The Library of the Unwritten (A Novel from Hell's Library): 1

Product Information

Sometimes unwritten books get restless and wake up, hoping to make themselves spring into existence. buys all the copies of this book and calmly starts handing them out to all of you who find logical angel and demon stories interesting* A baroquely imagined and totally unexpected original take on such well-worn topics as Hell, libraries, and the difference between what never was and what never will be.' -- Meg Elison, author of the The Road to Nowhere series

Ekstrom, Steve (March 26, 2009). "Life as Fiction? Mike Carey on Vertigo's 'The Unwritten' ". Newsarama . Retrieved 2009-08-23. The book open on the desk was one of the young ones, one that still had a chance of being written by its author someday. Brevity had misfiled it with a particularly crotchety series of old unwritten novels. Whaling stories, if Claire remembered right. The impressionable young book now had all sorts of rubbish jumbled in its still-­sprouting narrative. Five-­paragraph descriptions of food, meditations on masculinity and the sea, complete nonsense for an unwritten tale about teenage witches in love. If its author began to write while it was in this state, she would never attempt another book. It was Claire’s job to keep the books ready for their authors in the best possible state. Tidy. Stories were never tidy, but it was important to keep up appearances.

It’s all right.” Claire spoke through a tight throat, but her tone was gentle. She could be gentle when it was efficient. “Try again.” every line in here was stunning. I almost did the unthinkable that is writing in my library copy because I wanted to soak in everything. Books have songs, songs have stories, and then there’re humans at the heart of the jumbled mess… you just can’t subtract a human from the story, no matter how hard you try. Even death doesn’t do that.”

it’s the magical realism kind of plot that gives structure to a vague concept aka “hell”. a book about unfinished books that come to life and librarians chasing them down because they just want to be reunited with their authors *big pleading eyes emoji* i may not have enjoyed this as much as i thought i would but we're fine because i still achieved a lot more raw enjoyment in this book than the past books i just completed A delightful romp through heaven, hell, and everything in between which reveals itself in layers.”—Caitlin Starling, author of The Luminous Dead In the second installment of this richly imagined fantasy adventure series, a new threat from within the Library could destroy those who depend upon it the most. How... unorthodox.” Claire turned down the row of towering shelves. “Let’s see what His Crankiness wants.”

Success!

The character zeroed in on the more sympathetic target. She took a step toward Brevity. “I just don’t want to die in there.” Librarian Fleur Michel, 1782 CE, Unwritten Wing, Librarian’s Log entry, Personal Ephemera and Errata It was. Tons of fun. Librarian Claire – fiercely protective of the books (and beings) under her care and taking her responsibilities very seriously – must journey with a hapless young demon, her Muse assistant and an errant manifest Hero to retrieve and protect a mysteriously powerful piece of writing. Standing in her way are angels of Heaven, scheming denizens of Hell, and all of the baggage that she herself carries. I’d like to thank NetGalley and the publisher (Ace) for providing me with a complementary copy of this book in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

Couldn’t we have given her another minute? It’s awfully hard to feel like the good guys when we do that.” Brevity took the book after Claire snapped it closed. I honestly loved all of the individual elements of this book, but less so the way it all came together. Everything seemed so condensed, and it left me with so many questions. There are twists and turns, traps and betrayals to watch out for. I loved the characters' brief soujourn in Valhalla and Claire's brilliant duel with the local bard, but there are other realms that get explored in this imaginative book. This is an adventure story and a quest, so it will be appreciated by fans of fantasy and paranormal fiction. The twist at the end promises an interesting sequel, where I hope we'll find out more secrets from Claire's past as well as more about the Library itself.The settings in this are super interesting, in that it takes place in the real world, but in a few unique, shall we say, locations. Leto twitched. “If you don’t mind my asking... how, ah, how can you talk about His Highness like that?” Remember when I said these characters have secrets? Well, secrets eventually come out, right? Which leads to … growth! Erm … hopefully. I suppose it can also lead to murder, depending on how important keeping these secrets are, but that’s not the point. The Library of the Unwritten is a book where almost anything goes. Where the heroes are librarians, characters can come to life, and the most sought-after item is a book. Um … yes, please. Be still, my bookish heart. You’re not human.” The words snapped out before Claire could censor them. The girl reacted as if she’d been slapped, and curled into the shelves.

I’m a huge fan of both Jasper Fforde and Neil Gaiman – The Eyre Affair remains one of my all-time favourite books, and both Coraline and Stardust are among the films I will happily watch again and again. Another author that sprang to mind when I started reading this book was V.E. Schwab and her The Dark Vault series. It must be the characters and stories connection, I suppose, even though Claire is certainly no Mac.

When unwritten books get too wild, too loved or just too hungry, they get it in their fool heads to be real. Claire took a measured breath between gritted teeth. “You can’t be scared. You’re not human—let’s not pretend otherwise. You’re a very cunning approximation, but you’re simply a manifestation, a character. A book playing at human... But you’re not. And books belong on shelves.”