The Library of the Unwritten by A.J. Hackwith

Want some more magical Libraries in your life? If you liked The Last Heir to Blackwood Library, here’s another book for you! Please note, this review is from 2019.

Want to know the absolute best part of this book?  It’s number one in a series! THERE WILL BE MORE! According to the author’s website, this is the first book in the Hell’s Library Trilogy and I’m so excited to see where she takes this series.  

Hell has a Library. Of course it would have a Library.  What does every Library need? A Librarian!  Claire is the head librarian of the Unwritten Wing where the unfinished stories are housed.  Claire’s books are more than just books, they’re magical books where the characters can come to life and really put a crimp in Claire’s day.  When a new demon brings Claire the bad news that she has to return to earth to find a runaway character from a book, what should be a standard retrieval mission quickly turns into a race against angels and demons to find the missing pages of the Devil’s Bible.  Now faced with an impending war between Heaven and Hell, Claire and her assistant, a Muse named Brevity, must place their trust in a Hero, a newly made demon, and a fallen angel to save the balance between the two realms.  

The world building is incredible.  The books found in the Unwritten Wing are capable of waking up, allowing their characters to roam the library or try to escape and find their authors.  There’s even a special lounge for the “Damsels” to hang out in and those ladies are given a great scene towards the end that I loved. I’m a big fan of books about books or books about magical libraries and the fact that Hell’s Library has special collections and a way to do IWL, or Interworld Loans, is just beyond delightful. At one point, she uses a special stamp on a book character to place them in Special Collections and it’s just the best.  Granted, I’m a Librarian so I’m a bit biased about the delightfulness. And even better, demons check out the books! She has to check out books to Demons! It’s all just so fun. But it’s not all quippy literary quotes and jokes in the stacks. Along with the fun is the very real fear of what happens to our loved ones once we pass. Will we be remembered? Will our kids continue on and be happy? Start families of their own? This is also Hell’s Library.  We’re dealing with characters with heavy souls who made choices that landed them downstairs.  I really loved how the author gave us authentic character growth and placed the characters in really tough situations.  No one gets out of this adventure unscathed which makes me even more eager for book 2.  

At one point, there’s a literary duel between two librarians where they trade off identifying book quotes and get hurt when they guess incorrectly. They duel with book quotes. 

Book. Quote. Duel.  

I really loved this book.

If you love adventures through literary history, quirky librarians, and the long standing feud between Heaven and Hell, this is definitely the book for you.  

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