The Unbound - Book Review

The Unbound (The Archived #2)
by Victoria Schwab

What is it about:
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.

Last summer, Mackenzie Bishop, a Keeper tasked with stopping violent Histories from escaping the Archive, almost lost her life to one. Now, as she starts her junior year at Hyde School, she's struggling to get her life back. But moving on isn't easy -- not when her dreams are haunted by what happened. She knows the past is past, knows it cannot hurt her, but it feels so real, and when her nightmares begin to creep into her waking hours, she starts to wonder if she's really safe.

Meanwhile, people are vanishing without a trace, and the only thing they seem to have in common is Mackenzie. She's sure the Archive knows more than they are letting on, but before she can prove it, she becomes the prime suspect. And unless Mac can track down the real culprit, she'll lose everything, not only her role as Keeper, but her memories, and even her life. Can Mackenzie untangle the mystery before she herself unravels?

With stunning prose and a captivating mixture of action, romance, and horror, The Unbound delves into a richly imagined world where no choice is easy and love and loss feel like two sides of the same coin.

What did I think of it:
This book is just as cool as the first book.

I was hooked from the start and wondering and theorizing what was going on. Mackenzie soon gets in over her head, and I liked that Schwab didn't shy away from making it very hard on Mackenzie to keep her job as Keeper, by letting both the Library and her parents crack down on her. Luckily she has Wesley to help her out at times.

There is a bit of a love triangle thing going on, but not serious enough to annoy me. Mackenzie has too much problems to solve to get too deep involved in love triangle dramas.

The story was suspenseful and compelling once more. I could guess at some things, but there were other things going on that had me puzzled. I kept cheering Mackenzie and Wesley on to figure things out and to save the day.

The ending was satisfying, still I was glad there was a short story included at the back of the book, because I needed more. The short story was everything I needed to feel content, even with the knowledge there might not be more books coming in this series.

All in all an awesome read.

Why should you read it:
It's a wonderful and suspenseful Paranormal YA read.


Buy from bookdepository