Sunday 12 May 2013

The Archived Book Review

Title: The Archived
Author: Victoria Schwab
# of Pages: 328
Reading Span: 11 days
Rating: **** (4 stars)


Synopsis:
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: 

The characters were likeable enough. My favourites were Mac, Owen and of course Wes. <3 Mac was a strong female lead for the most part, although I didn't like a few of the choices that she made. <spoiler> With Owen... Aw man, don't use HIM as your drug. Don't use anything at your drug for that matter. STAY STRONG!!!! Or even better, lean on Wes... Watch the next book be about Wesley's betrayal. </spoiler> And let's not forget Owen... oh Owen. I hated him, but only as a person. As a character was great... not that he lived a good trait/character, but he was good way of portraying the character that he was. Overall: good character, but a not-so-likable person. And Wes... ahhhh. <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 Enough said.

The plot was great. Fast-paced the whole time. Don't get me wrong, the beginning was only okay (goodreads updates would have told you my feelings on this), but that wasn't because of the pace. The pace was fast. Whooshy (I feel like this word should be in the dictionary, simply to describe things like this). The thing is, I missed all of that juicy stuff because I was confused. Before you pick up the book, you should no the following facts... THEY ARE NOT SPOILERS!!

- The Archive is made up of different branches (which we don't find until abut 200 pages in)
- Da is Mac's grandfather (which we don't find out until about 70 pages in)
- And, if you couldn't see the connection... Mac = Mackenzie

I also really liked the setting. The Coronado reminded me of something that I would see in a beautiful history magazine... with a little "h". That reminds me... Rachel Hawkins' praise quote at the back of the book... LOVE IT!!! Only people that have read the book will understand it. Anyways, nothing much more to say about the setting. It was just beautiful, the perfect place for this story to evolve in.

I think that many people would enjoy this book. If you are any young adult, looking for a good read, I think that you should give this a go. Happy reading!

Recommended:
Book Review by jessethereader: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avBt9TK6-1c
Victoria Schwab's Vlog: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZDaupkopCY

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