Review copy was received from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
The Library of the Unwritten by AJ Hackwith Series: Hell's Library #1
Published by Ace on October 1, 2019
Genres: Fantasy
Pages: 336
Format: eARC
Source: NetGalley
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Many years ago, Claire was named Head Librarian of the Unwritten Wing-- a neutral space in Hell where all the stories unfinished by their authors reside. Her job consists mainly of repairing and organizing books, but also of keeping an eye on restless stories that risk materializing as characters and escaping the library. When a Hero escapes from his book and goes in search of his author, Claire must track and capture him with the help of former muse and current assistant Brevity and nervous demon courier Leto.
But what should have been a simple retrieval goes horrifyingly wrong when the terrifyingly angelic Ramiel attacks them, convinced that they hold the Devil's Bible. The text of the Devil's Bible is a powerful weapon in the power struggle between Heaven and Hell, so it falls to the librarians to find a book with the power to reshape the boundaries between Heaven, Hell….and Earth.
The first half of The Library of the Unwritten, I had first book syndrome. I struggled to assimilate the world, the characters; it was made worse because of the angels and demons. Luckily, there wasn’t much in a religious nature and by the second half, I was starting to enjoy the story.
The premise with librarians, books, muses and characters is very clever. After all, who doesn’t love books and libraries? It took awhile to become attached, since these characters are in Hell. Although, my least favorite characters ended up being from Heaven.
There were some scary monsters and dire moments for Claire and her team while on their quest. I loved her practicality, skills of long experience and intelligent determination. She also gains insight into the overall world and more compassion for those in the library. I liked Claire and wanted her to succeed. The characters’ typical greed and ruthlessness because of what are basically politics was not as favorable.
Now that I know the world and characters, I am sure I would enjoy the next book much more. I’d also recommend, if you are like me, I sometimes do better with audio if the world is particularly unique or complex.
About AJ Hackwith
A. J. Hackwith is (almost) certainly not an ink witch in a hoodie. She’s a queer writer of fantasy and science fiction living in Seattle, and writes sci-fi romance as Ada Harper. She is a graduate of the Viable Paradise writer’s workshop and her work appears in Uncanny Magazine and assorted anthologies. Summon A.J. at your own peril with an arcane circle of fountain pens and classic RPGs, or you can find her on Twitter and other dark corners of the Internet.
I read all types of books but my favorites are urban fantasy and romantic suspense.I like some romance and some action / adventure / mystery in everything.I like sex in my books but please, only between TWO people.Intimate conversation is equally important to the sex in a book.It lets me see the characters.The other thing I enjoy is humor.
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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- 2019 Releases
Great review, Anne? It’s extremely helpful knowing it does a lot of world building. I have it and will definitely follow the two-book rule.
I don’t know if it’s a lot of world building or just that it took me so much time to assimilate for some reason. I read 60%, put it down 2 months and then read the rest in a couple hours.
Sometimes first books are hard. I am glad you ended up enjoying it.
yes, I’m not sure why it happens but it does, less with audio. At the end, I have trouble seeing why it was hard, but I can’t forget it was. Sometimes I just have to work it over in my mind a bit.
i find that problem with scifi and sometimes a book with a lot of worldbuilding seems almost like a textbook trying to decipher everything. kudos to your persistence
Thanks, I rarely DNF a book. I always want to know And this one is really good. I think the next one will be great for me!
I’m glad you finally managed to assimilate what is going on so that you could settle into the story and enjoy it. It sounds great fun – thank you for sharing:)
I honestly think I will enjoy the next one more. I don’t know why this one started so hard for me, maybe the angels / demons? Or just a bad time for reading? I found it clever and well-written.
Been keeping an eye on this one, it did sound interesting to me as well. Sorry the first part took a bit getting through
I did read the first half in 1-2 sittings. I just couldn’t pick it up again for 2 months and then I finished in one sitting. I guess I just needed time to think it through.
I somehow skipped over this one last month but hope to tackle it by the end of the year. I tend to read slowly when there is a lot of world-building but it sounds like it might be worth it.
I think this one is worth it but allow yourself some time or I might have done better in audio format.