Week 51 Review: The Archived

From 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.

My Review:
This was such a unique book! I really enjoyed reading about this world where the dead souls of people are a lot like books, and yeah, such possibilities just come to life, and are awesome, and are just things that I want to read about. This was a book that just needed to be written, and I'm so glad that it was!

The names were a bit confusing, who Da was in relation to the family, and all that, and now I'm 85% certain that he's her grandfather, on her mom's side, I think, from various details that I gathered. And yeah, that was a bit confusing in the beginning, trying to figure out peoples familial relations to each other, but yeah, that's a minor point (though a point that I had to make!)

I really enjoyed the world building, from the various doors, and their uses and a bit of history, to these people's bodies-and memories-shelved like books, and you can technically access them-but like a favourite author's character quotes, "just because you can, doesn't mean you should." Yeah.

The one element in the book, that's not really mentioned a lot, is the fact that this book has a bit of horror in it. Face it, when you're in a place with dead people, that's kinda the norm. Plus the Coronado had a ton of deaths, and yeah, is just plain creepy! Really enjoyed that!

Yeah, this was a pretty fantastic, wonderful book, and I can't wait to read the next book!

Author: Victoria Schwab
Series: The Archived #1
Read: December 17th, 2013
Source: Tuebl
Reason Why: Because it sounded good!
Publisher: Hyperion
Published: January 22nd 2013

5/5 Hearts

3.5/5 Books

4/5 Stars