alba_marie's review
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
The beginning was quite slow and it took foreeever for the story to start. It felt like there was no real plot or destination, only a meandering dissection of private high school life.
As ratings go, for the first half of the book, it was about 3 stars. But when it finally did start about 2/3 of the way in, it was much more interesting, verging on 4.5/5 stars. Overall, I walked away with a positive impression of the book... it just would have benefited from more stringent editing.
The Archived is a bit of a strange series. The books read more like companion novels in the same universe rather than a real series, as the books feel very self-contained, instead of covering wider story arcs like most fantasy series.
At its core, we have MacKenzie, one of the youngest Keepers of the Archive of Souls. The Archive is where a record is kept of all dead souls. Sometimes the souls go walkabout in the space between the worlds, and it's Mac's job – and Wesley's, my favourite character – to round them up and "re-shelve" them.
But upon the events of the first book, Mac has some serious PTSD, except that she doesn't really have anyone to confide in, because who would understand her life, her stress, her problems? She doesn't sleep. Her dreams are haunted by Owen from book one, and her days are haunted by stress of the constant lying and double life. Her parents have realised something up and are trying to protect her by keeping her home, but the Archive know something's up too, and threaten to take her away job title (and memories of said job to boot).
Schwab is a good writer, and the book is well written. The 2nd half of the book is explosive, and the characters feel so real. My main issue with the book is simply the lack of true world building involving the Archive - why does it exist? How? What is the point of keeping the records of the souls, and why do they sometimes wake up? What is ultimately the point of being a Keeper? And what is Wesley's real name??
It's too bad the 3rd book will never get written (its been years) because I suspect some of these answers might have been answered. But at least we got a bit of closure between MacKenzie and Wesley!
As ratings go, for the first half of the book, it was about 3 stars. But when it finally did start about 2/3 of the way in, it was much more interesting, verging on 4.5/5 stars. Overall, I walked away with a positive impression of the book... it just would have benefited from more stringent editing.
The Archived is a bit of a strange series. The books read more like companion novels in the same universe rather than a real series, as the books feel very self-contained, instead of covering wider story arcs like most fantasy series.
At its core, we have MacKenzie, one of the youngest Keepers of the Archive of Souls. The Archive is where a record is kept of all dead souls. Sometimes the souls go walkabout in the space between the worlds, and it's Mac's job – and Wesley's, my favourite character – to round them up and "re-shelve" them.
But upon the events of the first book, Mac has some serious PTSD, except that she doesn't really have anyone to confide in, because who would understand her life, her stress, her problems? She doesn't sleep. Her dreams are haunted by Owen from book one, and her days are haunted by stress of the constant lying and double life. Her parents have realised something up and are trying to protect her by keeping her home, but the Archive know something's up too, and threaten to take her away job title (and memories of said job to boot).
Schwab is a good writer, and the book is well written. The 2nd half of the book is explosive, and the characters feel so real. My main issue with the book is simply the lack of true world building involving the Archive - why does it exist? How? What is the point of keeping the records of the souls, and why do they sometimes wake up? What is ultimately the point of being a Keeper? And what is Wesley's real name??
It's too bad the 3rd book will never get written (its been years) because I suspect some of these answers might have been answered. But at least we got a bit of closure between MacKenzie and Wesley!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Self harm
Moderate: Toxic friendship
More...