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A review by booksandlemonsquash
The Archived by V.E. Schwab
3.0
Well, I finally found the Victoria Schwab book that wasn't quite for me. I did enjoy it, especially towards the end, but I didn't connect with it in the same way I did with the rest of her work.
I think part of this is the concept - I like it, but there doesn't seem to be a wider purpose to the archive. Why does it exist in this world and how did it come about? Once I got past that, I did find it easier to related to Mackenzie. Her mission to protect the archive and figure out what is going on is fairly well played out, and I like how violent it is! ;) I found parts of the mystery reasonably obvious, but the overall driving motive wasn't, so that was nice. I also really enjoyed the way it showed how hard lying to everyone in their lives was.
I'm not sure all the cut scenes to Da really work throughout the book, even if by the end they're useful. Early on they make it a lot harder to really feel the pace of the book, and don't actually add as much as they should to the worldbuilding.
I do feel I'm judging this on the very high standard of utterly loving all her other work, but this just wasn't quite what I hoped for. I'm not sure I'll read book 2, certainly not straight away.
3.5 stars.
I think part of this is the concept - I like it, but there doesn't seem to be a wider purpose to the archive. Why does it exist in this world and how did it come about? Once I got past that, I did find it easier to related to Mackenzie. Her mission to protect the archive and figure out what is going on is fairly well played out, and I like how violent it is! ;) I found parts of the mystery reasonably obvious, but the overall driving motive wasn't, so that was nice. I also really enjoyed the way it showed how hard lying to everyone in their lives was.
I'm not sure all the cut scenes to Da really work throughout the book, even if by the end they're useful. Early on they make it a lot harder to really feel the pace of the book, and don't actually add as much as they should to the worldbuilding.
I do feel I'm judging this on the very high standard of utterly loving all her other work, but this just wasn't quite what I hoped for. I'm not sure I'll read book 2, certainly not straight away.
3.5 stars.