The Archived by Victoria Schwab

Published: January 22, 2013 by Hyperion

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Synopsis:

Imagine a place where the dead rest on shelves like books.

Each body has a story to tell, a life seen in pictures 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 that 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 may crumble and fall.

Rating:

Review:

The synopsis for this book drew me in immediately. I loved the idea of it. Where a person’s life isn’t recorded in memories or pictures but in a flesh and blood embodiment of their life. And they can wake up and become dangerous and disturbed. It was giving me haunting vibes and zombie vibes all at once. And really it was a perfect combination of both of those things. It was an utterly unique idea that I don’t think I’ve ever seen before.

I got a little worried when I started this book because I noticed it was the first in a series. The second book was published shortly after the first, in 2014. Then an adjacent short story that acts as a 2.5 in the series was published in 2015. But nothing since then. The third book in the series is just noted as “having been outlined and plotted but with no timeline for completion”. Uh oh. Did I really want to get invested in a series that will likely never be finished? I decided to finish this one because I had already started it, and my answer is yet. I am totally willing to be invested in this series. Even if it will never be finished.

Mac was a great character. She is a young woman in the midst of dealing with immense grief. She has been given the knowledge of the Archive from her grandfather, knowing that when he was ready to pass away that the job would pass to her. So she’s grieving her grandfather and then her younger brother dies. And her family, in their grief, is determined to get a new start in a new city. They purge the home of all of her brother’s belongings and refuse to speak about him. Which is devastating for Mac because she KNOWS what happens when someone dies. She KNOWS that her brother’s History is sitting on a shelf somewhere. She knows that if she tried to wake him that it wouldn’t really be him. But at the same time, she is mourning his loss and has nothing else to remind her of him. I identified with her grief in so many profound ways.

I loved the story and the mystery of this book too. At first it seemed like Mac was trying to invent a mystery so that she didn’t have to think about her grief. But soon it became apparent that all of this was intentional, all of this is part of a larger plan, and that she is one of few who can figure out what that plan is.

My only complaint about this book is that I didn’t understand why Mac being a Keeper was such a big secret. So much of a secret that she couldn’t even tell her parents. As far as I understood, the ability to “read” things is what makes a good Keeper, and it’s genetic. Her grandfather says that her father had the ability too, he just didn’t think that his son has the temperament to be a Keeper. So, it seems like this should be able to be known to other people in the family. All those generations of it being passed down in the family and nobody ever knew except the person who was chosen? Keeping it a secret from the rest of the world made sense, but it didn’t make sense that it had to be a secret from her parents. That confused me and I couldn’t see a purpose behind it.

The ending of this book was an adventure filled ride. I read the last 125 pages in a single sitting because I couldn’t put it down. I never saw it coming. It was fantastic! It sold me on reading the next story, but I would also be content with the ending even if I never read the second book. I am hoping that the second book ends in a similar way, just in case this series never sees a third book.