"The Archived" by Victoria Schwab

Title: The Archived

Author: Victoria Schwab

 

Series: The Archived, #1

 

My rating: 4.5 of 5

(Book read from March 06-25  for a read-along)

Summary:

Imagine a place where the dead rest on shelves like books.

Each body has a story to tell, a life seen in pictures that only Librarians can read. The dead are called Histories, and the vast realm in which they rest is the Archive.

Da first brought Mackenzie Bishop here four years ago, when she was twelve years old, frightened but determined to prove herself. Now Da is dead, and Mac has grown into what he once was, a ruthless Keeper, tasked with stopping often—violent Histories from waking up and getting out. Because of her job, she lies to the people she loves, and she knows fear for what it is: a useful tool for staying alive.

Being a Keeper isn’t just dangerous — it’s a constant reminder of those Mac has lost. Da’s death was hard enough, but now her little brother is gone too. Mac starts to wonder about the boundary between living and dying, sleeping and waking. In the Archive, the dead must never be disturbed. And yet, someone is deliberately altering Histories, erasing essential chapters. Unless Mac can piece together what remains, the Archive itself might crumble and fall.

In this haunting, richly imagined novel, Victoria Schwab reveals the thin lines between past and present, love and pain, trust and deceit, unbearable loss and hard-won redemption.

 

My Thoughts on the Book:

Victoria Schwab has done it again! I loved her debut novel The Near Witch, as well as the prequel novella The Ash-Born Boy, so I've been looking forward to The Archived ever since it was announced. So, was it everything I expected it to be? Yes & no! I expected for it to be interesting & imaginative & really good novel, but the author actually managed to surprise me! 

I have to admit that at first it took me a while to get into it. I guess I was a little bit confused. What I was confused about, you might ask? Well, Mac inherited her job as a Keeper from her Da, so from the description I got the notion about who that is, but soon realised I might be wrong, so I was confused, but after I realised who Da actually was, all the confusion was gone. After that it was a smooth ride, I got wrapped up in the story, and it wasn't easy to stop reading it until it was time for the next part, which I did because I was reading it for a read-along. 

Anyway, let's start with the writing style. Victoria Schwab really has a way with words, slowly she will put a spell on you, and suck you into her world, and before you know it, you're hooked, and you'll be dying to get more of that world - at least that's what happened to me. I guess I kinda didn't expect that after I started reading it, because I couldn't get into it at first, so that was a pleasant surprise. And the world-building was done great, and the world itself was really imaginative & interesting, & in the end I absolutely loved it! Everything we learned about the Archive & everyone that works there, as well as the Histories was such a surprise & quite unexpected, but brilliant, so as I said I absolutely loved it, and can't wait to read more books about it! 

As for the story itself, it was great, a little bit heart-breaking, but also fun & with a presence of mystery woven through the whole novel! It will just keep you guessing, and I have to admit although there are some things I was right about, I didn't know why the character(s) did what he/she did & in the end I was surprised by quite a lot of things in this book, and that's something that rarely happens to me, but Victoria Schwab has done that beautifully! And that only made me love the book more, and made me eager for the next book in the series. 

As for the characters, they were all really likable & fun. I liked a lot Mac as a character, & I absolutely loved Wesley & Roland - these 3 were definitely my favs. I think I might have to stop here, because anything more would spoil the story. But, was there anything I didn't like? Yeah, there was one storyline I wasn't a fan of, I didn't dislike it, but for a moment I thought this will be another same YA, and I thought I won't love this book as much as I did, but I got definitely blind-sided with that, and didn't realise how crucial this will be for the story itself, and how different this book will end up being, although after that I knew I should've expected more from this author, although I'm not sure if I would've seen it coming. 

So, if you love books that have unique setting & imaginative world, with stories that will both make you laugh & cry, yet sit at the edge of the sit in suspense wondering what will happen next, and that has a good mystery with lots of twists & turns & great characters, then this is a book for you & I highly recommend it! As for me, The Archived is definitely one of my favs now, and I know I will love re-reading this book, and I can't wait to read the next book in the series, as well as anything more Victoria Schwab writes, because she definitely joined my list of fav authors now!

 

Challenges:

2013 Read-along Challenge