The Archived (The Archived, #1) in THE ARCHIVED

Mar 11, 2014 Regan rated it it was amazing

Shelves: books-owned-read

Victoria Schwab crafts another beautiful and unique story.

Plus, guyliner.

Mar 03, 2014 Lexie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: paranormal, favorites

Five and a half stars? Five and a half stars.

I always promise myself that I'll learn not to write a review the moment I finish a book. And always I break this promise. This time is no different. And my thoughts are absolutely scattered.

I read "The Archived" as part of the read-a-long hosted here on Goodreads and which is still on-going (and will continue throughout most of the month of March). If you're on the fence about this book and somehow stumble upon this review - it is my sincerest recomm Five and a half stars? Five and a half stars.

I always promise myself that I'll learn not to write a review the moment I finish a book. And always I break this promise. This time is no different. And my thoughts are absolutely scattered.

I read "The Archived" as part of the read-a-long hosted here on Goodreads and which is still on-going (and will continue throughout most of the month of March). If you're on the fence about this book and somehow stumble upon this review - it is my sincerest recommendation that you pick it up. I will forever be recommending "The Archived" to everyone I meet. To paraphrase one Jesse who's been raving about it for years: "The Archived" is the sort of book which everyone needs in their lives.

Apart from the glowing adjectives I'm about to liberally bestow on it, however, "The Archived" is another thing - ridiculously hard to sum up or describe without giving any crucial details away. So in my best attempt to do just that, I will reiterate what has already been said in the synopsis: sixteen year old Mackenzie Bishop is going through a lot. After the sudden death of her brother and the passing of her grandfather, her parents uproot their collective life to move away and start anew. This would all be well and good if Mackenzie hadn't inherited her late grandfather's job as a Keeper - a guardian of the dead (not just the dead-and-gone kind, though, but the other, more mobile kind) known as Histories. And the place her parents choose as their new home is an old hotel-turned-apartment building with a rich history of its own. Mackenzie's main concern? The richer the history of a place, the more Histories she has to contend with. And not all dead like the realization that they're dead... nor is the hotel quite as it appears on the surface.

The writing style was what struck me first. Victoria Schwab possesses this unique, lyrical, poetic way of weaving a story which I feel would imbue even the most mundane of book with a touch of magic. And this is no mundane book. The worldbuilding is so intricate and so well thought-out that it grips the reader in such a way that it becomes impossible to put the book down until all the secrets of the world of the Archives has been revealed. Permeated with (highly relevant) flashbacks of Mackenzie's grandfather's lessons about the world, the reader stays up to date with everything they need to know before it becomes relevant to the plot. I'm not too big of a fan of flashbacks. In this case, though, not a sentence was amiss or entirely irrelevant. The aesthetic beauty (Pleonasm? I think so!) of these moments makes them into some of my most highlighted/underlined moments of the entire book.

And once the reaches and limits of the world have been established, the plot thickens. And boy, does it thicken. From a coming-of-age paranormal story, "The Archive" veers into a thriller/mystery domain, without ever loosing its thread or becoming too much to keep up with. I found myself suspicious of everyone at one point or another while making desperate attempts to piece together the puzzle that the characters find themselves facing. Suffice it to say, I never did - not before the very climax of the story, not even as all the pieces were laid out in front of me, just waiting to be lined up correctly. Victoria Schwab is THAT good. I can't praise the resolution of this book enough.

I tentatively purchased a Kindle version of "The Archived" a couple of months ago. Am I getting a hard copy now that I've finished? Of course I'm getting a hard copy now that I've finished. Frivolous? No. I need to have this book forever and re-read it eternally. It's just that simple. ...more

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Feb 19, 2014 itsrainingbooks rated it it was amazing

Because of the hype from numerous people who have the same taste in books as me 1 had a lot of high expectations for The Archived. This book still surpassed them all. The world building was amazing! It all felt like it was so real. The farther you delve into this book the more you learn about the archive and the places surrounding it.I really enjoyed the writing style as well. I absolutely loved how Victoria Schwab placed the notes about her grandfather throughout the book and I really think tha ...more

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Mar 11, 2014 Chantal rated it really liked it

Shelves: owned

Very seldom do I find myself wanting to read a good paranormal story. However, after reading many great reviews about The Archived by Victoria Schwab, I decided to give it a go. It took me about 2 chapters to really get into the story. After that, I couldn’t put it down.

Mackenzie Bishop is the main character of this novel. She is a Keeper. This means that it is her duty to return any Histories (dead people) that may have escaped the Archives (A library of the dead). We follow her in her adventur ...more

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Mar 03, 2014 Maggie Leitch rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, read-this-year

This book was a world which i loved and i need the second book NOW! I actually love the world building. I really felt like Victoria spent a lot of time building even each chapter. It felt believable. The aspects of this book is very clearly written and no questions are left unanswered. There are twists and turns and each page keeps you wondering and questioning this world. I can't wait to read The Unbound and all of Victoria's books! Defiantly a new favorite author. If you want a new exciting wo ...more

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Mar 06, 2014 bee rated it liked it

Shelves: 2014, urban-fantasy

WOW. Just wow.
I went into this book completely blind, so blind that for four chapters straight I thought that Mackenzie was a "he" and not a "she". I gathered a little from the title, but other than that I knew nothing. And I LOVED IT. The foundation and the main idea of the novel are great and very unique and the world building is very fulfilling right from the start. The writing style is very poetic and metaphorical and it took some getting used to but I liked it a lot. The characters are grea ...more

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Mar 04, 2014 Bridget rated it it was amazing

Shelves: books-i-own

Wow...I'm so glad I read this book; it was amazing. It really made me think to try to connect all the pieces. I could really understand the characters and how they felt and all the emotions she was trying to convey. It was beautifully written. I look forward to reading the Unbound hopefully sometime soon because I loved this book! ...more

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Mar 08, 2014 Ella rated it it was amazing

I loved this book so much that I described to a friend. She thought it sound fantastic, so now she's reading it. I will have a full review on my channel. www.youtube.com/booksbyella ...more

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Mar 02, 2014 Pablo Pérez rated it it was amazing

God, this book is awesome. Even though the first 100 pages were slow, and I didn't know what was going on.... as the story progressed everything made sense and BAMMM!! I started to enjoy the book! I give it a 4.5/5 because wooah, the plot was so original and unique. ...more

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Mar 07, 2014 Ali Bush rated it really liked it

This book was so interesting! So many different things to learn about in this world and so many aspects of the plot going on at once! It was really unique and intriguing the entire way through. I'm excited to read the sequel sometime soon! ...more

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