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ARC Mini Reviews: Over the Woodward Wall & The Archive of the Forgotten

 

Happy Sunday everyone!  Today, I'm sharing two ARC mini reviews - Over the Woodward Wall by A. Deborah Baker (available October 6, 2020) and The Archive of the Forgotten (Hell's Library #2) by A.J. Hackwith (available October 6, 2020).  I received them from NetGalley in exchange for honest reviews.  Read on to see my thoughts:


 ❋  

Over the Woodward Wall by A. Deborah Baker delightful new Middle Grade fantasy series opener. I'm so glad I had the opportunity to give this novel a try via NetGalley. I jumped at the chance as soon as I realized that A. Deborah Baker is a pen name of Seanan McGuire, one of my favorite authors. Plus, just look at the cover - it's so beautiful! Luckily, the content are just as good as it looks. I particularly enjoyed the quirky and whimsical yet menacing fairytale tone. It's very reminiscent of McGuire's Wayward Children series and that really worked for me. There are also quite a few messages in the story which are really well disguised for younger readers. If you're interested in the author's style, you'll need to give this a try. I'm looking forward to seeing where this series will go in the future. 

My review is also on Goodreads.


 ❋   

The Archive of the Forgotten (Hell's Library #2) by A.J. Hackwith is an outstanding follow up to The Library of the Unwritten. I adored the first book in the trilogy and I couldn't wait to give it a try. I can't believe I got approved for this ARC via NetGalley. Luckily for me, I loved this sequel just as much as the first installment in this planned trilogy. It's easily one of my favorite reads of the year. It's so good to see Claire, Hero, and the rest of the cast again. It doesn't waste any time in getting going as it begins right after the events of the previous book. It can be a bit slow burn at times, but the payoff is amazing. We get to see some more of Hell's Library and other worlds besides which I also quite enjoyed. It's a mysterious place with a lot of dark corners and Claire gets to see first hand that they're hiding things from the librarian, dangerous things. Overall, both the world-building and character development are fantastic, but the characters especially hold hold a special place in my heart. I can't resist bookish fantasy and this just hit all the right notes for me. If you haven't started this series, I can't recommend it enough. It's a real gem. I can't wait to see where this series is going. One day I hope we'll even get a collection of log entries, which are delightful little tidbits that make me want to know so much more about previous librarians and their adventures. Thank you, NetGalley. The Archive of the Forgotten was exactly what I needed.


My review is also on Goodreads.


Have you read or do you plan on reading these two books?  What are you reading?  As always, thanks for visiting my blog and perhaps even commenting down below!

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