improve when Rosia vanishes and a well of ink forms in the Arcane Wing. The Arcanist believes it’s her problem to solve since it’s in her Wing, but the Librarian argues it’s the blood of the books that were burned during Andras’s coup attempt. As they stubbornly diverge to do their own testing, it’s up to Ramiel and Hero to leave Hell and ask questions. Only for things to get a lot worse and potentially leave the Library in terrible danger.

Where The Library of the Unwritten felt massive and far flung as the characters tumbled from one death realm to another, The Archive of the Forgotten shrinks the world down almost to a dot. After a crazy journey in the first book, the second book feels almost grounded and focused, allowing the characters to breathe, grow, and find their footing with each other now that their roles have shifted. As much as I loved exploring all the death realms in the first book, it also made me want to just sit still and enjoy a quieter story. The Archive of the Forgotten absolutely delivered on that front, though there was a point where I felt like it would be more of the same.

The Archive of the Forgotten is a beautiful follow-up to the first book. The problem starts very early on and the story goes on to brilliantly explore the natures of Claire and Brevity as they work independently. It’s not really plot heavy, but the problem is absolutely a wonderful device to help the characters along their paths. The story is simple, but the characters are not, and that’s where all the fun is.

The Characters: An Unlikely Family
The Archive of the Forgotten focuses on the characters instead of the story and world building. After a crazy journey in the first book that beautifully set up the world, I like that the second book focused on the characters and more fully explored them as individuals and as a strange and unlikely family.

Claire, Brevity, Hero, and Rami were all wonderful in the first book and somehow became even better in the second book. Claire is still unbending and unyielding. Brevity is still a little too bright and hopeful, and maybe even a little too nice, for Hell. Hero is still smug and annoying as a hero-villain. Rami is still the lost angel who sticks to right and wrong. But, as the story progressed, they lost a little bit of their outer coatings. They started to grow in different ways, but somehow also closer together. It hurt a little to see them crack, but it made them stronger together. They became something of a family as they tried to solve their problem in their own ways and avoid each other. They became softly blurred from the rigidity they bore in the first book and their relationships changed and were further defined while also leaving room for more growth and closer bonds. It was beautiful watching them snip at each other while also genuinely caring about each other.

The Archive of the Forgotten also introduces one major new character. Probity is one of Brevity’s sister muses, someone who grew up alongside Brevity and who has her own ideas of what the muses can and should be capable of doing. Her ideas aren’t too different from Brevity’s, but it’s her manner and the way she so steadfastly believes she’s right that sets her off. I liked and hated her in turns, but she pushed Brevity to really come into her own, so it’s also hard to not like her just for that.

The Setting: It’s Hell
Unlike the first book, The Archive of the Forgotten is set mostly in Hell. After exploring so many different death realms, I wasn’t sure what to expect in this book: more death realms or something more settled. I was pleased that it presented a delightful blend of both. There’s some death realm exploring, which was fun and very different while also exploring other mythologies a bit, but most of the story is grounded in Hell.

It was lovely to return to the Unwritten Wing and have the opportunity to explore the Arcane Wing, which, frankly, scares me a bit. We also get to explore a new part of the Library, which was mostly unsettling, but leaves me curious to know more about it. As well as what else the Library has been hiding. I loved that this book hinted at further questions about what the Library is, so I’m hoping there’s even more world building as the series progresses. I love how Hackwith balanced the development of the story, world, and characters so it’s never too much and only helps drive the story forward.

Overall: A Worthy Sequel, Albeit a Bit Different
The Archive of the Forgotten is a lovely follow up to the first book. I loved how different it was in that the characters weren’t tumbling around between Earth and the death realms, but were able to catch their breath, so to speak, and learn more about each other and themselves. It felt like a nice respite both for them and the reader, one where the focus can shift a little and add an anchor to the overall story. A wonderful contrast. I do wonder if the next book will be just as breathlessly active as the first or if it’ll strike a nice balance, but I really loved how grounded this novel felt. The characters were just as wonderful, and then became even better. I loved watching them pull and push at each other and can’t wait to see them again.

Thank you to Netgalley and Ace-Berkley Publishing Group for a free e-copy. All opinions expressed are my own. ( )

Ideas never die, but do books have souls? My favourite fantasy of the afterlife swings back into action as the ink of unwritten books destroyed during the battle for Hell’s Library threatens to unravel any person or book it comes in contact with.

It took me a while to warm up to the sequel of The Library of the Unwritten, which roars into conflict from the first page. Once I settled in though, this is a solid expansion of a universe that is designed to hit book lovers heart-first and extract all our story-related feelings. It tentatively feels along the edges where books, stories and ideas meet, looking for gaps that could make the ink safe and bring Hero home. It is at times hilarious (thanks to Hero’s snarky POV) and at others philosophical, reflecting on the nature of stories as a way to reflect also on mortality and life. And in the end, it’s about a bruised group of outsiders acknowledging their flaws and trying to build bridges so that they aren’t alone in the world.

Sure to leave a smile on your face and a warm glow in any reader’s heart.

Full review

I received a free copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review ( )

Not as good as the first book for me. The first book was all about the creation of the team: Claire, Brevity, Hero and eventually, Ramiel. The librarian, the muse, the character, and the angel. There was a common enemy and books had spirit and fought. It was a good time.

This book is about pitting the team against each other and the books are silent, non-participants, except when a character or two throws some spite at Claire, who is now the Archivist of the Arcane after being ousted by Hell as Librarian of the Unwritten Wing. There’s also a tiny soupçon of insta-romance that’s completely unnecessary, extraneous to the plot entirely, and feels like it was done to make a statement rather than add anything to the story, as opposed to the small soupçon of romance that was central to the plot of the first book.

All in all, a lot less fun and more of a chore. A chore willingly done because all the fantastic love of books and stories is still here. The magic of books is still here; it’s just the characters that lost their magic this time around. I suppose I could say the division amongst friends in this book reminds me too much of the division amongst friends and family in real life that’s occurring everywhere, and that would be true, but really, I just don’t like to read about friends fighting.

I love the atmosphere of the book and the magic of the library and the arcane wing. I love the log entries at the start of each chapter, even if I don’t always agree with their philosophy or theology. I like the characters, and I’d like to love them and perhaps with the next book, or the one after that, I will, assuming I’ll want to read it when the time comes. But if the author is sharing a sliver of her soul with readers in this series, I can’t help but worry from hints here and there within the stories so far, that that sliver of soul has an axe to grind and I’m not looking to be a whetstone for my books, no matter how much I love their premise and their magic. So, 3.5 stars and a ‘we’ll see’.

I read this for 2021 Halloween Bingo. I originally had the Psych square, but Flipped/traded with Moonlight Reader (All the Vintage Ladies) for her Highway to Hell square, for which this is ( )