The Archived

Rating: 3.5/5Title: The Dark Vault: The Archived and The UnboundAuthor: Victoria SchwabSynopsis: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.Mackenzie Bishop's grandfather first brought her here four years ago, when she was twelve years old, frightened but determined to prove herself. Now her grandfather 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.Follow Mackenzie as she explores the boundary between living and dying, sleeping and waking, through these two timeless novels, now bound together in this thrilling collection. With stunning prose and a captivating mixture of action, romance, and horror, The Dark Vault delves into a richly imagined world where no choice is easy and love and loss feel like two sides of the same coin.Initial thoughts:Victoria Schwab is one of my favorite authors. I have read her Darker Shade of Magic Series, VIcious, and I am currently reading her Monsters of Verity series so I had very high hopes for these books as well. I had some issues finding it in the store though (I learned that they are going to be re-releasing these books as a set later on) so I ended up having to get it from my local library. I will be get it for my shelves later though. Before reading this series, I thought the concept of the dead being cataloged like in a library was very original. I loved the idea as I am a librarian myself and thought it would be neat to see how the lives of the dead were stored.Plot:What I liked:The idea of Histories and hunting for them was very original. When I first read the book cover, I believed that each History was going to actually be written down in a book and cataloged within the archive, so I was surprised when the archive was more like a morgue with the sleeping dead within that happened to wake up within the archive. I found that very clever and well thought out.This book was written in first person and sometimes switched over into an almost diary like tone where Mackenzie recalled something from her past which helped the reader understand things that needed to be explained as they happened. It was a very small cast in the first book and then blossomed as Mackenzie started to branch out a little more allowing her character to develop from the first book.The character development throughout the series was really well put together. None of them felt too flat and all changed, showing different sides as the story progressed. One character in particular captivated my attention with this was Wes. I really did find myself enjoying his character.What I didn't like:There were a few things in this world that didn’t quite make a lot of sense and didn’t seem to be explained all that much. One thing I thought could have been explained better was exactly how the Histories get out into the Narrows especially when there are librarians monitoring the area and making sure that they do not escape.I really did enjoy the series, but I felt that it was rather repetitive at certain points within the book. There were times where sequences were nearly identical to one another and it could be a bit distracting for me. Also, rather than move the story along, it was rather like each time something was repeated it was because the characters were in a standstill situation.Characters:Mackenzie Bishop: She wants to believe that she can take care of herself, and is too stubborn to really ask for help from others. I liked how she was independent, but something that threw me off about her was how she continued to push people away even after they had shown that they could be trusted and would understand what she was going through. Trust is a two way street and she only seemed to think that others should trust her without her trusting them.Wesley: He was a really cool character. I loved his bubbly personality, but he was also quick to display his emotions. I really liked how he complemented Mackenzie.Owen: Everytime he appeared within the book he made me nervous. He greatly paralleled Wes within the books.The librarians: Some of them I liked and others I didn’t. They followed their rules and did what they had to to keep the Archive running smoothly.Roland: I loved this character. I actually think that he was my favorite. He felt so relatable as a father like figure for Mackenzie when she needed it. He was firm with her, but was also willing to bend the rules some because he understood what she was going through with the death of her brother.Da and Ben: Both of these two are dead at the beginning of the book so you don’t get as much of their characters as if they were still around, but it was interesting to see how their deaths and their pasts influences the character’s decisions through the series.Mr. and Mrs. Bishop (Mackenzie’s parents):These two were not my favorites in the book, however I did sympathize with them. Both wanted to protect Mackenzie, but they also had their own agendas in a sense. Her mother seemed a bit scattered while her father seemed more put together, but still distant.Overall:Overall, The Archived and The Unbound were very fast paced and held a certain mysterious aspect to it that I enjoyed. I would recommend this book to those who enjoy a nice thriller mystery book series and On a side note, please go read some of her other books as well. Victoria is again one of my favorite authors.

: [...]It took me a few tics to get into The Archived; but by page 30 or so, I was trapped. In the realm of young adult urban fantasy, it offers something unique (dead people, "Histories", shelved like books and the Keepers who hunt the escapees) embedded in something familiar (an old-timey ghost mystery), with a twist of romance that defies the insta-love trend. And is only a twist, because our focus is not on some teenage love drama, but the badassery of Mackenzie. I connected with her immediately and stayed deeply invested in her to the end, even when she was being horrendously stupid. Because she was also clever, resourceful, compassionate to a fault. And empowering. She drove the plot, from choosing to confide in Wesley and the Librarians (band name?) to investigating traces of an old murder to allowing the mysterious Owen a free pass from getting shelved. Her mistakes had huge consequences, but at least they were her mistakes and not something simply happening to her. I was breathless watching the mysteries fit together and unravel, sullen on the last page because I had to have more, and excited because Mac ultimately saves herself.plot . 5/5The start is enigmatic. I felt thrown into a story midway through, knowing there were details I had yet to find. It made it take a minute to latch onto the plot, but in the end it worked for me. There was no lag time. From the start, I was running through the Narrows with Mackenzie hunting Histories. But the plot goes much deeper than that. There are layers that seem set in the Archive world, layers only in the real world, but more and more the story becomes mixed up between the two. It's a clear demonstration of how impossible it is for Mac to keep her two lives separate, and also a thrilling mystery that gets twistier every page-turn. We have the increasingly violent Histories, Mac's dead brother and her family's grief, the walls that speak of old murders, the mysterious friendly History Owen, the new Keeper Wesley, the enigmatic Librarians. I also appreciated the very unconventional play on a love triangle that's not really a love triangle. As I read, things that seemed unconnected became connected and everything built towards a conclusion that was partly shocking and partly satisfyingly expected. And it left me wanting the sequel right now.concept . 5/5So there's young adult urban fantasy, and then there's The Archived. No vampire, fairies, demons, or other beasties here. Schwab has concocted a fascinating and entirely new other-world. You can see the inspiration from a mausoleum, but the Archive is much more than that. It's full of people. Histories, like ghosts but not a ghost you've ever encountered before. Keepers who coax and coerce them back to their shelves when they escape into the space between worlds. Crew who hunt down the violent ones who reach the real world. My absolute favorite part was the ability of the Keepers to read. Just by touch, they can absorb the impressions in everything--stories imprinted into objects and walls by the people who once touched them, stories in the heads of living people jumbled and disorienting. Mac's reading ability is not only cool as hell, but it features highly in the plot. It's dangerous and seductive, and it causes just as much trouble as it provides help.characters . 5/5Schwab has a particularly strong cast of characters, a cut above the usual young adult set. Mackenzie is a little younger than a lot of young adult fantasy heroines, so there's less brooding over bad boys and more being a teenager. Sort of. She's mature to start with and her job, and the untimely death of her little brother, have made her an elder in a kid's body. You can see it in the way that she sees through her mother's "light bulb" cheerfulness and her father's silence, ways they try to hide their grief from her. The way she's attracted to Wesley but keeps her distance, because she knows the cost of getting too close. But she's vulnerable too. She breaks the rules to sit at her brother's shelf, and her lenience towards an unusual History becomes crucial and damaging. But that vulnerability doesn't stop her from fighting back. In the end, she kicks ass all on her own. No insta-love backup needed. And Wesley? If he were older, I'd marry him. He's the perfect blend of snarky and perceptive, a little foolhardy but with a surprising poetic soul. I won't gush too much over the rest of the cast, but even those with less screen time, like Roland and Mac's parents, feel fully developed. Then there's Da. We see him only in memories, and yet I felt like he was one of the strongest portrayals in the book.style . 5/5There were so many pages I wanted to dog-ear. I'm a broken record when it comes to whining about the quality of writing in young adult fiction, urban fantasy or otherwise. With The Archived, there's nothing to whine about--except maybe that Schwab can't possibly write enough books to satisfy my craving for her prose. It's a bit Gaimanesque. Not as snarkily playful, but there's a magical quality to even the mundane scenes that makes you feel excited. And it can go magical to mournful in an instant, without feeling forced. The emotion is deep, the deeper meanings are there without beating you over the head, and the descriptions are downright gorgeous. I could picture every scene but still let my imagination fill in the blanks. It's a rare gift and Schwab's got it.mechanics . 5/5The interweaving of memories and the current narrative is an increasing trend in young adult fantasy (Everneath and Everbound do it quite well) and no less effective here. I was able to jump right into the action without the "WTF is going on?" problem. But it does more. Schwab uses the memories with Da to support what's going on in the present, creating important comparisons and clarifications and dropping clues. It makes for a much richer narrative than if she had presented the background all at once. It also factors into The Archived's rather brilliant foreshadowing.take home messageA masterful urban fantasy that plays with the ideas of life, love, and death in the context of a thrilling plot and endearing characters. Read more

This was one of those few books I knew I’d love from the cover and blurb alone. Libraries? Dead people shelved like books? I had a feeling this was going to be right up my alley, and happily, I was right!The premise for the books is the idea that we are made up of our experiences and memories, and that these survive our deaths in the form of Histories, stored in a vast library known as the Archive. Mackenzie is a Keeper, meaning that it’s her responsibility to find escaped Histories and return them to their rightful place. After the loss of her little brother, her parents move to an old hotel, a place with a history someone wants to cover up. Mackenzie is forced to reassess everything she thinks she knows as she learns that something is wrong in the Archived, and it’s somehow tied in to her new home’s sinister history.This book drew me in from the first page and refused to let me go. I loved Mackenzie, who is a fantastically relatable protagonist – both tough, ruthless keeper and lost teenage girl desperate to cling to the memory of her little brother. The Archived explores an array of themes surrounding loss and memory, life and death, through its unique concept of the Histories. They’re like ghosts, in a way. I wouldn’t call this a horror story, but the idea of a hotel with a hidden history and the shadow of a murder in the bedroom send a delightful shiver down the spine.I’ve read so many books and seen so many films which have a great concept and poor execution. Thankfully, The Archived isn’t one of them. The gripping story and lyrical writing more than match the concept, which is no easy task! I’m usually a fast reader, but this is one of those books you want to slow down and savour because of the beauty of the writing. At the same time, the plot held me hooked until the end.

Schwab had a fantastic gift for writing intriguing and likeable characters, and The Archived is no exception. The plot is well paced that you want to keep reading, but informative enough that you don't feel lost in explanations of mechanisms and devices. A brilliant tale and idea of what happens when people die and who makes sure they don't wake up again. Can't wait to read more.

I loved this book, from the start to the very end. A great concept and very well written, it had me near tears several times. I loved the description of each setting, I could picture it all so easily. The book envelops you and takes you on a fantastic journey. I'm not a teenager, way past that, but loved it all the same. Eagerly awaiting the next book.

Fantastic, arrived next day in perfect condition

Good service and good book.