What is a book? And what is a story? These are questions that continue to be explored in The Archive of the Forgotten, the second book in the Hell’s Library series by A. J. Hackwith. It picks up six months after the events of the first book, The Library of the Unwritten, as the employees of the library work on dealing with the aftermath of Andras’s coup and the disastrous burning of books in the unwritten wing. The damsels are getting restless and Rosia, a child damsel, keeps wandering both wings of the library, unwritten and arcane, eventually leading everyone to what seems to be a giant pool of ink in a remote part of the arcane wing. Claire decides to cordon off the area and not allow anyone near after an accident with the ink results in her being hurt. Brevity on the other hand wishes to investigate the ink as she is convinced it has something to do with the burned books. Ramiel and Hero both just want the two to attempt to get along and repair their friendship as things have been tense since the coup and the burning. Things only get worse when Probity, a fellow muse and close friend of Brevity, shows up with a grudge against Claire.
One of the things that I like about this series is that it discusses the philosophical ideas of what is a book and what is a story. These are questions that were explored in the first book in the series but continue to be explored in this one. However, it also adds new questions such as what happens to a book when everyone forgets about it or what is needed to create a story. It explores the concepts of literature as art and the meaning it can hold, both to the author and to the reader. I think this is something that people often overlook but that we should also occasionally stop and think about so it was fascinating to see how these characters work on exploring that exact topic. Each of these characters has a different viewpoint of the topic so it allows for a lot of internal debate about these concepts as the book develops. The way they build off of each other as the story progresses was incredible and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I also greatly enjoyed the character development that was present in this story. Some of it rather intriguing, especially for Hero. I enjoyed reading about Hero because he is a character that is no longer part of his original story and is aware of that but he also struggles to identify who he is as a person without that. It creates an interesting dynamic for that character as he struggles with the idea that he is not as real a person as the others. He also strives to prove he is more than what his story intended and that him staying with the library is ultimately his choice and not because he has to. At the opposite end we have Claire who is struggling with the idea that a character such as Hero can still be a real person, someone who is just as real as anybody else. Overall, a great book and one that does an excellent job continuing the story. It earns four out of five stars from me.
This book is a great addition to the fantasy genre and if you happen to enjoy fantasy than I would recommend that you try it. However, it does deal with some philosophical ideas as it grapples with the concept of what creates a story so it may not be for everyone. If that doesn’t put you off than I suggest you consider it. In terms of age range it is primarily aimed at adults but there wasn’t any content that would make it unsuitable for teen or young adult readers. I will state that there was some LGBTQ themes present in the later parts of the novel in case people are uncomfortable with that. It doesn’t necessarily bother me but I know it can bother others. It was a good book overall and I hope you will consider reading it. As always feel free to share your thoughts about the book in the comments.