The Archived by Victoria Schwab: Schwab is a Genius

The Archived 

by 

Victoria Schwab

Color me impressed. I mean its Victoria Schwab so that’s not a big surprise. But the writing and the plot and goodness gracious the setting was so impressive. I was pretty creeped out and you can bet I was confused as all get out, but in a good time. Well except for the first fifty pages when she was talking about her dead Da’ and her walking, talking, perfectly alive Dad. Would it have been that hard that hard to mention that dead Da’ was her grandad. 

It really wouldn’t have been that hard.

Characters

Mackenzie: So there are these people called Keepers. They’re basically guardians over these empty shells of people who died. They are then stored in this giant secret area called the Archive. Sometimes the shells woke up and freaked out 

(a perfectly reasonable reaction after dying) and it’s the keeper’s job to make sure they’re caught and sent back to sleep. Because if said shells manage to get out then they basically become super violent ghosts. I really liked this main character. Sure she was a bit rude at times and a total liar. But she was fabulous and for once a character that continually said they were good at lying was actually pretty skilled. 

(I’m looking at you Cassel Sharpe). Still Mackenzie and her sass and her love of muffins was wonderful I love her.

Wesley:   He was a Keeper as well. Which I actually did not see coming so ergo I am very pleased. Wesley was kind of this punk rocker looking kid who liked muffins and watched after his small cousin. I liked him. Though it did get a bit weird because I started out imagining him as like ‘Dread Pirate Roberts Wesley” so you know try imagining this dude 

with spikey hair and guyliner.

Not real easy is it?

Owen: so those shells that contain records of people’s lives are called Histories. I already said that when Histories wake up they get increasingly more confused and violent. Well Owen is a history who has been around for days and has yet to slip. So basically Mackenzie is very intrigued because her brother was recently killed by a hit-and-run driver so yeah . . . absolutely no temptation there. 

Anyways he woke up because his sister was killed while he was still alive. You guys know the rest of the story murder got away Owen got depressed and jumped off the roof and now he’s back as a terribly sad little ghost boy.

Likes

The setting: It’s a library full of dead people guys. And Mackenzie and Wes basically live in this creepy old hotel that was converted into apartments.

 And when I say creepy old hotel I mean with all the extras like murders, ghosts (Histories actually but semantics), and residents who know so much more than they actually let on. Basically it was beyond fabulous.

The characters: Because they were all very real. I can’t really say that I loved all of them because the characters that I was supposed to hate, I hated with an ever burning anger. 

So A+ plus character creation because they were all unique and fabulous.

Plot Twist: Major spoilers FYI

So Owen the History turned out to be mega-terrifying and totally homicidal. Essentially the reason he’s not slipping is because he actually was a Keeper  . . . you know when he was alive. But unfortunately when his sister died he brought her History back. Of course the murdered little girl didn’t take that well and when she slipped she began committing murders all over the hotel. 

OF course the other people at the Archive were not overly happy with that so they got rid of them. Which was actually really harsh come to think of it. So yeah I totally understand how angry Owen was and I was still terrified of him.

There was a Love Triangle but it wasn’t completely terrible:

 I mean there was kind of a thing between Mackenzie, Owen, and Wes but if you read the paragraph above you’d know that well Owen is both dead and evil so . . . yeah that didn’t last long. Then again it was also a little bit terrible which leads to my dislike.

Dislikes

The relationship between Mackenzie and Owen: Wow I dislike a part of the romance what a shocker! But anyway. So Mackenzie feels people’s thoughts when they touch her. Which basically sucks all the time. But when she meets Owen he’s dead so when she touches him she doesn’t feel anything. Now that’s cool and all and I can see why she would be thrilled about it . . . but Mackenzie kind of goes overboard. When she kisses Owen it makes her feel, calmer, less pounded from all side by people’s memories etc. But she basically uses him . . . as some sort of drug to give her a few quiet minutes. 

Was anyone else disturbed by that?! 

Still I did like the whole thing so yeah color me very pleased