The Library of the Unwritten // Book Review

 Book: The Library of the Unwritten (Hell’s Library 1) by A.J. Hackworth
Release Date: October 1st 2019
Tags: Fantasy / Adult / Paranormal / Hell / Demons / Heaven / Angels / Library / Unwritten Books / Muse / Valhalla
Trigger/Content Warnings: Murder / Mentioned Suicide / Mentioned Bullying

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.
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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.

Hello new favorite. I’d seen The Library of the Unwritten mentioned on twitter last Fall so when I saw in this January I decided to pick it up. While the library portion really drew me in, the hell and heaven portion were a big wildcard for me. It completely sold me over however and I want to live in this book.

Seriously I want to live in this book. Gotta make that happen.

The Library of the Unwritten is a library wing in Hell where books that are unwritten are stashed until their author are so far. In some cases they never get written. Claire is the librarian, a human soul. While the library is not hell’s property it does need to tread carefully.

The whole elements of this book were so well written and combined beautifully. The books that come to life through a character, a library stationed in hell, the politics surrounding that. The use of demons but also angels. And not just hell and heaven but also Valhalla existed. Everything we as humans believe in probably exists in the world of this book for as far as I can tell. And that worked. There was no black or white as you often find in paranormal books dealing with demons and angels. I mean there was but it was toyed with. The characters were not above reproach, not even the angels. They were characters, personalities. Not just their roles. That is what made me slowly fall in love with this book.

The characters were all beautifully build up. They all had their share of sorrow, regret, motivations etc. The relationships were all build up beautifully as well. We have our librarian Claire who has shut off herself emotionally to the best of her ability. Beverly, a muse kicked out of the muse academy and now an assistant librarian. A confused demon who gets pulled along on a library mission. A runaway book turned into a character who is angry at the librarian for not being able to live his life. A fallen angel who wants to return back through the Gates but struggles with the means to do that. And God’s Light, who doesn’t know how to deal with the situation that God is no longer making contact. Throw in a powerful book and everyone scrambles.

It is an amazing mix of cast with difficult relationships across the board. The way that the author managed to pull off making me feel all the feels for all of them under 400 pages was great. Oh and our librarian is pansexual, confirmed on page!

I honestly can’t wait for the next installment.