The Archive of the Forgotten by A.J. HackwithMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Misunderstandings are part of life. Especially when you are dealing with family. And like most urban fantasies, Hell's Library involves a chosen family, centred around the former librarian, Claire. But Claire is now the Arcanist in charge of Hell's archives, the Muse Brevity has been promoted to Librarian, and each has an assistant: the former book character Hero in the Library and fallen angel Ramiel in the Archives.
All of these changes happened during a turbulent period (see book one) and it is the supernatural Library that chooses these things. Claire is hurt to be shifted from her librarian position and isolates herself. How many families do you know where this happens? Someone's feelings are hurt and they withdraw from family gatherings and communication. It's difficult for everyone, there's a lot of anger, and nothing gets resolved.
So when a huge pool of Ink appears in the Archives, a result of destruction of books (see book one), it would make sense to collaborate. However Claire still isn't willing to talk. She was proud of her work and still isn't ready to admit to her mistakes. Pride cometh before a fall, and Claire gets infected with this magical ink. Brevity is having her own issues, as her sister Muse Probity has come to “support" her. Or is that Probity's true purpose?
I'm rating this as 4 stars, the same as book 1, but it's maybe truly 3.8 stars. I liked it just a titch less, but it was still very good. The first installment had the excellent tag line, “Raise Hell. Join the Library.” That's pretty hard to beat.
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