On my wishlist (2) – The Archived – Victoria Schwab

Hardcover, 336 pages

Expected publication: January 22nd 2013 by Hyperion

Description

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 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 hard-won redemption.

My thoughts

I read the sneak peak offered by NetGalley and all I can say is that I’m definitely going to buy this book when it comes out.

I admit that it was a little confusing at first, but after that I couldn’t put it down. The author’s writing style is different, in a good way, and some parts were like poetry. I liked the way in which she described the Narrows and the Archive (spooky places), the pace was good, the characters were interesting.
I enjoyed the flashbacks between Mac and her grandfather because they made me understand more about the world created by the author and about Mac herself. My only concern is that there will be a case of insta-love (Mac and Wesley).