#hell's library

[npdclaraoswald]

Noticed some similarities in books I like

And before you tell me gomens is also canonically queer, I'm talking about the book, not the show

#these definitely aren't all the similarities #just the immediately obvious ones #good omens #when the angels left the old country #the library of the unwritten #hell's library

[thereadingchallengechallenge]

JOMP BPC - September 17th - Can't Wait to Start

I can't wait to start the Hell's Library trilogy by AJ Hackwith. isn't it always the way with series that you can borrow books 1 and 3 but book 2's gonna be on hold for a while 😅

#the library of the unwritten #the archive of the forgotten #aj hackwith #hell's library #the god of lost words #justonemorepage #jompbpc #booklr #bookblr #trcc original #portraits

[violet-prism-creatively]

I finally read the 3rd book in the Hell's Library series by AJ Hackwith and immediately went to scroll through the tumblr tag. It's tragic that this trilogy's fandom is like 3 people because it should be so popular! Heaven and Hell and other afterlife realms! Almost all the main characters are queer POC! Is it found family or a polycule? There's angst! humor! softness! trauma! It's literally about the importance of stories!!

Anyway go read The Library of the Unwritten (1st book) and scream with me.

#book recs #hell's library #aj hackwith #the library of the unwritten #rambling violet #a violet original

[everlovingdeer]

A lie. A dream. Good stories are both.

The Library of the Unwritten, A. J. Hackwith

#the library of the unwritten #a j hackwith #hell's library #lit #literature #booklr #bookblr #quote #quotes #book quotes #ever reads

[wordswhisperinthedark]

Damn, the Hell's Library trilogy by A.J Hackwith really speaks to lovers of words; writers, readers, poets, singers; storytellers. So good💕💕

#the library of the unwritten #the archive of the forgotten #the god of lost words #hell's library #a.j. hackwith #books #gave me a healthy dose of motivation to finish some wips #but also guilt for wips that have been unfinished for years😅 #literally inhaled these books #my post #myst's musings

[drastrochris]

So, A.J. Hackwith's The Library of the Unwritten series.

Goncharov.

WTF happens in the library of unwritten stories when the internet steals all the stories that were never written about Goncharov and writes them all? Are entire shelves just vanishing as people shit-post the story into existence? Are entire shelves just appearing as people shit-post half-thought contradictions that will never be finished?

#goncharov #hell's library #the library of the unwritten #a.j. hackwith #I was just thinking while walking past the bookshelves #and saw the books #and I saw a goncharov video earlier today

[paradises-library]

You have a library inside you, do you not? Stories, told and untold. That is the power of gods.

The God of Lost Words, A.J. Hackwith

#the god of lost words #aj hackwith #hell's library #quotes

[booksandwords]

The Library of the Unwritten by A.J. Hackwith

Series: Hell's Library, #1 Read Time: 6 Days Rating: 5/5

The quote: Stories are, at the most basic level, how we make sense of the world. It doesn't do to forget that sometimes heroes fail you when you need them the most. Sometimes you throw your lot in with villains. — Claire Hadley

I really enjoyed The Library of the Unwritten so much more than I anticipated. With a very enjoyable plot, likeable and unique characters and alternating perspectives between several characters. This is a book that truly needs that alternating perspective to allow readers to see that not everyone is what they appear. To humanise them. To only present one perspective in The Library of the Unwritten would do the characters a disservice. Because the characters are a ragtag group (aside from Claire and Brevity) no one knows or trusts each other. That switching perspective allows the reader to see when the characters move from ragtag travellers to little found family. As the groups split up it allows for everything to be seen and if not understood at least known.

On the characters. There are six main characters. Hero a fictional character escaped from his book. Leto, a demon of Entropy, an amnesic demon. Andras Hell's Arcanist, a demon. Claire, Hell's Librarian and former human. Brevity, a failed muse, Claire's assistant and trainee librarian. Finally Ramiel, an angel looking for redemption. No two characters are the same, their motivations are different and you do get physical descriptions of them all allowing for visualisation. Claire is something of an intriguing character. She has a lot of layers, secrets and a past that comes back to haunt them. She is self sentenced to 200 years as Hell's Librarian. Bonus points for creating a soft coded demi character. Leto's whole arc broke my heart a little but I do like how twisty it is. He is so incredibly soft and sweet. Hero is the character that has the nicest development arc. He also is one of my fave types of character complicated, full of redemption and a prism. (This sort of character is why I love Sherrilyn McQueen so much).  Brevity is so, so bubbly but has her human flaws. I think her full backstory will likely come out in one of the later books. Not going to go into Rami or Andras because spoilers.

The story is one you will either enjoy or not. It asks you to follow it down the rabbit hole, check your faith and belief system at the door and believe in the world Hackwith created. If you have strong religious (and I mean any religion here really) views I would advise avoiding this series. While The Library of the Unwritten only challenges perceptions of Christianity and Catholicism (and those based thereon) it does make illusions to others. While I know some people even with strong views will be fine others will take offence. I say this but religion doesn't play a massive part, it more dictates the surrounding politics. Another warning for suicide is alluded to not shown but it is a key moment. The plot is strong enough and with enough going on that while I thought I had it figured out I didn't. Each of the characters has their own moment of strength and weakness that we as the reader see. The ending pulls together all the learnings from throughout the book into a climax that becomes somewhat bittersweet. And kinda left me think what if? The plot is just fun. It's always moving, always surprising and I'm really hoping that A.J. Hackwith can keep it up in the second book.

I want to add just briefly that the lore which I appreciated is revealed through quotes at the start of each chapter. Quotes are taken from journal entries by the various Hell's Librarians and their trainees from many, many years. This is a similar style to Neal Shusterman's Arc of the Scythe (first book Scythe). I always did like that way of revealing the lore of a series. Rather than just giving a massive just dump of lore somewhere for the reader to absorb. There is other lore given as the reader needs it but not as much as I initially expected for a book so heavily built on the other.

For a book I found Libraries -- Fiction subject and came into totally blind I'm immensely happy I read it. It's a combination of what we all want to believe in books, well-written librarians and interesting paranormal lore. There are so many fantastic quotes, mostly in the world-building about libraries, librarians and their cultural positions and importance. Disclaimer as always I am a trained librarian and have a love for my profession written well. This was both written well. It is so rare to see that practice of bookbinding done with such care though and with a solid reason for it to be done. I really do recommend this to libraries and fans of the supernatural.

#hell's library #the library of the unwritten #a.j. hackwith #book review #ktreviews #read 2021 #biblophile #booklr

[unchartedthelostlegacy]

i love graffiti. "comics and jazz are the only american art forms" you forgot graffiti. did you remember graffiti? That art form birthed in Philly and NYC in the early 70s by poor Black kids. that art form that spread all over the world and influenced so many. that's used without irony in commercials when they're trying to appeal to a "young urban" customer.

did you forget graffiti? that racism broken windows theory victim? that reach the establishment takes claiming that it's exclusively violent gang members throwing up those full-color pieces and wildstyle tags in the middle of the night outsmarting fifty security cameras because the billboard was ugly anyway. as if, even if it was, it wouldn't be impressive as all hell. risking brutality and fall damage so your art can occupy the space a gentrified condo named something like "Coluumna" took away from you. proving that despite only assholes affording to live here anymore there's still a soul beneath it. an animal with dripping stripes and teeth that go clack-clack tsssss

#graffiti #it's like how they claim touching a paper that had drugs on it can kill a police officer #manufactured fear of art itself because of who made it #you won't invest in addiction recovery or keeping libraries open or extracurricular programs but you'll sure as hell give cops overtime #so they can beat a kid writing on a shutter #writers have such big dick energy

[littleblackraincloudofcourse]

Librarian Gregor Henry, 1899 CE

#claire juniper hadley #the library of the unwritten #hell's library #a j hackwith #book quotes #reading recs #books and novels

[npdclaraoswald]

Okay, book. You can reference an urban fantasy with two brothers and a muscle car. You cannot have your older mentor figure say "idjit" when he is the ghost of a Viking

#shocker: the author of a book with a gay angel in a trenchcoat is a supernatural fan #hell's library

[anotherpapercut]

yesterday I went to a little meeting at my local queer community center and I was admiring their bookshelves and mentioned that I work at the public library and someone said "well I bet they don't have any [LGBTQ+ books] at our library" and I was like um. yes we do. we have tons of them. half of our employees are queer leftists so they said "oh well I bet they don't in [nearby rural county]" and I was like uh once again yes they absolutely do. gay people live and work there as well

so here's a quick reminder that if you don't think your local library has enough queer centered materials you should actually check before assuming, and if you're not satisfied with their collection you should submit a request for more such books. I don't know what the political landscape of libraries looks like outside the us rn, but within the us no matter where you are, I promise you there are employees at your library fighting for inclusion and intellectual freedom and they can't win without vocal public support

#literally maddening thing to hear #we were fucking at pride this year #i know missouri is a hell hole but there are people working really fucking hard to make it better and we could use some support here #just fucking go to your local libraries website right now literally right this second #and look around #you may be shocked at the stuff you discover there

[libraryofbaxobab]

May 14, 2021:

Went from lukewarm, to awesome, to... confusing. I'm not really sure what happened, really, like I'm missing some parts. But the characters are unforgettable, and a Certain Romance Subplot has me real stoked, what a pairing! Worth a trilogy. 6/10 #WhatsKenyaReading

#WhatsKenyaReading #twitter #pastposting #books #reading #The Archive of the Forgotten #hell's library #library #librarian #romance subplot #fantasy #afterlife #hell #heaven

[everlovingdeer]

Nothing folded like a hero without a story.

The Library of the Unwritten, A. J. Hackwith

#the library of the unwritten #a j hackwith #hell's library #lit #literature #booklr #bookblr #quote #quotes #book quotes #ever reads

[shisasan]

John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book 1 [originally published 1667]

#truer words were never spoken #john milton #literature #paradise lost #words #quotes #academia #dark academia #quote #lit #heaven #hell #books #books and libraries #reading #quote of the day #bookworm #book quotes #prose #booklr #bibliophile #excerpt

[moist-von-lipwig]

the realest Discworld reading order is simply 'whatever the hell the local library has available, in whatever order it becomes available'

#the way i absolutely rawdogged the reading order because i would just grab whatever was in the school library... effervescent #and imagine my suprise when i went to another library and there were OTHER DISCWORLD BOOKS #i think trying to work out who the hell everyone is and where in the timeline u are is half the fun sometimes #Discworld