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jayisreading's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
3.0
I really wanted to like this one more than I did. I really liked the characters, the premise was fascinating, and it had other elements that made me think, "Wow, this might be one of my favorite books this year." Unfortunately, I found the execution rather messy, especially towards the end when too many perspectives started coming into play.
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Violence, Death, and Murder
Moderate: Confinement and Cannibalism
devynreadsnovels's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Content Warnings
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
kalchainein's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
When I cracked open The Archive Undying, I read the first chapter and then said to my wife, “I bet you anything this person’s written fanfic.”
Dear reader, I was correct.
According to Candon’s Tumblr, The Archive Undying in fact has its roots in a Pacific Rim AU. I am not, in and of itself, opposed to the filing off of serial numbers. And this isn’t even really a case of that: the storylines and characters are far removed from much that could be considered Pacific Rim-ish, other than the big ol’ robots and a neurotic scientist-type.
No, my issue with TAU’s fanfiction roots are that it, like fanfiction, is built on a scaffolding of prior knowledge that the reader is presumed to have. Unfortunately, unlike with fanfic, the new reader of TAU has none of that background information, so tromping through its multitude of locales and terminology ends up leaving one with a sense that they SHOULD know some specific tidbit of canon in order to figure out what the hell is going on, but no way to access it. Some people like this, or at least don’t mind it. Me, not so much.
TAU’s characters also suffer because of this assumed familiarity: you get a gist of character archetypes and relationships, but at a remove, and without ever fully getting to know them as anything beyond diverse moving pieces skittering across an admittedly fascinating landscape.
One could argue that books that reveal themselves fully only after a reread are more rewarding, but if one finds the book a slog the first time because of its indecipherability, how inspired to reread are they going to be?
One could argue that books that reveal themselves fully only after a reread are more rewarding, but if one finds the book a slog the first time because of its indecipherability, how inspired to reread are they going to be?
Also, perhaps a petty complaint, but there were far less giant mecha than I was led to believe. Despite the Evangelion joke in the summary, there was very little of Shinji Sunai getting in the actual robot.
Bomb-ass writing though. Lovely stuff.
Unfortunately, pretty words can only carry you so far. Two-point-five slightly disappointed stars.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror and Death
Moderate: Violence
Minor: Sexual content
rowanbg's review against another edition
challenging
tense
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
more friends at the table fans should write books
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Cannibalism
Minor: Sexual content
csevet's review against another edition
challenging
dark
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror, Death, and Violence
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