An interesting premise written in an engaging style. This is a good read for horror/fantasy lovers. It is a good addition to most general library collections.

If you read Jasper Fforde’s The Eyre Affair and thought, “you know what would make this better? If it was about a librarian in hell,” this is the book for you. Incredibly clever, imaginative, and a book-lover’s dream.

This was the moment I fell for our protagonist: “Claire found herself well suited for damnation.” Claire has been running the Unwritten Wing of Hell’s Library for 30 years when our story begins. When part of Lucifer’s Codex randomly appears, it launches a quest for both hell’s librarian and heaven’s angels. Claire has a ragtag band of her assistant (a former muse), a recently escaped character named Hero who cannot presently be returned to his book, a demon who is actually human, and a demon who is a legit demon. I thoroughly enjoyed watching the many adventures that befell them and could not wait to see who would get the Codex first and whether betrayal was afoot. Demons aren’t known for being trustworthy after all. While muse Brevity’s character felt underwritten to me, I fell hard for Leto, Hero, and even fallen angel Ramiel. We get to question the constructs around good and evil, which always interests me. The story ends on an intriguing note and I’m interested in seeing where the series develops from here.

As much as I enjoyed this, I do have some questions around Claire’s characterization. She is a person of color but this was not revealed until very late in the book: “brown face” (page 255), “usual clay complexion” (page 263). Skin color or ethnicity is made clear for almost every other character early on in the book, including Brevity’s blue skin. But we never get much of a description of Claire, beyond the fact that she has braids. (What kind of braids? I don’t know. We’re never told.) The first clue that Claire might be a person of color appeared on page 219 when Claire confronts Beatrice, a character from one of Claire’s unwritten books: “When I dreamed up your story, you weren’t the woman I wanted to love; you were the woman I wanted to be.” Beatrice was described as having “deep brown skin.” That was the moment when I paged back to the beginning of the story to see if I’d missed this important detail about Claire but I didn’t find anything and there was no confirmation that Claire had brown skin until page 255. This is written by a white author. I’m hard-pressed to understand why it wouldn’t be more clear the protagonist is a person of color and also what their race or ethnicity actually is. It is entirely possible I missed this detail in spite of double checking but it also shouldn’t be hard to find. Race and ethnicity isn’t a detail that you can just check off a box. It should inform who Claire is, even in a fantasy novel. (I’m a white woman so I’ll defer to POC readers in terms of representation but I did want to point it out.) While representation in terms of race left me with questions, this is a very LGBTQ-friendly book with a great found family element.

CW: anxiety, on-page panic attacks, violence, battle scenes, murder in self-defense, attempted murder, past murder, secondary character sacrifices themselves for the greater good ([they are resurrected), death of fictional characters, past bullying (including Leto recalling telling a friend to go ahead and die and [that friend died by suicide), past suicide, alcohol, the line “sacrificing me to the natives” which I did not think was in use anymore (declared while in Valhalla), ableist language

A wonderful series starter with such potential. Books about libraries and librarians are always a win.

I like the premise but couldn't get past the first few chapters. It was confusing, with some unnecessary cliches and I just wasn't engaged.

There is something about a story in which a library is one of the settings. It doesn't matter if the library is a fantasy or really exists, the library establishes the tone of the story, one in which the love of possibility and knowledge, as well as a reverence for the written word, are key. A. J. Hackwith puts this auto-generated tone to good use in her devilishly good novel, The Library of the Unwritten.

There is so much to love within the pages of The Library of the Unwritten. Claire is a great heroine. Determined, unafraid, erudite, and exacting, she is exactly what you would expect of a librarian. Except, she is not all rule-following and sternness. As you discover more about her and her past, it makes those moments when she does break the rules more powerful and impactful.

I also love Ms. Hackwith's clever approach to the afterlife. In her world, there is no such thing as one Hell and one Heaven. Rather, one goes to the afterlife of his or her religious belief, whether it is ancient Egypt, Buddhist, or Christian. This inclusion is satisfying on many levels, one of which is the fact it is a harmonious approach to the many belief systems that exist around the world. Instead of drawing a line in the proverbial sand that there is only one afterlife option, Ms. Hackwith includes them all to emphasize the point that anything is possible.

As much as I enjoyed The Library of the Unwritten, it is not without its issues. For one, there are times in which the plot becomes a little too convenient to be believable. The identity of one particular character, while interesting and a nice way to tie Claire's past to her present, does not appear to be necessary to the overall story. There are other instances of situations resolving themselves a little too easily. In addition, some of the imagery is a little clunky.

Those issues are minor, though, and I thoroughly enjoyed The Library of the Unwritten. I am eager to see where Ms. Hackwith takes the story next. In particular, I hope we get to know more of Claire's backstory. I would also love to learn how people become librarians in Hell and how Hell actually works since it appears a lot more complicated than one might think. One thing is for sure, the sequel should have more of the fantastic character interaction and Claire's prickly personality to entertain us.

DNF @50

The premise of this very similar to Genevieve Cogman's Invisible Library series, and I prefer that one. Had I not read that, I might have been more impressed by this one. That said, I do think this has a slot in the market for readers who prefer less romance.

If there exists a Library whose holdings include every single story not yet written, where would such a Library exist? In A. J. Hackwirth's charming and imaginative Fantasy,  THE LIBRARY OF THE UNWRITTEN , the eponymous location is found, of all places, in Hell, staffed not by demons, but by a consecutive series of dedicated Human Librarians. Librarians everywhere are a Special Category, and the Librarians of the Unwritten are no exception.

Very interesting concept with well written characters. Hopefully there will be more to this story as I'd love to see the characters again soon.

*Received via NetGalley for review*

More "religious" than I expected, and less "bookish," but still an exciting read once it gets going.

Claire Hadley has looked over the Unwritten Wing for three decades. It is a place where the books, unfinished and unwritten, reside. The Library is located in a neutral space in Hell. Sometimes their characters get restless and step outside their books' bindings. While Claire's job includes caring for and repairing those unwritten books, it is also her job to watch over the characters, including tracking them down if they escape. When demon courier Leto is sent to her by Lucifer himself about an escaped book, Claire does not hesitate to put together a search party made up of her assistant, former muse Brevity, and a relectuant Leto, and rush off to bring the book and its character back. 

Nothing goes quite as planned for Claire and her colleagues, however. The routine task of tracking and bringing home an escaped book turns into something much more involved. For a fallen angel is on his own hunt, that for missing pages of the Devil's Bible. His search leads him to Claire. In an effort to stave off a war between Heaven and Hell, it is up to the librarians to find the power-bearing pages before the angels--and other forces--do.

Is it any wonder I was drawn to this book after reading the description? Imagine the untold stories kept inside a library like the Library of the Unwritten. Imagine the characters stepping out of the pages and coming to life. A.J. Hackwith does an amazing job of world building and crafting characters the reader can relate to and root for all along the way. I really liked the way the author set up the afterlife--taking into account various belief systems. Heaven and Hell are not the only places people can go when they die. 

While a bit of a slow start, the novel gets better and better as it goes, and by the end, I wanted more. More Claire. More Brevity. More Hero. More Damsels. And more about the Library itself. There are many layers to this novel, and to the characters. Watching them grow and evolve over the course of the novel was half of the fun. There is a lot of action and intrigue mixed in as well, which makes this an even more compelling read. I had not idea what to expect once I stepped into this novel, and what a wonderful experience it turned out to be!

At first I was like this is interesting then it turned into something I wasn't interested in. The concept of characters from book coming to life is always interesting but the backdrop of hell is not for me.

A lyrical start to what I hope turns into a series.  The characters were well-written and the plot hung together.  I very much enjoyed this.

I absolutely loved the Library of the Unwritten and am earlier anticipating the sequel. The Library of the Unwritten tells the story of Claire, a librarian who is in charge of the Unwritten Library. The library is not your typical library as it resides in the realm of Hell and holds the books that were mere thoughts of authors and never written. 

The Library of the Unwritten has Claire at the beginning chasing after an unsuspecting Hero that has escaped his book and has fled to find his author to inspire her to write his story.  However, things take an unexpected turn when the Unwritten Library and Heaven come on a near collision course to discover pages of a book that was never known of, and completely unexpected. A book that in its entirety could change everything Claire, Heaven, and Hell know. 

Thus begins the quest to recover the pages of the most unexpected unwritten book, the Devil's Bible. The pursuit leads Claire, her muse assistant Brevity, the Hero, and a demon assistant Leto to run into the angels Ramiel and Uriel, along with an adventure throughout other near forgotten realms. 

The story from the start captivated me and kept me wanting to know what would happen next. The story was so unique and refreshing because it was like one that I never had read before. From beginning to end the story was as enchanting as a myth or legend. It really is not so surprising for me to love this book given that I myself wished to be a librarian and could only dream to be the Librarian for a library such as this one. 

I absolutely cannot wait to see what Hackwith comes up with next and look forward to anything she has in the future.

I ADORED this book. It's more than just a book about what happens when unwritten books come to life - it's about Heaven and Hell, about what it means to be a good person, about what is right and what is wrong. This book is like if American Gods and Good Omens and The Starless Sea had a baby, and I loved it.

Loved the premise of this book, but I could not ever get in.  I finished, but it was with effort.    It felt tedious at time.s.

If you are a book lover, you NEED to read this! The premise: all unwritten books sit in a library in the neutral part of hell. Sometimes, the characters come to life, and one in particular is on the hunt for their author. Now it’s a race against the clock to capture them and bring them back before they wreck havoc on all things good. This is an amazing fantasy read for all bibliophiles alike. I LOVED it! Excited to read more from this new series!

I really enjoyed this book. I was curious about a library in hell and the more I read the more fascinated I was. The idea that unwritten books exist and the book could possibly come to life was brilliant. I was totally invested in Clair's journey to save the library and her no nonsense approach that got her burned more than once. Brevity is the best assistant and Leto was such an interesting character to watch grow. I have way more questions than answers about Ramiel and Hero is definitely my favorite. 

I am looking forward to the next book because I can't wait to what is next for the library and Claire.

Amazing world building, characters and action! Love the plot but most of all, I loved the characters. And this was just a breath of fresh air.

The imagination and unique premise of this book alone make this a book I would highly recommend to all readers, but this book has so much more to offer. One of those, and the standout item for me, was the characters, each were well developed, dynamic and evolved along with the plot. I fell in love with each one and the narrator does a fantastic job at bringing each of these characters alive right before my ears. I am so glad this is the first of series, I get to have more time with the characters and their stories. I highly recommend this book to all readers.

This book was beautiful and the characters were so realistic. I can't wait to read the sequel about Hell's librarian.