Title: The Archived
Author: Victoria Schwab
Series #: Book 1
Date Published: January 22, 2013
Publisher: Hyperion
Source: Library
# of Pages: 328
Summary: (Goodreads)
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.
This is the first Victoria Schwab novel that I have ever read and I am so glad that I did. Prior to reading this book, I have already heard of so many great things about Victoria Schwab and her works. A lot of bloggers and vloggers that I have met raved about at least one of her works, primarily The Archived and Vicious, her adult novel. After reading The Archived I can see why her books are so highly coveted. Her writing style is so amazing. Her words captured me instantaneously, it was insane!
In The Archived, Victoria Schwab pulls us into a world where bodies, or rather memories are embodied in human- like beings that resembled their actual human counter-parts, stored in Archives. Yes, rather than archiving books, our main protagonist, Mackenzie Bishop, archives bodies. Reading this within the summary pulled me to the book instantly. I was curious to how this book would play out and I must say that I am not disappointed. I personally thought that the plot was very unique and brilliantly written. There was also a lot of world building which was written pretty good as well.
The characters are pretty interesting. You have Mackenzie Bishop, our main protagonist of the story. I really like her as a character from the very beginning til the end. She really felt like a real person, given her family history and the emotions tied in with that as well as her history as a keeper. The relationships in this book felt genuine, very relistic and quite entertaining, especially Wes. It wasn’t just Mackenzie and Wesley, I think the supporting characters were well written as well. My favorite character would have to be Wesley. Personally, he was the most entertaining to me.
Overall, I really love this book. It was so intriguing and it really pulled me in. I am looking forward to reading other books written by Victoria Schwab :D.
My Rating:
Would I recommend this Book?: Yes!
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