Hello and welcome to another installment of Ariel’s Arcs! Today I’m going to talk about the first two books in the Hell’s Library series: The Library of the Unwritten and The Archive of the Forgotten (out October 6, 2020). This post is going to be as spoiler-free as possible for those of you who haven’t read either books. Since I was provided with an Arc of the Archive of the Forgotten in exchange for a review, I will start out with a brief summary of book one before moving on to my experience reading book two.
The reader is welcomed into this universe in The Library of the Unwritten, where books who have not yet been written reside until their authors write them. We meet a host of characters: Claire, a human who is the most recent Librarian for Hell’s Library, Brevity, who is Claire’s muse assistant, Remi, who is a disillusioned angel, and Hero, an unwritten character who has big ideas about what his character should be. This book is beautifully written and overall it feels like a love letter to authors, readers, and the books that we all love so much. This book was thoroughly enjoyable and I found myself so excited for the second in the series.
In The Archive of the Forgotten, we pick up almost immediately after the final events of book one. However, there is a bit of a shift of focus onto a neighboring wing of Hell’s Library: the Archives. In the Archive, the magical items of the world are categorized and organized here. A mysterious pool of what looks like ink has appeared in a corner of the Archive, and it is up to Claire and company to solve the mystery while still reeling from the drastic events of the previous book’s finale.
Overall, this was a good sequel. I wish there had been more attention focused on the magical properties of the items within the Archive, but overall the continued character development of the characters kept me engaged and immersed throughout. I would love to see more books written in this universe. One of my most favorite aspects about these books is how clearly the author loves writing, literature, and creating her characters. It makes for one of the most unique and established reading experiences where I am excited to keep turning the pages to see what else is in store.
A huge Thank you to Netgalley and Berkley (Penguin Random House) for an advanced copy of the Archive of the Forgotten!
Final Rating:
** Be sure to check out The Archive of the Forgotten. It is out October 6. You can use the preorder links below. **
Amazon Kindle
Amazon Print
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