The Archive of the Forgotten (Hell's Library #2)

by A.J. Hackwith

“The Librarian has requested conference with the Arcanist,” Hero said in a withering voice that capitalized titles out of spite.

Maybe the story of humanity is learning to be brave enough to be the character in their own story.

“They burn them first, the stories. Humans always come for the stories first. It’s their warm-up, before they start burning other humans. It’s their first form of control, to burn the libraries, to burn the books, to burn the archives of a culture. Humans are the stories they tell. If you want to destroy your enemy, destroy their stories. Even if the people survive, it will be as if they never existed at all.”

I’m not sure if humans have sacrificed more ink than blood to their gods over the years, but if not, it has to be a near thing.”

The curse of unwritten books is to never truly live but exist forever.

Mad . . . now, that’s a peculiar term, and, saints, don’t they love applying it to women. Women have a special facility for madness. We’re encouraged to go mad over the littlest things, because if our anger caught and held on the big things, we’d shape the world. It’s acceptable to be mad; it’s dangerous to be angry. The secret is that I am both.

A good story gets under your skin, because that’s where all good stories start.

secrets. Books are a secret hidden in plain sight. Read me, they say. Look at me. Turn my pages. Touch my spine. Read my words, and content yourself. Every book is a secret that only readers know.

A reader doesn’t mark his life by days but by memories. A book doesn’t mark its life by pages but by readers. We are made up of those whom we touch.

Something is missing. Something is— Do you want to hear a story?

Going mad is an excellent defense. Nothing is so discounted, dismissed, as an eccentric woman speaking the truth.

Life—it goes on. Change happens. Secrets get out. Challenges appear. Decisions are forced. Whether we’re ready for them or not.”