V.E. Schwab

When an otherworldly library called the Archive is compromised from within, sixteen-year-old Mackenzie Bishop must prevent violent, ghost-like Histories from escaping into our world.

The Archived

siiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
i loved ittt its such a cute little mystery story and i loved wes MY BELOVEDDD and its so funnn

kelsey

“if you're talking about my inability to quit, i already know.”

i am so so glad, i finally read this book. miss schwab literally never disappoints. all her books are written so beautifully and keep you immersed in every chapter. i love her.

Nova

THAT WAS SO GOOD HOLY SHIT!! victoria really doesnt disappoint. the genre & plot are right up my alley so it wasnt hard for me to get into it. the writing is stellar as usual and i loved the characters so much !!!

Nessa Luna

Even though it took me almost two weeks to finish the book (due to me feeling a bit 'meh' throughout this month) I feel like I flew through this book. The premise was super interesting and I loved Mac as a character. By the time I got to the end, I was absolutely sucked into the story and I stayed up super late to finish the book. I'm happy I bought the bind-up of the series so I can continue reading the sequel asap (hopefully next month).

Julia

This book was so good oh my god. I am starting the second one right away!!

Nouf Fallatah 

iloved it .soooo amazing its just soo thrilling and beautifuly written

Rachel Kanyid

This book was gorgeous!
I wasn't sure about it at first.. 

I hadn't heard any hype about it, I simply got it from the library because I have worked in a library for nearly three years and it was a YA book about the afterlife being a library....

 But after about 50 pages, I really started to get into it, and boy oh boy did I love it!

 The writing style is absolutely captivating, and I loved the chronological flashbacks hear and there throughout the story. They made it seem even more beautiful than it already was. 

(view spoiler)[I loved being able to get to know "Da' even though he is long gone when the story begins.. (hide spoiler)]

Can't wait to read the next book!

Imagine a place where the dead rest on shelves like books. Each body has a story to tell, a life seen in pictures that 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 might crumble and fall. In this haunting, richly imagined novel, Victoria Schwab reveals the thin lines between past and present, love and pain, trust and deceit, unbearable loss and hardwon redemption.

devin.reads

Nicole Dykeman

I absolutely love the workings of this world. The concept of the Archive, the Narrows, and the Outer were really well thought out, with the names on the paper and the ways that the different keys work. It’s a perfect blend of magical and the real world, just the way I like it. 

My favorite character has got to be Roland. His relationship with Mackenzie has the perfect mentor/mentee dynamic that gets me every time. I also loved Wesley, he was such a sweet guy and honestly he deserves better than Mackenzie. 

The only reason this gets 4 stars instead of 5 is that I thought everything was a little predictable when it came to Owen.

Livia

4.5
The Queen of Dark Fantasy, Victoria Schwab, strikes again with this book.

Wow. I never really had the interest to pick up this book in the past. But then I read Shades of Magic, Vicious, and Monsters of Verity, and I just knew that I had to read this book too.

And I'm happy to say that Miss Schwab did not disappoint. The eerie quality, the mystery, the world-building, it's all so fascinating.
I admit it took me almost 100 pages to get fully immersed in the world, but once you're in it, you're in it. And you're going for a ride.

Sonja H

"Stellt euch einen Ort vor, an dem Tote wie Bücher in Regalen liegen". Und nun stellt euch vor, diese Toten wachen von Zeit zu Zeit auf, irren umher und manche von ihnen entkommen in die Außenwelt. 
Mackenzie Bishop hat den Job eines "Keepers" in dieser Welt und muss dafür sorgen, dass Entkommene ihren Weg zurück in die Bibliothek finden - doch dann bricht das Chaos aus.

Ich bin großer Fan von Victoria Schwab. Ihre Welten sind immer ein wenig düster, aber sehr geheimnisvoll und ungewöhnlich. Auch ihre Figuren haben starke Persönlichkeiten und wachsen im Laufe der Geschichte an ihren Herausforderungen. 

Es hat mir viel Spaß gemacht, dieses Buch zu lesen, allerdings hätte ich mir erhofft, dass es etwas mehr Hintergrund zu dieser anderen Welt und ihren "Angestellten" gibt. Aber vielleicht erfahre ich im zweiten Band mehr darüber.

Allison Garrett

3.5-4 stars 
The concept had me interested from the beginning but it started slow and it took me awhile to get into it. I'm glad I stuck with it because it did pick up and it was a pretty ok to good ish read.

Leah Patton

Not my favorite by Victoria Schwab but I liked it. I'm still definitely a fan and will probably read the sequel but it just took me longer than usual to finish. Not for me but a lot of people seemed to really enjoy it.

Julie D.

Terri Arnold

Bit of a slow burner and with a bit of world building to begin with I wasnt sure at first because I thought this was a great concept and was expecting a lot. But by the end I found I couldnt put the book down, the last 35% of the book had me hooked! It ended with a very satisfactory ending that makes me kind of think I could end here, but I desperately want more so I am excited to read the next one asap.

The Archive, an otherworldly library, contains the bodies of everyone who has ever died. But when the Archive is compromised from within, sixteen-year-old Mackenzie Bishop must use her skills as a Keeper to identify the traitor and prevent violent Histories from escaping into our world. The first in a dark, dazzlingly inventive YA fantasy series from the author of The Near Witch.

Sheila

THANK YOU VICTORIA SCHWAB FOR RELIEVING ME FROM THE MISERY OF THE PAST FEW BOOKS! 

I read this in one sitting entirely by accident; I had intended only to read a few chapters before heading home after work, but before I knew it I had blazed through the entire book. Clearly I had procrastinated reading this book for a reason, & it was to leave it for this moment in time when I would appreciate it most. The summary overview of the book never seemed super interesting to me, but looking at it from the other side I can say that it was just criminally underselling it to me. 

I'm so glad there's more to this story & I can read the sequel!!! ...once I've gone through all the other books on my iPad *sweats*

Milo Jean

I LOVED this book! It’s been a long time since I enjoyed a young adult novel as much as this one, but this book definitely reawakened my interest in that category. 

This book was beautifully written, and unique. Plus a couple of the reveals in the end actually surprised me! Can’t recommend this one enough.

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 great (especially Wes, of course, who's my current fictional crush), I was kind of annoyed with Mackenzie at some points in the last parts of the book before the fallout, but the beautiful ending adjusted everything for me.
If you're looking for a fantasy with a unique taste to it, I definitely recommend this book.

Jennifer

Considering I have finished this book in a very short amount of time the book must be very captivating. The story line is very capturing and I really didn't want to put it down. The characters are interesting even though I had a hard time connecting to Mac. Wes and Roland on the other had I found more interesting. Overall I very good book that I would definitely recommend.

Mica

OMG, o sea, OMG!!
Hacía mucho tiempo que tenía ganas de leer algo de Victoria Schwab y no puedo creer, como ya es costumbre, que tarde tanto en hacerlo. 
Con este libro me pasó que leí la sinopsis y me pareció una idea fascinante, pero a pesar de eso estuvo durante meses en mi biblioteca hasta que por fin me digné a leerlo.
Debo decir que es simplemente genial, la trama es original y todo lo que sucede en el libro también, no podía dejar de leerlo por la necesidad de querer saber cómo terminaba.
No puedo creer que me haya demorado tanto en leerlo, pero ya sé una cosa, en cuanto pueda estaré leyendo el segundo libro y los otros libros de Victoria Schwab porque de verdad que me enamoré de su forma de escribir.
Si no leyeron este libro, ¿qué esperan? En serio que es genial.

sara louise

what a pleasant surprise! I’d heard mixed reviews of this which is why it sat on my shelves for a few months before I picked it up, but once again victoria schwab creates wonderful characters and unique settings. reading her work always feels like coming home, familiar and safe, even when she’s practically ripping my heart out with her words. 

also the archive as a space had the same air of mystery as erin morgenstern’s starless sea did and I am here for it. can’t wait to get into the unbound and see what else mac, wes and roland get up to.

Alexis 

3.5/5 stars 

Honestly if anything I felt like this book left me confused. It took me forever to actually get into the story. And when I finally did I was super confused on what was actually happening. The last half of the book I think was better for me. It was faster passed and more action. Of course the writing was beautiful as always with this author. Unfortunately it really was just okay for me. I'm thinking I probably had too high expectations going in. Overall though it was still a good book and I enjoyed it enough to recommend.

Honestly, I find that this book wasn't anything that special, it's not the kind of book that blows your mind, but it's perfectly fine the way it is.

At first I though I wouldn't like it. The beginning was really confusing, constant switching between past and present almost lost me, but after a few chapters you get used to it, and eventually I began to like that about this book, plus there was way to many information to process in the beginning, but if you manage it, the book slows down later on. Speaking of the tempo.. this is a slow book, it's not a fast paced action book, it takes it's own time. But that is actually okay. I usually don't like slow books, I'm really impatient and can not wait for things to resolve on their own if it takes to much time, but strangely, that didn't bother me here.

The plot is addictive, and so are the characters. Unlike most of the YA female leads I really like Mackenzie, she actually feels real, relatable in a way. She is not perfect and she has her flaws, but that's what makes her feel real. 
And yeah, Wesley is the best ^^
Though I honestly think that my favourite character was Da. I love him. I loved all his "lessons".

The idea of this book is really cool. I love the idea of Histories, it is just so cool to think that no one is forgotten and that it's not written in a book, but it's kept inside you. It's cool to think that you'll never be lost.

Anyway this was a pleasant read. I'm really glad I decided to pick it up :-)

And yeah.... I was really surprised to see that there is a sequel. There was no need for one, but it could be fun to read more about this world someday.

The Archived

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