The God of Lost Words
by A.J. Hackwith
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Pub Date 8 Feb 2022 | Archive Date 11 Feb 2022
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Description
To save the Library of the Unwritten in Hell, former librarian Claire and her allies may have to destroy it first, in the final book of the bestselling A Novel From Hell's Library fantasy trilogy.
Claire, rakish Hero, angel Rami, and muse-turned-librarian Brevity have accomplished the impossible by discovering the true nature of unwritten books. But now that the secret is out, in its quest for power Hell will be coming for every wing of the Library.
To protect the Unwritten Wing and stave off the insidious reach of Malphas, Hell’s most bloodthirsty general, Claire and her friends will have to decide how much they’re willing to sacrifice to keep their vulnerable corner of the afterlife. Succeeding would mean rewriting the nature of the Library, but losing would mean obliteration. Their only chance at survival lies in outwitting Hell and writing a new chapter for the Library. Luckily, Claire and her friends know how the right story, told well, can start a revolution.
Advance Praise
Praise for the series
"An enjoyable madcap caper."—The Guardian
“Hackwith’s plotting, her characters and her scenes are each a delight. This book is as rich as chocolate and as refreshing as sherbet.”—Morning Star
"Hackwith builds her world and characters with loving detail, creating a delightful addition to the corpus of library-based and heaven vs. hell fantasies. This novel and its promised sequels will find a wide audience." —Publishers Weekly
"Elaborate worldbuilding, poignant and smart characters, and a layered plot... An ode to books, writing, and found families."—Library Journal (starred review)
"Hackwith writes a fast-paced, suspenseful story set in an intriguing world where storytellers can duel with words and souls are not what they seem."—Booklist
"Wow! A.J. Hackwith puts a whole new spin on libraries and librarians in The Library of the Unwritten! The imaginative plotline coupled with lots of phenomenal action and a solid dose of humor keep the reader engaged even as we wonder what twisted turn of events will happen next.”—Fresh Fiction
"Prepare to laugh and to cry, to have your mind bent and your grip on reality loosened as you embark on the wild ride that is The Library of the Unwritten. This is the ultimate novel about the power of storytelling. Librarian Claire, who must deal with the denizens of assorted Afterworld realms, is a stand-out creation, complex and memorable. A novel brimful with imagination, with emotional undertones that run deep. I loved it!"—Juliet Marillier, author of the Blackthorn & Grim series
“Clever, charming, full of intricate worldbuilding and delightful characters, The Library of the Unwritten is the first book in your new favorite series.”—Christina Henry, author of The Girl in Red
"It's like The Good Place meets Law & Order: Bibliophile Crime Unit. Highly recommended. This book is so much fun, and you should be reading it. Trust me. Stories about story are some of my favorite kinds. This book definitely makes the list. I am so glad I read this."—Seanan McGuire, author of In an Absent Dream
"The most intriguing story I've read in a long time. I shall never again turn my back on an unfinished book."—Jodi Taylor, author of Just One Damned Thing After Another
“The Library of the Unwritten is a tiered dark chocolate cake of a book. The read is rich and robust, the prose has layers upon layers, and the characters melt like ganache upon the tongue. A saturated, decadent treat. An unforgettable, crave-worthy experience. A book lovers' book; a supreme and masterful concoction that makes fresh fiction out of dusty Dante and boring Bible bits.”—Meg Elison, Philip K. Dick Award Winner
"A muse, an undead librarian, a demon, and a ghost walk into Valhalla... what follows is a delightful and poignant fantasy adventure that delivers a metric ton of found family feels, and reminds us that the hardest stories to face can be the ones we tell about ourselves." —New York Times bestselling author Kit Rocha
"Hackwith has artfully penned a love letter to books and readers alike and filled it with lush, gorgeous prose, delightfully real characters, a nonstop, twisty, and heart-wrenching plot, and an explosive ending that gave me chills.”— K. A. Doore, author of The Perfect Assassin
"A delightful romp through heaven, hell, and everything in between which reveals itself in layers: an exploration of the nuances of belief, a demonstration of the power of the bonds that connect us, and a love letter to everybody who has ever heard the call of their own story."—Caitlin Starling, author of The Luminous Dead
“A wry, high-flying, heartfelt fantasy, told with sublime prose and sheer joy even at its darkest moments (and there are many). I want this entire series on my shelf yesterday.”—Tyler Hayes, author of The Imaginary Corpse
“The only book I’ve ever read that made the writing process look like fun. A delight for readers and writers alike!”—Hugo Award Finalist Elsa Sjunneson-Henry
“It’s fun, creative, some great humour and a solid mystery at its core.”—Books, Tea & Me Review
Featured Reviews
David H, Reviewer
'Every soul a story, and every moment fresh ink on the page'.
It's great to meet again Claire Juniper Hadley, for whom 'all pockets were best judged by book size...'
Following from The Library of the Unwritten and The Archive of the Forgotten, The God of Lost Words returns to Hell's Library. Claire, ex-Librarian of the Unwritten Wing, has moved on to preside over the Arcane Wing. It contains dangerous artefacts - powerful stuff best kept out of circulation and, as we saw in earlier books, a honeypot for power-seeking demons. Not really a job for a Librarian, you might think, but then Claire has been on a journey in these books, discovering some things about herself that she really didn't want to know, and in the course of this her Library rejected her, so she must do what she can.
If truth be known, she isn't actually doing the job very well. Early in this book Malphas, General of Hell, arrives to make a surprise inspection. She's caught a whiff of secrets, and secrets, in Hell, are power. In The Archive of the Forgotten we learned that books have souls, or rather, books are souls (every reader knew this already, of course). And souls are sought-after currency. Malphas's visit soon develops into a threat to the Library's very existence - not just the Unwritten and the Arcane Wings, the branches hosted by Hell, but those in other realms too.
In The God of Lost Words, the stakes seem higher, the threats greater, the relationships more important, than before. Indeed, much of the action isn't action as such but is about the understanding between the central characters: muse Brevity, now Librarian of the Unwritten (of course Brevity is missing from the Muses Corps - nobody surveying modern culture could doubt that) and the strange triangle of Claire, Hero, who escaped from a now-destroyed book, and fallen angel Ramiel. I have to say, I was entranced by the delicate and evolving way that Hackwith depicts the complicated love between these three characters. The result is something outstanding among books I've recently read: not easy, not smooth, but electrified, writhing, unstable - at the same time as it is deep and affecting. Other familiar characters reappear such as Walter, an instance of the God of Death, and Bjorn, Librarian of Untold Stories, a branch of the Library based in Valhalla.
One of the challenges Claire faces here is seeking to outwit the legions of Hell itself. Hackwith's world is one from which the gods are mysteriously absent - despite their Realms being depicted - so she's not up against Lucifer as such, but Malphas is an able opponent, clever, ruthless and backed by immeasurable forces. Rami's sword, Hero's rapier and Claire's teapot are not going to prevail against that. Rather, she needs to find strength in the stories she has inherited from previous generations of Librarians - and to build alliances, so her other challenge is convincing her fellow Librarians that the threat to them all is real and they they should, against all precedent, stand together.
In many respects this book is more focussed and direct than the previous ones. It's about sacrifice, courage and endurance, with less general dashing around, and one senses that salvation, if it can be found, will be close to home - there is an early foray to the maze of the crocodile god, seen in The Library of the Unwritten, but that doesn't end well, as if confirming that Claire & Co need to look within.
The book displays, I think, how all the characters here have grown up - not only Claire, who was in some respects rather unpleasant to begin with (well, she had been exiled to Hell) but also Hero - he now has love in his life - and Rami who, you may recall, began this series as essentially a sword for hire, doing Heaven's dirty work for it. It also shows how Hackwith has kept this series on track. A fantasy novel about libraries and books could easily teeter from the meta to the twee, but like its predecessors, The God of Lost Words resists that. Rather, it has truth and love at its heart. And anger: whether at Hell taking its cue from human wickedness (chilly cages with children in - 'a room where innocence went to rot') or indeed Heaven meddling where it's not wanted ('What paradise realm has never met a soul it didn't want to save?')
Yes, there are in-jokes, but they are kept under control and what predominates is a thrilling story, complex, engaging characters and the ring of truth. And some scorching writing (if you'll pardon the expression) - from 'if we wait for a landlord who will not eat us for his own benefit we'll be realmless forever' to 'perhaps "amp up the imperialist voice" is not the way to go, given... British history...' to the tearjerking 'that appeared to be Hero and Claire's language of love, reminding each other not to be monsters' to... well, so many more bits that I could quote, but I'd better stop. (I'll just say, though, that when, in pursuit of Claire's schemes, the Librarians assemble, you may find a particular one rather familiar...)
Rather a brilliant and fitting end to this trilogy, I think.
Sonia O, Librarian
The final installment to the Hell's Library trilogy is everything you could want for a finale to our intrepid team of Claire, Brevity, Hero and Rami's story.
We pick up straight after Claires recovery from her experience interfacing with the unwritten ink pool formed from the ink of books destroyed during the battlee which defeated Andras. Claire is still adjusting to being the custdodian of the Arcane wing and the realisation that the books / creative works that the libraries in Hell hold are more than just books but are in fact pieces of souls.
The fall out from the creation of the unwritten ink and its link to souls, is that Hells general Malphas curiosity has been piqued and wants to know more...a secret that Claire and Brevity are deterimined to keep from her. However when Malphas is not satisfied by questioning the team she goes on the offensive and burns down the Arcane wing. This is swiftly followed by an attack on the Library of the Unwritten which leads to Claire & Hero embarking on a journey to enlist the support and help of all the other wings of Hells library. Brevity and Claire use inspiration from a past librarian to devise a plan for independance for the Libraries of Hell however this needs all the librarians to act in accord - a little like herding cats!
The relationship between Claire, Rami and Hero are developed beautifully and this is a book about the purpose and joy of libraries. A library is not just a place that houses books, it is for community, patronage and safety. Go read this series it deserves your attention.
My thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for access to this ARC, all views are my own.
Katie ., Reviewer
The world building is creative and is detailed however I did find it a little repetitive in some places. The bits that kept me engaged were very good.
The ending was a little flat for me, the whole atmosphere throughout the book felt like it was building up to have a climactic ending but I didn't feel like it quite delivered.
If you like the idea of books having souls, adventure and impossible choices then this is the book for you.
*Thank you to @netgalley and the publishers @titanbooks for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review*
RitaMaria R, Educator
The day I was given the ARC for this book all the stars aligned. The husband was away, the child as well, the fridge stocked and I just had received a copy of the last book in one of my all time favorite series. What could go wrong, right? I retreated to the sofa…
...eighteen hours later and I am in shock and denial and WTF!? My heart just broke multiple times.
Needless to say, I adored the first to books. This one? Not so much. On one hand there is a lot packed into this book since it is the last one, on the other hand it oddly drags without much happening. A lot of side characters and side streams just seam to pop up randomly, making it hard to follow at times. Others are just abandoned leaving plot holes. Where is this love triangle (potential quadruple?) or strange polygamous relationship or other woke thing that my little brain cannot comprehend suddenly coming from? Why so many tedious paragraphs of prose in an attempt to give the story depth? I was furious and betrayed and bereft and ready to leave a seriously bad review for the author on twitter (so there!)….
….and then, I read the epilogue and I am positively crying. All (well, almost all) is forgiven. Yes, the lady knocked it out of the park. In her own words “it is important to end well” and she most certainly did.
Fazit: Is it as good as the other two? No. Is it what I was hoping for? No! Is it a very good immersive read? Absolutely.
Let’s face it if you loved the last two books you are not going to stop now. Just read it!
*This ARC was given to me by Netgalley and the publishers in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!*
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