From the Bookshelf of Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge…

So. In this universe, when you die your History is sent to the Archive. The Archive exists outside our own world (fittingly called The Outer), separated from it by a place called The Narrows, which is basiclaly just a super long hallway full of doors. Some doors lead to “Returns,” some lead back to

So. In this universe, when you die your History is sent to the Archive. The Archive exists outside our own world (fittingly called The Outer), separated from it by a place called The Narrows, which is basiclaly just a super long hallway full of doors. Some doors lead to “Returns,” some lead back to the Archive, and others lead to different locations in The Outer. Librarians protect the Archive, which is where all histories are stored, and Keepers patrol the Narrows, returning any Histories that have woken up. In the rare circumstance that a History makes it into the Outer, Crew (pairs of super-Keepers, basically) have special keys to return those Histories to the Archive (their keys can create a door anywhere). Phew. That’s a mouthful of exposition, and to Schwab’s credit, it’s all dealt with fairly organically.

Mac, our protagonist, is a Keeper. She’s one of the youngest, having inherited the position from her grandfather after he died. We learn about Da in a series of flashbacks (which, in my opinion, become less and less necessary as the story progresses, but they’re interesting at first). He was a great Keeper, used to work Crew, and probably could have become a Librarian, but chose to return to being a Keeper so he could have a family. He chose Mac as his replacement, and spends the years before his death training her. Being a Keeper requires a certain amount of self-defense skill. See, sometimes Histories wake up and...it’s unclear how they get to the Narrows from the Archive, but that’s where they end up, and the Keeper for any given location has to return the History to the Archive, where it’s supposed to be shelved somewhere that it can’t escape from. Which first begs the question, why not just shelve everyone there? (Or is that like the “why can’t a whole plane be made out of the black box?” argument?). Anyway, Mac and her family have just moved to the Coronado, a converted old hotel. It sounds neat, but Schwab doesn’t spend much time on the scenery in the building, which to me is a missed opportunity (especially since it’s apparently so important). Apparently, it’s in San Diego, but it could literally be ANY large city in the US, for all the time spent on details. Mac’s family is still reeling from the loss of her younger brother, Ben, a year earlier, and her parents are hoping for a fresh start. Mac, for her part, is skeptical, and also having a hard time dealing with Ben’s death (he was hit by a car on his way to school, so she’s feeling some understandable guilt about not having been there to prevent it). Seeing as Mac is a Keeper with access to the Archive, she can’t resist the opportunity to go see Ben’s drawer, though her key won’t open it.

In her new location, Mac meets the mysterious Wes, and it turns out he’s also a Keeper (his cousin lives in the building and he helped patrol the Coronado, since there wasn’t anyone permanently stationed there). She’s thrilled to finally have someone she can talk to about her second life, but things take a turn for the weird when Mac finds herself almost constantly summoned to the Narrows, with a list she can’t clear, and Histories that are older and older (the older ones are supposed to be harder to wake). Clearly, something isn’t right in the Archive -- might it have something to do with the equally mysterious Owen, who appears in the Narrows without appearing on the list, and seems different from other Histories?

Yes, yes it does (duh). I like how Schwab handled the dreaded love triangle here -- Mac is attracted to both Wes and Owen for different reasons: Wes knows all her secrets, but Owen can quiet her mind (when a Keeper touches anything, they can “read” the object and people are...noisy). Mac starts researching the history of the building and realizes that not only did something awful happen inside her own bedroom, a whole set of years have been blacked out -- not only from the physical register kept by the building, but from actual history. This means a Librarian came in and erased memories. Given that Owen is haunting the Narrows of the Coronado, Mac quickly surmises that he might know something about the gaps, or perhaps even be connected to them.

Here’s what I don’t get (view spoiler)[ first of all, what exactly is the point of saving ANY Histories, if it’s so dangerous to have them wake up? It’s implied that Librarians use the Histories for some purpose, since they have the ability to “read” them, but we never find out why. I love the metaphor of the afterlife as a kind of library, where your soul (or whatever) is stored on record. It’s basically a supernatural Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore. But like I said, the premise starts to unravel upon closer inspection, because I’m not clear on why we need to keep these Histories if they're so dangerous. (hide spoiler)]Hopefully that’s something that will be revealed in later books.

My other issue is with the resolution of the actual mystery. The who and the how are clear enough -- but I’m not sure about the why. (view spoiler)[Carmen was the one tearing down the Archive, because she was in love with Owen, but we’re not shown ANY evidence of this. Hell, we’re barely told because suddenly the book proceeds at breakneck speed in the last 50 pages. And Owen was responsible for the murders, because he brought his sister out of the Archive and had to hide her. I’m just not clear where Carmen fits in. I guess she and Owen were Crew partners? How did Owen become a Librarian? Wasn’t he really young? And don’t Librarians live at the Archive? There are some holes here, and I feel like stretching the falling action out a bit could have cleared those issues up. I’m also hoping we get more background on the actual purpose of the Archive in the next book. As it stands, it’s kind of a useless system, as a few other reviewers have pointed out. Do we learn things from the Histories? Are they helpful in, say, solving crimes, or preventing disasters? (hide spoiler)] I mean, the whole “leaving behind your story” theme is one of my absolute favorites, so I’m certainly on board with the premise, but the execution is a bit shaky.