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kal517's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Body horror, and Death
Moderate: Violence, Cannibalism, and Murder
Minor: Sexual content
booksthatburn's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
I love stories with worldbuilding that is immersive, not waiting for the reader to catch up, but just letting the story unfold; only explaining things that someone in the world would need stated, more explicitly. THE ARCHIVE UNDYING provides explanations late, intertwined with regret.
As I’ve said before and will doubtless say again, I specifically love books which include mental transformations of nominally the same character, such that they understand some thing very differently than they did before, or have an entirely new state of mind. My particular favorite is when they are so different as to be a discrete person by the time the changes are done. THE ARCHIVE UNDYING is full of this, first with a narrator whose identity takes a long time to be known, and then with of variety of technologically assisted mental connections and transformative clashes of mind, such that even if everyone nominally remains afterward as entities, they are changed by those meetings.
Reading this is an audiobook definitely helped to let the story roll over me, enjoying the flow of the words even if I didn’t always understand why something was happening. A few pretty significant changes happen towards the end which reframe and contextualize the actions of some secondary characters. It’s the kind of book where I know I will reread it, if only to experience the shift in perspective that comes with knowing characters, backstories, and ulterior motives from the start.
Moderate: Cursing, Body horror, Gore, Cannibalism, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Torture, Murder, and Death
Minor: Sexual content and Vomit
jayisreading's review against another edition
3.0
I understand authors who just want to tell the story and leave it up to the reader to figure things out themself, but I felt that Candon needed to give the reader a little more to work with. I found that I was confused more often than I would have liked. I stuck with it, though, because I was really drawn to the world (at least what I was able to make sense of it) and the characters. The characters were wonderfully complex in all their flaws, and I especially loved the disability representation.
But to return to my issues, I found that I was mostly frustrated while reading this book, which isn't exactly the mood you want to be in. When certain ideas were introduced, I wanted to learn more about them, but Candon often moved on and left me hanging. I felt that I was given a lot of fragments but they didn't quite fit together to create a full picture. Maybe I wasn't as engaged as I should have been (even though I'd say I was in my attempt to follow what's happening), but things didn't pan out the way I hoped.
This book might work better as a reread, so I might give this one another try in the future, especially if it turns out this book is part of a series.
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Violence, Death, and Murder
Moderate: Confinement and Cannibalism
devynreadsnovels's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Moderate: Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Death, and Gore
Minor: Cannibalism, Torture, Kidnapping, War, Drug use, Alcohol, Self harm, Gore, and Toxic friendship
rowanbg's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Cannibalism
Minor: Sexual content
justkyliep's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Being a bit of a lunatic, he hopes he's about to meet a god.
The truest strength of The Archive Undying lays with its structure. Candon's narrative reveals very little plainly and constantly overwrites the character you think you know with new revelations. Even reality, as Sunai experiences it, is left with memory gaps and uncertain data. Like Sunai, I found myself trapped in a desire to trust despite unquestionable doubts. It is exciting and frustrating to be so thoroughly taken down the rabbit hole with a character that has every reason to doubt their own perceptions. I also find this feeds perfectly into the themes of being trapped in an unwell (or slowly healing) body.
I would especially recommend this book to enjoyers of Piranesi, Harrow the Ninth, A Memory Called Empire, and This is How You Lose the Time War.
Thank you to NetGalley and Tor/Forge for providing this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Graphic: Death, Suicidal thoughts, Gaslighting, and Body horror
Moderate: Cannibalism and Confinement