No. 22: A trilogy
Hell’s Library series / A.J. Hackwith
I don’t read a lot of trilogies. In all honesty I have a hard time thinking of another set of three books I read. So, yay for the reading challenge expending my reading experience!
The trilogy I ended up with was by total accident: I got the first book purely based on the title and cover art and only found out it was the first of three books when I looked up more information online. So, I happily made sure to get my hands on parts two and three as well, and here we are.
Book 1: The Library of the Unwritten (2019)
Fantasy is not a genre I would pick under normal circumstances, because the world-building can be, dare I say it, tedious with too much detail. It’s a fine line between too much and not enough, and I guess the closer to the “known” the world setting is, the easier it is for the reader to be left to figure stuff out. For me that was the case with this book, as it is worldly unworldly.
The Library of the Unwritten, is part of Hell’s library, and is exactly what it sounds like: a library full of books that were started, but never finished. There are muses with pieces of text tattooed on their bodies, who live with damsels that fell out of their books and for whatever reason, couldn’t get back in.
The library users are demons and the like, allowed to use the materials inside the library but not take any of it out. There is a librarian in charge, doomed to keep the characters where they should be. Then one day Hero falls out of a book. Hero is classically handsome, and has one goal: to rescue his heroine, his author. He manages to escape the library and travel to earth, and when librarian Claire discovers this, she has to chase him through time and place to get him back into his book. That’s easier said than done, because she knows that when she leaves the library unguarded, well, all hell is about to break loose. And leaving the library is complicated enough, but getting back even more so, because the devil sends guards after them, and that’s not to get them back, but to eliminate them. Nobody is allowed to leave the library.
Claire doesn’t have to chase Hero on her own, because Brevity travels with her. Brevity is a muse, and library assistant. She has green hair and purple skin with text tattooed on it.
On their way they face challenges, engage in literature duels (awesome: participants hit each other with quotes), and need to track down a potion. They get stuck in a maze and have their souls weighted. And because the people they meet along the way all seem to have a hidden agenda, figuring out who’s friend or foe is difficult. All along they know that the situation in the Library is getting bad, and the urgency of finding their way back grows with every moment spent outside it.
I loved the settings (the gargoyle guarding the library, inter world loan system), and the characters were interesting enough to want to read more.
If you want to read this series, you might not want to continue this entry because what follows contains spoilers that might ruin your appetite and I’d hate to be responsible.
Book 2: The Archive of the Forgotten (2020)
This book opens where the first ended: the heroes have returned to the Library of the Unwritten and the dust of the big end fight is still settling. Claire is no longer the librarian, but has moved on to be the Arcanist, the keeper of the keeps of the Archive of the Forgotten. Fallen angel Rami has become her assistant. Muse Brevity is now the librarian of the Library of the Unwritten, with Hero as her assistant librarian.
When a mysterious inkwell appears on the library floor, they all go to check it out, and after reaching in, Claire’s hand turns completely ink black.
The gang needs to figure out how to help her, what effects the ink have on a human, and how to avoid the ink to spread. This sets off a chase across the realms once more for Hero and Rami. Claire stays at the Archives to establish what kind of ink it is. For this, she needs help from the damsels that live in the library but the relationship between Claire and Brevity is strained, making things move along slowly. It doesn’t help that Claire is distrusting of Brevity’s muse friend Probity.
Although everybody takes a different path, they all end up at the same place: the Dust Wing. This graveyard of books is where the finale takes place and we learn that it’s not about books, stories or writers, but souls. And that muses want to be their own person, and not just be connected to an artist.
We also learn that heroes should ask for permission to kiss someone because otherwise they’re no better than villains after all.
(Applause for that line.)
The story was easy to pick up because I knew the characters and was familiar with the setting. After the initial action of Claire getting stained by the ink, things slowed down a bit too much for my liking. There was a lot of interpersonal drama, which makes sense because the characters were left unsettled and have to get used to their new positions and roles, but that part wasn’t my favorite. Things picked up once Rami and Hero started to travel to other realms again, but by then the book was half-way through. Also, they returned fairly soon and it meant the story slowed down again.
For me, this was the weakest book in the series. I don’t read nearly enough trilogies to know if hat is a common thing to happen with the middle book.
Book 3: The God of Lost Words (2021)
And again, the book starts right where the previous one left off.
Hero feels lost without his book, Claire is still upset about her stain, and Brevity is recovering from the betrayal of her sister muse. Then, a new well appears in the library and everybody is on high alert this time. The well doesn’t contain ink though, but clear water, and through it travels Echo, the librarian of the Elysium Library. Rami and Hero had visited there in the previous book and with their presence they had awakened the books in the Elysium Library. Talking stories in an echo place is not a safe space, so the librarian is now seeking a place to hide. They’ve come to the Library of the Unwritten and without so much as a pretty please, bring in their materials.
Another person to visit, is Malphas. This dangerous figure is one of Hell’s generals and sets fire to the Arcane Wing, leaving Claire and Rami to seek refuge in the Library as well. The place is quickly becoming overcrowded, and not necessarily the safe space they all need. Realizing they are sitting ducks and that the best defense is an offence, the crew decides on a plan of attack. With an all-for-one-one-for-all ‘tude they get to working on creating a realm of their own. Which means that they need a space, a god, and a guard. To establish this, they need help from the libraries in the other realms and they set about to get the librarians on board. It’s a reunion with some of the characters from the first book and some new ones. Like in the first book, there is a sense of urgency with this story that keeps the momentum going. During their inter-world librarian meeting Malphas makes her attack and floods the Library of the Unwritten. Everybody is stuck but a plan starts to form and our band of characters jump into action: Rami and Claire lead the negotiations with hell’s general, Brevity uses her muse skills to keep what is left of the library safe, and Hero dives back into the Dust Wing.
The ending was nicely done with the Library telling the finale. It read like a movie.
I didn’t know I needed a trilogy set in hell’s library, but sometimes the books just find you and it’s a great find and all in all I’m really happy having read this trilogy. The library setting is super cool and made me smile plenty. The main characters are pretty kick-ass, and the bittersweet ending was unexpected and gave it all just a little bit extra.
Bookworm in the City 