Alessandra is reading…

The Archive of the Unwritten by AJ Hackwith

**review contains spoilers for Hell’s Library #1 – The Library of the Unwritten

Hell’s librarians have changed around since hundreds of unwritten books were burned when Claire, Brevity, and Hero saved Hell’s Library from Andras. The Library of the Unwritten as well as the Arcane Wing are in danger as a new threat is posed from inside Hell again…

I love so many things about the Hell’s Library series. I loved The Archive of the Forgotten, but not in the way that I had loved The Library of the Unwritten (the first book of the Hell’s Library series).

Colors in muse sight meant one thing: the markers of a human story.

What I loved/thought to be interesting:

• The idea of Hell’s Library, magic, and the unwritten books in general
• The colors of the muses
• The idea of the forgotten ink was pretty crazy
• The effect of the ink on Gaiety and Verve
• Hero’s development of character – finding out he can know who he is without his book
• The not-so-much love triangle, but idea of loving multiple people at once was intriguing 

What I didn’t love:

• Even though I gobbled this book up, I found Archive of the Forgotten to be more challenging than Library of the Unwritten – it was definitely more philosophical in trying to define people.
• Not getting much background and character building on Probity
• Probity not having a crazy evil motive like I thought she would

They burn them first, the stories. Humans always come for the stories first. It’s their warm-up, before they start burning other humans.

I’m definitely intrigued by AJ Hackwith’s writing at this point. I’m really interested that even though I didn’t love this second Hell’s Library book, I want to check out Hackwith’s other books. This isn’t anything new, this idea that though not everything by an author is my favorite, I still want to read their books. But for some reason this is so interesting regarding Hackwith’s writing to me. Who knows why. I probably shouldn’t think that much into it – just as long as I’m enjoying what I’m reading. At this point, all I know is that I need to read The God of Lost Words and check out her sci-fi romance books, written under the name Ada Harper.

Also, let me say that the quotes about books from this are spectacular.

I never cared for the puritan notion of policing a man’s thoughts. I think the weight of the man’s life lies in what he does with it.

For now, read on and enjoy what you’re reading.