asanovasvetlana's review against another edition
5.0
This book is amazing! Victoria Schwab created such a fascinating and interesting world that I can't get the possibility of it's existence from my head.
hheiling's review against another edition
4.0
Wow, nice.
It started a bit slow but then it took off.
I liked the story about the archive and keepers and Wesley and Mac. But I also liked the mystery behind the story. Nice turns within the story, nice revelations.
Very interesting take on death.
If you want to read a well written slightly different YA fantasy read this book.
It started a bit slow but then it took off.
I liked the story about the archive and keepers and Wesley and Mac. But I also liked the mystery behind the story. Nice turns within the story, nice revelations.
Very interesting take on death.
If you want to read a well written slightly different YA fantasy read this book.
snazel's review against another edition
I was worried about this one when I started, because it opened with grief. But this isn't really a book about grief. Not in the same way that Sorrow's Knot was. (Oh man I hope you weren't using your feelings before you open that one, because they will all be required in the journey).
This one is about loss, and order in the face of loss. Creation in the face of destruction. The essential triumph and necessity of maat. So yeah. Another side of the grieving coin.
I need some tea.
This one is about loss, and order in the face of loss. Creation in the face of destruction. The essential triumph and necessity of maat. So yeah. Another side of the grieving coin.
I need some tea.
pickett22's review against another edition
3.0
[I think I managed to make this review spoiler-free? What is happening to me?!]
This is a good book. This is a really fun book find symbols in. The writing is solid, it does a thing, and it does it well. It's a bit about death, more about loss, most about moving through grief. And it addresses these topics in a really quiet way most of the time. The idea is that if you don't deal with you grief it will destroy you, but with the exception of one like... paragraph, that topic was worked with fairly subtly. That one paragraph was a, "no, I'm nothing like you" kind of situation, but otherwise it was quite gentle. As Jasmine pointed out to me, you can see this whole "white noise" thing as a metaphor for grieving; if you fight with it, it will only get louder. You have to let it go through you and allow it to become white noise. It can't be ignored, it must be processed. (all of that is basically verbatim from Jasmine... what would I do without her?) And there are other really interesting things going on; the idea of living in a hotel, a transitory place, but it's been turned into apartments, so the transitory becomes a place to stay. What does that say about life and death in the context of the story? When I mentioned that at book club, Zack related it to purgatory, which I actually hadn't thought about. That adds the interesting idea of waiting or working towards something, while I was thinking more about the idea of impermanence vs. ... I don't know, routine maybe? And the way those two things get turned around and one becomes the other. There's the places we visit and the places we stay and what do we do when one becomes the other. Then you can pick that up and overlay it with the idea of death that the book presents. There are lots of really cool things to think about.
The plot was good. Not terribly surprising, I wasn't caught off guard by any of the big reveals, but it was solid. The characters were good, the flashbacks were well constructed, and I liked the concept.
The world-building was rough. There was almost no time spent on world-building, actually. It felt a little like, "come or don't, but don't think to hard about where we are." We don't know why the Archive is a thing, or who started it, and the narrative never even poses these as possible questions. It's just accepted, this is a thing. It was a confusing start for me, I felt dropped into an already established world without a map; I kept thinking I was missing something. (This point was agreed upon by the rest of my book club... it's nice to be lost with other people.)
So why three stars? My fault, I think, but I feel no emotions in regards to this books. I like stepping back and looking at it academically, and I feel it's largely well written and interesting, but I dunno. I never got into it. It does its thing well, but it wasn't my thing. Cool book, fun to dissect, but it never grabbed me.
octobertune's review against another edition
4.0
Even though it took me almost two weeks to finish the book (due to me feeling a bit 'meh' throughout this month) I feel like I flew through this book. The premise was super interesting and I loved Mac as a character. By the time I got to the end, I was absolutely sucked into the story and I stayed up super late to finish the book. I'm happy I bought the bind-up of the series so I can continue reading the sequel asap (hopefully next month).
usef's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars
I think I forgot to visualise the last scenes more vividly ?? idk
I enjoyed it but it was kinda just average :/
I think I forgot to visualise the last scenes more vividly ?? idk
I enjoyed it but it was kinda just average :/
jbojkov's review against another edition
4.0
Read this for the YA Book Club. I enjoyed the story in general- although it ended up being less about the "Histories" and more about the MC and her family struggles. That was ok since I liked the MC. There were also some tense, action scenes that added to the general air of suspense of the story. In the end, I felt the ending was a little too pat and seemed a tad predictable- but not a bad effort.
varnika's review against another edition
4.0
Fantasy is hard to get into. But once you're in, this web created by Schwab is intricate and beautifully messy and immensely enjoyable.