This was a fascinating read! A great concept well executed and such good relatable characters. I particularly loved Claire and Brevity. Might try to do a cosplay of them with my coworker for an upcoming Library Conference. I got a little uncomfortable in places with heaven vs. hell but that is just a personal thing and it did not really affect the overall story for me. Great book!

The Unwritten Wing of the Library is located in Hell and is run by Claire Hadley. It's her job to care for all the unwritten stories ever created and to track down any books that come to life in the form of one of its characters. When one Hero escapes the Library, it sets of a chain of events involving the Devil's Bible, angels, other realms of the dead, and one of Claire's own unwritten characters.

As a book lover and a writer, I absolutely loved this book. Not only did it offer an incredible adventure, but it also made me look at my own unfinished and unwritten stories in a completely different light. For a writer, I think it offers a good kick to get back to writing. After finishing this gorgeous book, of course, because it's a real delight.

The Characters

I loved the characters. I don't think there was one I didn't enjoy. They were well-crafted with motivations and histories that provided a rich tapestry for the story and drove the plot forward. I loved that they showed personal growth and I especially loved watching the bonds form between Claire, Hero, and Leto.

Claire was hands down my favorite. She's a stern librarian who followed the rules and refused to bend. She's protective and head strong with a serious sense of responsibility and duty. I loved that she always seemed to be put together, but was still deeply flawed because of it. Reading her growth was a beautiful thing. Hero, too, was exceptional. A character in an unwritten book come to life, he was much more than he appeared. I must say I enjoyed the development of his character the most. It wasn't completely unexpected, but absolutely added another shade to the novel that deepened its richness. I was a little confused about Leto at first, but it just tied into his own confusion about himself. He tugged at my heartstrings the most and his character arc was simply beautiful.

I think the only thing I didn't like about the characterizations was how human they were. Claire and Leto were deceased human souls, yet they felt like living, breathing people, which felt a little odd for dead people. They breathed. They ate. They slept. It was all very human, even when they were in the various realms of the dead. It was a little weird and kind of had me scratching my head. Otherwise, I enjoyed the characters and really felt like they came to life. Though I probably would have liked it better if they felt more like dead souls moving around in the world of the living.

The Setting

Most of the story took place in one of several realms of the dead, like Hell and Valhalla, but a good chunk of it also took place among the living on Earth and in Heaven. I thought the world building was interesting and unique, especially when it came to the realms of the dead.

I loved that much of this book involved a romp through dead realms. It was interesting to see how they differed and how they were shaped by the mythologies that created them. They were each different and unique and offered intriguing takes on life after death.

As a reader, my favorite place was, of course, the Library. Located in Hell, it simply took up space there and I loved that Claire was able to call Lucifer silly names and get away with it. The Library itself was massive, packed full of books that had not been written. It's an interesting concept, and I'm sure I'd be one of the demons frequenting it if I were there, but I really loved that it also still felt like a normal library.

Overall, the world building was absolutely lovely and provided a great backdrop to the story and characters. It was well-thought out and the movement between the realms made sense to the story.

The Plot

I think my one complaint is that it took quite a bit for the story to really get going. The first half was a little slow, but it really picked up during the second half. I appreciate that Hackwith took the time to really introduce the reader to the Library and the characters, but I kind of forgot what the book was supposed to be about until about a quarter of the way through.

But that second half is really incredible. Most of the story is crammed into that last 50%, but, somehow, it never felt rushed. The story progressed at a natural pace and it was wonderful to see the development of each of the characters. Still, it was an interesting contrast to the much slower first half where very little seemed to occur.

I did love that the story involved books and the tracking down of one powerful book in particular. It kept the story moving and allowed movement through many places. I do think the story took a bit of a back seat to the character development, but the story still managed to move forward in a seemingly organic way.

Overall

This was a great book, perfect for readers and writer. The characters are engaging, the worlds are well-developed without being too much, and the story is interesting. I wish we could have encountered Lucifer, but, if the demon Claire knows is any indication of what beings in Hell are like, then maybe it's a good thing he isn't seen. I loved this book and I'm so glad this is the first in a series. I can't wait to see what the second book has to offer.


Thank you so much to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for a free eARC. All opinions expressed are my own.
Link to post: https://thelilycafe.com/2019/10/03/book-review-the-library-of-the-unwritten-by-a-j-hackwith/

I got this book through NetGalley to review. This is the first book in the Hell’s Library series. This was a very creative and well done book. I enjoyed the humor and wry tone of the characters. I also really enjoyed the idea of a library located in Hell that houses all unfinished books.

This book is primarily about a library located in Hell called the Unwritten Wing where unwritten books are kept. The story jumps between three main POVs (there are a couple others but these are the main three). The first is that of Claire, the librarian. The second is that of Leta, a new demon in Hell sent to help Claire. The last is that of Ramiel, a fallen angel that ends up trying to hunt down Claire and Leto.

In general I liked this book, it did take me quite a while to read though. I think my biggest issue was that I never really felt all that engaged with the characters. I enjoyed the characters and their snarkiness, however neither the characters nor the broader storyline made me desperate to read this book. The writing style, while easy to read, made me feel distanced from the characters and their story.

This book will remind readers of many other books out there that take a humorous look at clashes between Heaven and Hell. It falls under those books that are a bit humorous and are about heaven and hell and the machinations that happen behind the scenes to affect humanity as a whole (think Good Omens, Dogma, etc). I did enjoy the twist of how much influence this Unwritten Library has over leaders in Hell.

Overall this is a creative read. I am on the fence about whether or not I will continue this series. I just felt like I had to actively force myself to finish this one even though I enjoyed a lot parts of the story. I also am not a huge fan of these type of near apocalyptic humourous heaven vs hell types of stories.

I’ve never read a book by this author before, and I was intrigued by the premise of this one. I was afraid, though, that it might be a little hard to understand, but my fears were for naught. The concept of unwritten books was clear and easy to understand for the most part. I really liked the characters in this one, and quite enjoyed the plot. I did find it hard sometimes to connect to the characters, especially Claire, and TBH, I’m not completely sure why. However, don’t get me wrong, I really did enjoy this very well-written book, and I do intend to read the next. I was really happy to see an extremely unique premise of the book in a genre that’s filled with the same tropes and universes, which I don’t mind, but it’s nice to see something different. All in all, this was a great book urban fantasy readers would find entertaining. Recommend! I was provided a copy and voluntarily wrote a review.

This is an exciting book but I didn't fall in love with it.

Claire, head librarian of a library of unwritten books (as a writer that idea horrifies me), comes across a hint of a book that will cause the downfall of heaven, hell, and Earth.

The setting is interesting as she works in hell but in a neutral territory. She knows everything but isn't on anyone's side but the library's. Once she's on her journey, we see that there are different afterlives.

There wasn't much tension because everyone's already dead. The book even states that souls can't die. So, I never felt worried about anyone's fate.

Really all you need to do to get me to read a book is tell me it's about books or libraries or librarians, so when I found out "The Library of the Unwritten" was about all three of those things I knew I had to get my hands on it. I was not disappointed!

Claire is the Librarian of the Unwritten Wing of Hell's Library, where books unfinished by their authors sit in a sort of literary limbo. Occasionally, the books wake up and one of their characters tries to escape to Earth in an effort to find their author and get Written. When that happens, Claire must hunt them down and return them to the library. Unfortunately for Claire, and her muse/assistant librarian Brevity, what should be a normal retrieval goes horribly awry when a scrap of the Devil's Bible shows up. Now Heaven and Hell are poised on the brink of war and poor Claire is caught right in the middle.

I loved every second of this book. Just apart from the fact that it's about one of my favorite topics, I found the characters fun and sympathetic (I would totally hang out with these people!), the plot well-paced, and the story thoroughly engrossing. I'm already on tenterhooks waiting for the second book!

TW for oblique references to suicide and murder.

Look. (Listen!) I'm a librarian. I obviously have a horse in this race, a stake in this game, a demon in this hell. I won't lie about that. And I won't try to pretend to be objective! But in my humble, library-informed opinion ... this book is stinkin' awesome.

Books about subjects close to one's heart can go one of two ways, right? They can either get it wrong or get it right. Hackwith's take on libraries and librarians is in many ways a send-up of classic library tropes, with be-skirted librarians with date stamps and card catalogs and a penchant for yelling about damaged bindings. And I certainly know librarians of that type, and I won't deny that physical books are still a part of daily library service in most libraries. (Although I *have* visited a bookless library, which was kind of surreal.) My point is ... modern library work is 90% dealing with poop smears and obscure reference questions and making sure nobody's jerking off in the stacks. (And don't even get me started on the wifi, public computers, tablets, life jackets, telescopes, dvds, seeds, and other assorted miscellany we sort out on a daily basis.) This book is ... not about those things.

And that's okay! By not being about any kind of modern library, Hackwith is able to take the kind of fantastical liberties inherently necessary when introducing angels, muses, demons, and other heaven and hell-adjacent creatures to the unquiet stacks of the Unwritten Wing of hell's library. This book is a rollocking romp through hell, heaven, the land of the living, Valhalla, and some place with a giant judgey skull and a ... crocodile? Its light and whimsical tone is nevertheless thoughtful and measured in tackling issues of the heart, identity, and who we choose to call family. One character ends up joining the party after having committed suicide, and Hackwith manages to somehow strike a balance between touching on the deep tragedy of this act in a fantasy novel where the manner of one's death does not define the end of one's journey. The kid in me who was forced to memorize enormous swathes of biblical texts is roaming around quoting Hosea 13:14 all up in here, because this book is 1000% sweet distilled goodness and adventure.

Don't get the wrong idea; it's also passionately revisionist and delightfully heretical, in all the ways I wish we could all be. (Picture me singing "god is a wooooman" up in here, too.) It's generous in spirit and humane in its treatment of all of its characters. It blends just the right proportion of riotous good fun with whimsy and grit and a dollop of queer representation that doesn't fall into any of the common traps. It's all heart and soul (ha, ha—read the damn book already so you can get all my terrible jokes!), despite being set (partially) in actual hell and my *other* hell (a bar full of muscular drunk menfolk in Viking getup) and my *backup other* hell (a poorly-organized collection of enchanted artifacts stalked by dimensionally-wobbly horrors). There are sword fights! Knife fights! Raven fights! Fake fights in cafes! Fights with damsels! Fights with angels! Fights with demons! Fights with ... beads! Firefights in the stacks! Conversations and reconciliations with lots of weird people! Walter! Books on the run! Journeys through labyrinths! Interdimensional journeys! Journeys t—

You get the picture. Now, go out and get this book.

I think this is one of the most unique and imaginative books I’ve read this year.

Claire is the head librarian of hell’s library, where all the unfinished, unwritten books are stored. Her job is to repair, organize and maintain the books in her stacks. Occasionally a character will escape from their story and it’s Claire’s job to retrieve them and return them to their pages. She has an assistant, Brevity, who is a muse and is light and friendly where Claire can be stern and uncompromising.

When tasked with finding an escaped character on Earth, Claire and Brevity find themselves caught in the middle of a much bigger problem. A piece of what is known as the Devil’s Bible has made it’s way to the pearly gates and several angels have set out to find the rest. If they do Heaven and Hell will be thrown into war. Accompanied by Hero, the once missing character, Leto, a demon courier, and Andras, the arcanist of hell, Claire and Brevity embark on a quest to find the Devil’s Bible and bring it back to the library.

This was quite an adventure, with the main protagonists travelling through several afterlife realms while evading two angels. There is witty banter, interesting back stories, betrayal, bravery, a very surprising connection between two of the characters that is revealed toward the end. All in all, a good read and very nice way to spend the afternoon. Recommend.

Every idea that was never committed to paper lives in the Library of the Unwritten. Claire, a dead author with an unwritten corpus of her own, is the Librarian. The politics of the afterlife mean the Library is technically a part of Hell, which is slightly awkward. While on a mission to recapture a book that has awakened, manifested as its protagonist, and fled to Earth, Claire is reluctantly roped into a quest for the Devil's Bible. A couple of demons, a muse, and that recalcitrant Hero are her only companions as she tears through realms trying to avert catastrophe. Nice world-building, but it did drag in the middle.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I'm really glad I didn't DNF this book. It was slow starting and took forever for me to get invested, but I feel like that was probably more a *me* issue than a *book* issue, so please take my average rating and review with a grain of salt.

What an original concept! It was quite a ride, and the idea behind it all - that there is a library in the afterlife where those books and other art projects that never get finished reside - is really unique. Add into it the imagination that went into bringing them to life, the muses, the Damsels, the different afterlifes and characters, and you had a pretty good book.

I'll consider reading the next one, and hopefully be pleasantly surprised to find that my slow investment and boredom at the beginning *were* just my mood and not the book.

Recommended with the warning that the first half might be a little slow to get going and hard to get into.

This was a fantastically amazing book - about books, libraries, afterlife realms, angels, demons, souls, characters in books coming to life, a library of UNWRITTEN BOOKS. Gah, so good! So so many wonderfully bookish, world-building, and fantasy realm things. Like Jasper Fforde’s “Thursday Next” series meets John Connolly’s “Samuel Johnson” series. I honestly loved every character in this book, even the ‘bad guys’ were intriguing and full-bodied.

It was cleverly, funny, endearing and honest. Seriously, my heart is pulsing with how much I enjoyed this book ❤️

This was interesting, fun, and funny, but it's definitely a first novel. It tries to jam together very many mythologies into one cohesive beast, and while it doesn't not work, it's a lot to keep track of for very little payoff. The effort would have been better spent on developing the characters, who seemed more like plot devices than actual people (maybe on purpose, given the theme of the story?). The end result is something that reads a bit like YA that's desperately trying not to be YA. In sum: has a lot of personality, but not a lot of character.

This was an entertaining book, particularly as a librarian. It was like a twisted sort of Thursday Next?

Books that aren't finished reside in a library in hell. The librarian there has to make sure the characters don't escape. Claire is the current librarian and when a hero gets away, she has to follow him and bring him back. She takes her assistant who is a muse and Leto, a demon that showed up right before she was leaving...

Ace and Net Galley let me read this book for review (thank you). It will be published October 1st.

They have to travel by raven to where's he's gone, taking the head of the Arcane division of the library with them. Their travels are full of danger because they have angels after them, one member of the group will betray her, and she finds she's related to the demon. Even hell has conspiracies...

Their enemies burn the book the hero was in and it disables him. The demon becomes more human as days go on, they fight monsters and angels, and then Claire has to go back and save her library.

Will she manage to do it?

This is a good read and young readers as well as adults should enjoy it if they enjoy fantasy. I sure did!

"In the first book in a brilliant new fantasy series, books that aren't finished by their authors reside in the Library of the Unwritten in Hell, and it is up to the Librarian to track down any restless characters who emerge from those unfinished stories.

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."

It's like someone took an unfinished idea of Jasper Fforde's full of potential and finally gave it the attention it deserved.

Hell has a library, and within it is the Unwritten Wing, where every story that was never written or has yet to be written is kept. Claire Hadley, the current librarian, is responsible for keeping the Unwritten Wing under control; not as easy as it sounds considering restless books sometimes wake up in the form of one of their characters. When one such character escapes to Earth it is up to Claire and her assistants to retrieve it. Meanwhile, a soul has arrived at the gates of Heaven carrying a scrap of paper with dangerous implications. An encounter in Seattle between Claire's group and the angel sent to investigate the paper touches off a series of events that threaten not only the library, but Heaven and Hell and all the other worlds in between.

The Library of the Unwritten is a creative book with great imagination. Experiencing the story from several points of view enhances the character development and keeps the action going. I enjoyed the mythological influences and the fun characters. A whimsical book that will especially appeal to librarians and writers!

I thought this book was very unique and I'm looking forward to sending copies to some friends after it comes out!

Fans of the Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman will enjoy this. While it is unfair to compare it to Good Omens, this was delightful and had its own uniqueness minus the British satire.

I had fun traveling through Valhalla. lost temples and unique places on Earth. The idea behind the unwritten wing and the books within… was fascinating as were their bindings and things we discovered.

Full review will post at Caffeinated Reviewer on October 7, 2019. Review link provided below. It will be shared on social media and uplifted. A review will cross post to Goodreads and Amazon.

In The Library of the Unwritten, Claire is a librarian in Hell, charged with managing the books that have not yet been written. She is assisted by a muse named Brevity. When Leto, a shy junior demon, arrives with a message about an escaped unwritten book, the three of them begin a journey that will change their lives, or afterlives. Ramiel is a somewhat disgraced angel looking to get back into Heaven’s good graces. This brings him up against Claire and her colleagues in their search for a very important book.

Along the way, some characters confront their pasts, some discover that their trust has been dangerously misplaced, and some find strength they never knew they had.

This is the first installment in a new fantasy series by A.J. Hackwith, and I think readers who enjoyed The Invisible Library series and Good Omens (I must confess I watched the adaptation but have not yet read the book) will love it. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy of this book.

Any book, especially a fantasy book, about a library will most certainly get my attention on NetGalley. The Library of the Unwritten, by A.J. Hackwith, is a fun fantasy adventure story that I would best describe as Percy Jackson for grown-ups. It has a fun mix of heroes and villains, religious themes from many cultures, and a story that is filled with many locations and adventures. This is a highly entertaining book.

What I Liked:
World-building:

The story is set in Hell, specifically, Hell's library where the manuscripts of unfinished novels dwell. All that unrealized potential, just sits on the shelves. At times, the characters in these works "wake up" and try to escape. This is where the librarian comes into play. It is their job to put these fictional characters back in their story.

I thoroughly enjoyed the descriptions of this library, the librarian, and her assistant, and the escapee characters. Also, there is a second story line set in Heaven. It seems that there is a tremendous bureaucratic machine (where lines literally take an eternity) processing people entering Heaven. Although neither Hell or Heaven is described in great length, we can sense that entering Heaven will be worth the wait.

Characters:

The librarian, Claire, has a mysterious past that we will learn about as the story progresses. But for now, we see that she is strong, efficient, and no-nonsense. She collects a random array of lost souls, all realizing that Claire has their best interest at heart. But that has not always been the case...

Ramiel is an Angel who is assigned to find the pages of a book called The Devil's Bible. He is full of righteousness as he encounters Claire, assuming she is evil because she works for the Devil. But, because he is also working towards redemption for something in his past, he begins to see there is more to Claire and her friends than meets the eye.

There are many wonderful side characters, but I particularly like the ones who are fugitive characters from the unfinished novels of the library. The author has fun playing with common archetypes such as the Hero and the Damsel. There is also a exploration of how a story is created. Does the plot create the characters or do the characters drive the story?

Story:

The book centers around finding the lost pages of The Devil's Bible, a book that holds tremendous power. The Librarian must travel to the earthly world, as well as otherworldly realms such as Valhalla, to find the missing pages. As with any quest, each new destination presents a challenge Clair must pass to prove herself worthy (as in the Percy Jackson books). This was fun, and not always straight-forward.

What I Was Mixed About:
Slow Beginning:

The beginning of the story was slow to get going. I was worried that the novel would be one cliche after another. It was starting to annoy me when finally the story picked up with Ramiel and other characters that added more variety to the story. Going to many different locations, also created a sense of unpredictability. I just wish the author would have done this faster.