"Whenever she read a book in a binge, cover to cover in a day with little break, she always found it stuck in her brain like a haze. The narrative voice stuck in her head, and for a bit after, it was always like a waking dream, living someone else's thoughts. The book haunted like a ghost in her head, coloring moods until she shook herself from it."
Thus Claire, the Librarian at the Library of the Unwritten, describes a book hangover--a feeling many readers will recognize. In the smart, extraordinary world that A.J. Hackwith has created, The Library of the Unwritten makes for an irresistible waking dream.
The Library, unfortunately housed in Hell, is where books that authors haven't finished writing go to languish for eternity, under the dominion of Claire, herself an unpublished author. Claire and Brevity, the muse who assists her, work hard to keep the books in order; make sure that all the demons turn in books by their due date; and, most importantly, coax characters into staying contentedly in the library. Claire takes her job seriously, risking life and limb to protect the books. After a scene where some books catch fire, Claire bemoans that it's not just damaged books, "She saw a thousand lives on each cindered page. Here, a band of adventurers, suffocating in a forest. There, a pair of lovers, entombed in the moment before a kiss."
When a hero manages to escape his book and find his way to a coffee shop in his author's hometown of Seattle, Claire is dismayed, because in her experience, "Nothing folded like a hero without a story. Even damsels were sturdier." Claire, Brevity and a demonic messenger named Leto reluctantly leave the underworld, traveling via a phenomenon known as a "ghostlight," which allows them 24 hours out of Hell, in order to catch the hero. When they arrive planetside, they realize to their horror that the hero is already making his author fall in love with him. As Claire works to return him to his book, she encounters Ramiel, a fallen angel, who's been commissioned by the archangel Uriel to acquire something known as the Devil's Bible in exchange for permission to reenter Heaven. In the confrontation between Claire and Ramiel, Leto manages to grab a fragment of the Devil's Bible, and Claire and Brevity instantly realize how important this scrap of paper is. Heaven will stop at nothing to acquire the Devil's Bible, and war between the dominions is bound to happen, unless the Librarians can find the volume first.
Grabbing Hero--much to his author's woe--and acquiring a few more allies along the way, Claire finds herself leading a ragtag band as they race between realms, from Hell to Valhalla to Earth and back again, in a quest to beat the angels. Unfortunately for the team, they overstay their ghostlight limit, causing even more chaos as the hounds of Hell begin baying in pursuit.
Not only does Hackwith nimbly manage multiple storylines within the gorgeous, theatrical world of the Librarians, but she has also written characters with whom readers are sure to identify. Along with Claire, the determined guardian with memories she suppresses, we get to know Brevity, the happy-go-lucky muse who longs to please her demanding boss; Hero, who just wants to be the star of his own story; Leto, who lingers somewhere between his current and his past lives, struggling to reconcile the two; and Ramiel, who regrets the past and wishes to make amends.
Clever and full of sly, bookish humor, The Library of the Unwritten is a delightful paean to knowledge and its power. Readers will particularly enjoy a verbal duel in Valhalla, where Claire faces off with Bjorn the Bard, who has gone to his eternal rest after spending several centuries as the Librarian in the Middle Ages. Claire strikes first with "Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once," and Bjorn returns scornfully, "Shakespeare.... A beginner's move." The duel moves on to Shelley, Nabokov, Atwood and Tolkien, with the words becoming sharper and spikier as each librarian strikes, eventually drawing blood.
Hackwith explores the bite and power of words both literally and metaphorically. She shrewdly pokes fun at a number of bookish tropes, and spins the very idea of right and wrong topsy-turvy, as angels persecute demons for trying to save a book. As Claire grumpily snaps after she realizes what's going on with the angels and demons battling over the Devil's Bible, "Demons, angels... politics ruins everything." Funny, insightful and wildly magical, The Library of the Unwritten is sure to charm many readers, even those who don't often venture into fantastical realms. --Jessica Howard