The Archive of the Forgotten

3.5 stars. What made the first book so great for me was the team quest dynamic. That the relationship between Claire and Brevity is fractured through much of this book took away a lot of the magic of the first. Also, I HATED...No, hated is too mild a word...I DESPISED Probity. So, having her entitled, whiny presence just get away with being a thoughtless, destructive cunt at the end doesn't sit well with me. I can only hope she gets what's coming to her in the next book.

All that being said, I DO like (other than that bitch, Probity) how this chapter of the story wrapped up. It got much better as the band got back together.

Probably more of a 3.5 but I'm rounding up.

I put off this sequel for a long while despite quite enjoying the first book and this books about books subgenre being a favorite of mine. I guess it didn't remain memorable once I finished it and I wasn't that eager to pick up the second. But recently, I've been wanting to pick up some series which I abandoned and I decided to start with this one.

This book took a while for me to get into, maybe because it started off slow. The characters are also not handling the things that happened at the end of the first book very well, being prickly towards each other and just not communicating much. And while the whole plot is about finding out what the mystery ink from the destroyed unwritten books during the fight wants and what the ink can do, it's ultimately about this group of people understanding what they mean to each other and come together. In between all this, we get to explore some very new and interesting places - the Dust Wing especially broke my heart due to the reason for its existence and as well as how it fares due to being essentially abandoned. We also get to read lots of sarcastic banter courtesy Hero who just loves giving out flippant remarks for everything instead of showing his insecure and vulnerable side; and ofcourse there's quite a bit of contemplation about what a story means, what's the line where ideas become stories and what it takes for that transformation, what's the relationship between what's written and it's writer, and just general musings on life and souls.

Overall, it was enjoyable because anything to do with books just touches my heart. And a found family finding their way towards each other is another theme that's a favorite. So it was a good read. But I guess the slow pace and too much of contemplation and not enough communication made me lose interest at times, and it took me a while to complete. However, it's still a very unique series and I'll try to get to the finale soon.

This sequel didn't quite have the narrative engine propelling the story forward that I'd come to love from the first installment. Characters operated on a mechanical, quest-like mindset that didn't up the stakes enough to be as exciting of a read. It feels a bit like a bridge between the first novel and the next coming out in November. I still enjoyed it, especially reading about my fave Hero, and I look forward to seeing what comes next!