This world is so wonderful and all set in The library. I love all the twists and turns and wondering what's going to happen next!

A great sequel that continues the story of the library. More twists and turns make this entertaining story a must read for fans of the first book.

A great follow on from the first book - it's such a unique story and so enjoyable to read! It is an engaging and entertaining storyline with complex, well-written characters. Honestly, any story about a library is an instant favourite!

I really enjoyed the first book in this series, which was an intriguing and pacey read, but this sequel really lost me. I'm not entirely sure why all the ingredients didn't work as well here, but it just dragged, with a lot of emotional drama that just didn't work for me as it seemed to contradict previous development, and plot that took too long for these supposedly capable characters to work out. I was hopeful for a poly relationship after book one and things seem to be developing that way but the characters just don't feel like themselves, so it's hard to stay invested! I think you can read book one as a satisfying standalone.

Thanks very much to the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this title. Many thanks, Dave

I enjoyed the Library of the Unwritten for its original plot line and interesting clash of relationships, so I was looking forward to seeing how Archive of the Forgotten would expand on this world. However I feel like I've been left feeling a little bereft of what I wanted.

This just seemed to lack that spark of its predecessor, almost as though the characters have no clear objective and are left feeling a little lost for a lot of the plot. There's some good character development, especially with Claire in her new role and dealing with the consequences of their previous adventure, but overall it just fell short of what I wanted.

DNF’d at 50%. I loved The Library of the Unwritten but this sequel made me feel no connection whatsoever to any of the characters that I had adored in the first book. I feel like the way the plot was going (with the ink) could have been great but the execution did nothing to keep me intrigued enough to keep reading

A fabulous follow up to the library of the unwritten. Very enjoyable and well written. I was captivated throughout. The Library of the Unwritten in Hell was saved from total devastation, but hundreds of potential books were destroyed. Former librarian Claire and Brevity But when the remains of those books begin to leak a strange ink, The Library itself has been hiding secrets from Hell and the librarians.
I can’t wait to continue the journey and hope there will be more in this series.

This book is the second of the series, and I loved it. I think it was a solid follow-up, liked where the writer took the plot & the story. Love the world-building and characters. It's a strong series if you like the premise.
Thanks a lot for this copy.

Alright, the problem with this book is that I didn't realise it was the second book in a series. Hence, it was difficult to get into it as I didn't know the characters and what had happened previously. However, after a while and thanks to the intriguing story, I got into the book. It was a really nice read.

My favourite fantasy of the afterlife swings back into action as the ink of unwritten books destroyed during the assault on Hell's Library threatens to unravel any character or book it comes in contact with. Claire wants to contain it before demons - or others - try to steal it for its raw potential; Brevity wants to save the stories it surely contains. Hero needs a way to write himself back into his book. And Ramiel is just going to quietly disapprove of everyone, whilst helping them figure things out.

It took me a while to warm up to the sequel of The Library of the Unwritten, which roars into conflict from the first page. Once I settled in though, this is a solid expansion of a universe that is designed to hit readers (and writers) heart-first and extract all our story-related feelings. Its flights of philosophy and agonising tensions within this delightful found family are leavened by tongue-in-cheek humour courtesy of snarky Hero, who embarks on an odd-couple road trip with Ramiel that gives us tantalising glimpses of other afterlives and the libraries they contain. Its pastel-hued villain is perfectly pitched - all passionate intensity, a true believer seeking to improve the world, whose moral certainty lets them dismiss the perfectly valid concerns of those who disagree. I even loved the low-key romance (shocker).

Sure to leave a smile on your face and a warm glow in any reader's heart.

The second in this series, this continued with a really fun an engaging concept of a library in hell where unwritten stories live and can sometimes escape from. This second installment continues with many of the same characters, who are exceptionally well developed and a joy to read. I liked that this book explores the Archives more, and the writing continues to be very strong, with some beautiful moments in the prose.

Firstly, this is a second book in a series and I don't feel it would work as a standalone, so do check out the first book in the Hell's Library series: 'The Library of the Unwritten'.
'The Archive of the Forgotten' begins after the events at the end of the previous book and there's a lot of character focused plotting, as the reader watches the central characters deal with their new roles and changing relationships. I did find the pace a little slow, so I wasn't as invested as I was with The Library of the Unwritten, that's not to say I didn't enjoy the book overall. It's about the characters rather than action and building plot development. There's some great moments between the characters and the suspense of the 'strange ink' that's now causing concern for the library and its archives.
It was nice to 'be back' in this world and to see the characters we'd got to know in the first book.

trigger warning
<spoiler> trauma </spoiler>

Claire is now responsible for the Arcane section of Hell's library, and has shut herself away - but has to come out of her seclusion as a mysterious pool of ink appears between the shelves.

I haven't read the first book in the series despite meaning to, because plans not always work out as I intended. So here I am, having finally read this book, weeks after publication - and I liked it. I will certainly close the gaps in my knowledge and go back to book one, one day. Not today, and probably not tomorrow.

I was able to get into what happened. Of course, I don't know every detail, but the setting helps a lot with that. It's an eternal library in afterlife, connected through the multiverse to other afterlives. It has always been and probably will always be. Of course there are things that happened that I didn't see, simply by virtue of being mortal.

We have gay characters realising they are in love with each other, and a kind of found family.
There's an antropomorphic personification of death, who appears to love felines. No, he is not called Mr. Door, I suppose that would stretch it a bit.

I liked this more than the Invisible Libarary but less than the Magicians, but then it's hard to beat that. If you're into librarian fantasy kind of stories, you'll like this.
The arc was provided by the publisher.

3.5 stars
After absolutely loving the first book I was so excited for this one! I loved being back with all the Library’s characters.
It took me some time to get into the story though, I was a bit saddened by Claire and Brevity’s relationship and all the unsaid feelings. I get that neither was ready to talk but it feels like a lot could have been resolved with a simple conversation.
I loved seeing Hero, Rami, and Claire’s relationship evolved though. I still adore Hero and his development is so great. I’m very excited to see more of these three in the next book.
And it was so great to discover new afterlife realms, I hope we’ll get to see even more of them in the 3rd book!

A.J. Hackwith’s The Library of the Unwritten was a pacy, darkly funny and deeply satisfying take on the interdimensional/time travelling librarian trope, and I loved it to bits. Its sequel, The Archive of the Forgotten, tries hard to dig into the relationships between the key characters, picking up the story as they’re still adjusting to the changes forced upon them, with Brevity now the new Librarian and Claire relegated to stewardship of the titular Archive. It’s a smaller-scale story in which the safety of both the Library and the Archive is at risk even as Brevity and Claire are at odds with each other, their friendship strained to breaking point. Sadly, while the world in which it’s set continues to be engaging, the story itself doesn’t live up to expectations.

There’s plenty of potential here, but as a unified story it just didn’t work for me – I saw it through to the end in the hope that it would eventually come together and make sense, but even the (relatively) climactic finale fell flat. If you really loved The Library of the Unwritten then it’s almost worth picking this up for the opportunity to see more of this world, and (as I mentioned) the journey that Hero goes on – and of course you might not take issue with the aspects of the book that I didn’t enjoy.

Archive of the Forgotten is the second part in the series, ‘Hell’s Library.’

This book is set in the Library of the Unwritten which is in fact part of Hell. Like Elysium which is a paradise realm and library all in one, Hell is also a very similar realm.

In the Library of the Unwritten, there are also different wings of the library which each character is in charge of.

I loved dipping in and learning all about the different wings and different realms, one of which is Elysium.

After some books have now been destroyed and ink also now leaking everywhere, strange things begin to happen that the protectors did not anticipate. They soon find out the library also has a lot of secrets that they did not realise. The ink also has all sorts of powers and we soon find out the characters are intwined with the books.

We follow the characters as they go on a search for info of a past librarian of the Unwritten wing and to restore the lost books.

I loved reading each chapter from a different prospective as it gave me more of an insight to each character as we went on.

I’ve never read the first book in the series but I don’t feel you have to have read the first one to follow the story.

I look forward to reading what happens next in the series.

I fell in love with "The Library of the Hell" since the first pages and I loved this one.
This story,as the first one, is highly entertaining and gripping but it's also a love letter to storytelling and books.
The world building is excellent, we get to know more about the Library and the characters.
I was happy to catch up with the characters, they are well written and complex. My favorite is Claire, she's a strong woman even if hurt by what happened.
The plot is told by different POVs and each chapter adds something to the character creating a fascinating storyline.
The author is an excellent storyteller and I can't wait to read another books in this series.
This one is highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

A good sequel to Library of the Unwritten - didn't quite grab me as much as the first ( which i struggled to put down) but she definitely is a hell of a writer.

While this book does follow the characters from the first book (with one notable exception that readers of book one will be expecting) as well as directly following on from the events of the first book I would say that this is once again something of a discrete adventure. If you happened to be stranded in an airport or on a desert island and you only had this book to read I still think it would make sense and the book does a pretty good job of getting you back up to speed on what’s what and who is who. I would 100% say that, if you can, you should read the first book before reading this – just because it would totally spoil book one to read them out of order. If you’re wondering whether a re-read is necessary I would say it is beneficial (I personally did a reread) but not essential.

The characters remain as fun as they always have been, with POVs from Claire the now ex-librarian turned archivist, Rami the fallen angel, Hero the character and Brevity the ex-muse. I loved these characters in the first book and I thought that this story gave a lot of good opportunities to develop their characters a little more. I was particularly pleased with the way the book explored the impact of the ending of book one on the dynamic between Claire and Brevity. It would have been a strange thing to gloss over and instead Hackwith uses it as a powerful part of the story. I also enjoyed Hero’s journey throughout the book. Rami felt a little lighter by comparison but perhaps we will hear more from him in the third book?

I love this setting so much, and on a reread I really felt like I got this idea of multiple different afterlives and the way in which they all intersect. I loved the idea of different libraries all having custodians and getting to visit some of them was good fun. You get some really good visuals and it makes for a strangely nostalgic feeling adventure in a way that I can’t quite put my finger on.

I really liked the plot of this book and the opportunities it gave to look into the metaphysic of the library and the unwritten books, which is something I always like to see in a sequel. I liked that it didn’t feel as though Hackwith was ditching any of the things we learned in book one, more expanding on them and potentially indicating some other things that might not have been considered. There’s nothing worse than reading a sequel that feels totally different from book one, but this struck the balance of ‘this needs to feel more like a series but also be an adventure in it’s own right’.

Overall I had a wonderful time reading this book, I don’t think it felt quite as strong as the first book for me – but that may be a matter of personal preference. I will definitely be looking out for the third book as soon as it’s possible to read it and overall I think this is going to be an exceptional series. Those looking for a story that is just fun to read (not humorous but fun) will not be disappointed!

My rating: 4/5 stars

I received a free digital copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley – all opinions are my own.

The Archive of the Forgotten is out now!