Publisher and Publication Date: Disney Hyperion. 2013.
Genre: Fiction. Fantasy. Paranormal.
Pages: Kindle edition. 336 pages.
Source: Free e book copy from NetGalley. They offered the book free to me without a request.
Audience: This book is for a young adult audience, but can be read with interest by adults. Also, people who want to read something out of their ordinary (like me). People who enjoy reading paranormal stories.
Rating: Good.
This was actually the first book sent to me when I joined NetGalley. I didn’t request the book and it sat on the virtual shelf for a while. I decided to clean up the unread books on the NetGalley shelf. The Archived is definitely a book out of my norm.
This is the first book in a series titled The Archived #1. Other books in this series:
The Unbound #2. The Returned will be the third book.
The first point about this book is it’s strange. Strange for me period, because I don’t read this type of book. It’s also strange, because isn’t that one of the things needed in a paranormal book is a strange atmosphere?
Summary:
Mackenzie Bishop is a mid teenage girl. She has parents. Her mom is a bit eccentric. Her dad is in the background. Mackenzie’s younger brother died recently. She had a Da that died a few years ago. Mackenzie will often reflect back on her Da, because he gave her insight and advice. She has one friend. When the story begins they have moved to a new place, the Coronado. It’s an old building. It was a hotel and then became an apartment building. Her mother has a plan to open a coffee shop in the building. So it’s a home for them plus a business.
The Archived is a place of records for people. A whole life data collection on people. Librarians work in the Archive. A History is a person who has died but not moved on. The Narrows is a buffer between our reality and the next. Mackenzie is a Keeper. She locates a History and takes them to the correct door. There is a few other important facts, but if you can understand and keep up with the above terminology you will be further along in understanding than I was at first.
Mackenzie also sees visions-events that happened in the past.
Add to this already interesting mix-a murder mystery.
My Thoughts:
What I like about the story is it kept my attention with imagination and action. Further, I wanted to know what her vision meant earlier in the story? I wanted to know more about what happened to her brother? Who is Da? So, I had several “things” that needed answers.
Another important point is I wondered who are the bad and who are the good? In every story there are those kinds of people. In some stories there are surprises, not in this story. I can’t say I was totally off by who were the bad ones.
I know that I think logically, but why don’t these people (History) want to move on? Why do they want to hang out in a narrow hallway? However, this is apart of the storyline.
Mackenzie is a sympathetic character. She’s a loner. She is not really involved in anything other than the “task” as a Keeper. She is grieving the deaths of Da and her brother. She and her parents don’t connect. She’s alone in her thoughts all of the time. She is a contemplative person. She’s basically kind and wants to do the right thing.
Later in the book Mackenzie is praying. What? Who is she praying to? Nothing alludes to any religious belief but she’s praying. I’m not sure why this was added to the story at all. It felt like something pulled out of a rabbit and just for show.
Am I glad I read The Archived? It’s good to read something out of my ordinary interest in books. It’s like using a different part of my brain. So yes.
Impressions In Ink 