Book Review :: The Archived by VE Schwab

The Archived by Victoria Schwab
ISBN: 1423157311
Series: The Archived #1
Published by Hyperion
on 2013-01-22
Genres: Supernatural, Young Adult
Pages: 327
Goodreads

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.

Last updated on 13 February 2023

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My thoughts on The Archived 

The Archived was a wonderful book, and I knew I was going to love it. It’s a VE Schwab book, after all.

The Archives in the Coronado reminds me of the TARDIS. It’s big and small at the same time, and it’s full of exciting and terrifying things and possibilities. And that’s what Mackenzie ‘Mac’ discovers when she and her family move to the hotel-turned-apartments.

“You’re trying to block out every bit of noise. But people are made of noise, Mac. The world is full of noise. And finding quiet isn’t about pushing everything out. It’s just about pulling yourself in.”

The Archives is the place where people who have died are laid to rest. They’re called Histories, and there are three groups of people involved with the Archives: The Librarians, Crews, and Keepers. Mac and Wesley are Keepers, and they returned Histories who have escaped into the Narrows (this space between the Archive and the Outer, or the real world) back to the Archives.

While Mac is working, she uncovers secrets about the Coronado and what happened there decades before. There’s something going on, and she’s going to find out what.

I loved Mac as the main character and the supporting characters around her, including Wesley, her new friend, and perhaps-something-more (oo la la). The whole concept of the Archives, and the people in ‘Histories’ form escaping and having to pop them back … it’s genius. Schwab writes such unique books and I love diving into the worlds she creates.

“What if I mess up?”

“Oh, you will. You’ll mess up, you’ll make mistakes, you’ll break things. Some you’ll be able to piece together, and others you’ll lose. That’s all a given. But there’s only one thing you have to do for me.”

“What’s that?”

“Stay alive long enough to mess up again.”

There are flashbacks within the story of conversations with Mac and her grandfather, who was also a member of the Archives and the only person Mac could really talk to about it all. I didn’t love these flashbacks (I’m not really a flashback fan), but it was still nice to get more of Mac’s past life when her grandfather was still alive, and learning about how she got to be a Keeper.

The second book in this duology is The Unbound, and I’m really looking forward to reading it!

So tell me: Have you read The Archived? What did you think?