A smart and creative followup to the very original Library of the Unwritten. The author recently tweeted that she had completed the trilogy, and I will certainly be sticking around to see how this finishes.

While I enjoyed The Archive of the Forgotten, I didn't find it nearly as captivating as the first in the series, The Library of the Unwritten. In fact,. the first half was a bit of a slog for me.. Things picked up considerably in the second half of the book, and Hero and Rami were satisfactorily developed as characters. I look forward to the third volume in the series!

Oh, man, this book was really fantastic and such a great sequel! I loved reading more in this world, it's so fascinating, and we learn so much! There's this mystery of what is the ink, what its powers are. It was so intriguing, and with the excerpts from the librarian's log talking about the mystery. So that was fantastic!

So it was interesting to read this book with the new dynamic from the events in the past book, that Brevity is now the Librarian, and Claire is the Archivist. Adding in a Muse from Brevity's past who doesn't like how Claire previously treated Brevity and the Library, well, it was such an intriguing read!

We do visit a few more other branches of the library, given the mystery of the ink is more than just the Library of the Unwritten's duty. And we did learn a few interesting things, though a few pretty sad things, as well. But it was such a great journey!

There were some really interesting developments in the romance arena. It was so thrilling to read! And I can't wait to see where it goes, because there were a few comments and such that open the possibilities, and I just want to explore them!

Loved this book, it was so fantastic, and I can't wait for more from this series!

Another wonderful addition to the "Hell's Library" series. A little slow at the start, but takes off like a rocket about midway through. I love the way A.J. Hackwith writes, and this series truly is a love letter to books and book lovers everywhere.

One suggestion (plea?): Would love to see a physical version of the Unwritten Wing's Logbook, because those entries are as fascinating as anything.

This installation wasn't quite as good as the first but it is still a fun little romp through and some libraries. I loved the new characters and the continuation of the relationships between the old characters.

This is one of the those books that is so far beyond 5 stars - it's just brilliant! I read the first book in the series immediately before reading this and I was hooked right away. I love books about libraries and books about stories - this is a book about a book in a library in Hell - so perfect!

You really do need to read the first book before reading this one - I'm weird in that I can never start as series in the middle anyway, but with this you just really need to start at the beginning. But that is so worth it!

This is a super smart, clever book. There's a lot going on, a lot of layers and it's never boring - I could not put it down! The only downside to this is that I want to stay lost in the Library of the Unwritten and now that I'm finished with the book I feel so empty - I need more of this!

Secret or fantastical libraries are book catnip for me. I thoroughly enjoyed The Libray of the Unwritten, the first book in this series so I was quite looking forward to The Archive of the Forgotten.

AJ Hackwith is a master worldbuilder and in this book, she shows us even more. We see more libraries like the Library of Dust where books go to die - which was heartbreaking to read. We get to see more afterlives and even where the Muses come from. These are all so beautifully described that I hope we get to explore them further in future books.

Claire and Brevity are trying to settle into their new roles as Archivist and Librarian respectively. But both are nursing hurt feelings and misunderstanding the other's motives.

This is made worse when a mysterious ink surfaces. Claire and Brevity disagree about what the ink is and what they should do with it. Rami and Hero team up to look for answers. And is that a romance developing? A very solid second entry into the series.

I had difficulty getting fully engaged with book one of this series, Library of the Unwritten, but gave the second a try. While the story is interesting and imaginative, I couldn't get into it. In the first book, the pacing felt slow, It felt somewhat improved in this book. I liked the potential of a romance in the story, but I could really take it or leave it. I liked the book, just not enough to consider it one I loved to read.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review The Archive of the Forgotten.

Oh. My. GOODNESS!!!!!

I don't normally gush, but you're going to see more adjectives here - and superlative ones, at that - than normal. The book deserves them all, plain and simple.

I couldn't imagine how the incredible world-building and characterizations of The Library of the Unwritten could be improved upon, but somehow A.J. Hackwith managed... This second-in-series is brilliant - every bit as original, dramatic, thought-provoking, entertaining, and engaging as the first, but with a marvelous series of additions that spun things in whirlwind directions that made everything just that little bit larger than life.

At the advice of another reviewer, I reread TLotU immediately before beginning this one - that wasn't exactly a hardship, even if it did delay my digging into this one, because I LOVED the first book. I'm very glad that I did because there was so much that happened in the original story and I'm glad I had all that nuance between characters, motivations, and the unfolding stories of the logbook when I read this one. There is an ingenious unfolding happening here - layer by delicate layer, Hackwith is revealing deceptions (intentional and not), revelations (ditto) and a larger purpose that are phenomenal in their depth and breadth. All the seemingly random, seemingly throwaway bits are building into something majestic and it's incredible to watch this origami unfold itself.

The characters are gorgeously presented, full of foibles and quirks and human frailties (even when they're not entirely - or even a little bit - human). The worlds are lushly described, full of the type of minute details that make them jump off the page and inhabit your brain long after you've closed the book (or file, as I read it on Kindle).

I love books about books and authors and the process of creating stories. This is one of the best examples of that I've seen - with a solid dose of philosophical consideration about the nature of the universe thrown in for good measure. If you're not familiar with this series, you should be... It is, in a word, superlative. Just like my adjectives...

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC of this book.
Another one of my most anticipated releases for 2020. The Library of the Unwritten was a surprisingly delightful read and had everything I love: various mythologies, afterlives, books, libraries, and supernatural creatures. What was not to love? So of course I was excited to read the sequel.
Truth be told I was feeling like I was in a bit of a reading slump and just a blah reading mood. It continued while trying to read this. I would pick up my phone and then read a paragraph and switch back to social media. Nothing was grabbing me into the story this time. It was very hard to get into and I’m not sure if it was the book itself or my mood or a combination of the two.
The conflict wasn’t all that appealing to me in this one. I was frequently confused. I didn’t like the addition of the new character. Stuff like that.
Because of the siege on the library in the previous book, Claire was fired/removed as Librarian and took over as Archivist in the Arcane Wing. Claire didn’t do a super great job as librarian and in this book there’s suddenly a lot of conflict between her and Brevity, her former apprentice and now replacement Librarian. Maybe I just don’t remember things properly but it seemed very weird and forced and didn’t make very much sense to me. Especially when the povs would switch and how they would think about each other, and it would not translate into what actually happened when they interacted. Sort of a weird miscommunication conflict trope and generally I hate that trope because I find it frustrating and unenjoyable to read.
There was also an addition of a new character from Brevity’s past that quickly became apparent as a snake. She furthered the discourse between Brevity and Claire by whispering ideas into Brevity’s ear and talking her up and whatnot. I just didn’t like it. She kind of fuels the main conflict for this novel and I hope to GOD, LUCIFER, ZEUS, HADES... that she never reappears in future novels.
But the pros: we see a couple new afterlives AND other magic libraries! That was pretty rad.
Another huge change from the first book.... I don’t remember the first book having any romance which was fine because contrary to popular belief books can be really good without romance, but there is blossoming romance in this one and I found myself very invested in that. I’m generally bad at reading subtle context stuff and don’t have very much experience reading about poly relationships but I’m like 98% sure there’s a blossoming poly relationship between three of the main characters (because I’m pretty sure there are also no straight characters) and it was fun to read about. I hope it becomes more official and obvious in the next book.
I did like the climax and the relationship so it gets three stars but could have easily gotten two stars especially if I was only reviewing the first half of the novel.

The Archive of the Forgotten, by A.J. Hackwith, a good sequel to a fun book. I highly recommend going back and reading the first book again because there are a lot of little details that this book picks up right away with. I enjoyed it at lot

I’d be lying if I didn’t admit to being a little bit in awe of AJ Hackwith’s brain. I don’t even feel like I’m reading her books as much as receiving confirmation of all the things I’ve ever believed about stories.
Ideas like reading in corners comes naturally because the two sides of your book form a little room of your own, that there are mournful places like “The Dust Library” where forgotten books go to die, or that reading helps us to figure out who we are and completes us.
There’s a lot more, but sharing would ruin some surprises, so I’ll just say, if you’re a book lover, read it. It’s like coming home.