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royalraspberry'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
5.0
Graphic: Death and Blood
Moderate: Body horror, Violence, 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: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Sexual content and Vomit
jayisreading's review
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: Body horror, Death, Violence, Blood, and Murder
Moderate: Confinement and Cannibalism
venti's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
i had really high hopes for this and the first chapter was banger, but i really struggled to tell what the fuck was going on at some points lol. there were little gotcha moments that felt like they were supposed to be important to the progression of the plot that fell flat because i had no context for the relevance/impact of the moment — because i had no idea what was going on lmao!!
some of my favourite media is intentionally confusing/surrealist (children of the sea, evangelion,) but this fell flat in the sense that it didn’t have a decent basis for the surrealism to occur. evangelion (which is actually one of the flagship comparisons for this book in marketing i’ve seen along nier automata) works because we have the first twenty odd episodes, all with at least some coherency. sure, there are surrealist moments — but at the end of the day the characters are still human and the narrative exists in a realm we can understand, and with the codifying trope that is the mecha genre. you would think the archive undying follows suit in this case — considering there are mechs — but honestly i couldn’t tell you what a single mech or ENGINE looked like after reading this book. maybe i’m just stupid, but this just didn’t work for me! it’s really a shame too, because i can tell that candon really felt passionate for this world and it’s just such a shame i couldn’t get it 😭😭😭
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Genocide, and Gore
Moderate: Gun violence and Toxic friendship
devynreadsnovels's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Moderate: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Drug use, Gore, Self harm, Torture, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and War
wynwicket'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
4.25
It's a story about giant robots inhabited by dying sociopathic AIs who used to be cities. It's a story about Sunai, a human disaster, who makes bad decisions for the right reasons, and Veyadi, the scientist he loves, who is something of a disaster himself. It's a story about bodily autonomy and identity and battles with cyber-creatures. It's weird and complex and utterly befuddling, but very cool.
Graphic: Body horror
kalchainein's review against another edition
- 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
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?
Unfortunately, pretty words can only carry you so far. Two-point-five slightly disappointed stars.
Graphic: Body horror and Death
Moderate: Violence
Minor: Sexual content
catmisae'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
5.0
A middle-aged hermit finds love, reconnects with old friends, and appreciates the natural phenomena of his world while traveling back to his hometown. (It’s the site of his greatest trauma) (At least one giant robot is there) (Coral proves that it is dynamic and interesting, not static and boring)
—
I will admit that I’m a little biased because The Archive Undying seems like it was specifically calibrated to my interests. Because of that, I was willing to overlook some of the content that would have annoyed me in other contexts.
My top five favorite things about this book:
- Despite being involved in a bunch of shady stuff, Sunai (MC) sometimes reveals his secret identity as a Nice Young Man (though he is not actually that young).
- Hardcore, creative, and messed up enforcement of Asimov’s first law of robotics.
- An excessive, bordering on hilarious, amount of
backstabbing. Not just directed toward Sunai, but between every conceivable combination of characters. - Sunai and Veyadi (LI)’s inability to stop sniping at each other like an old married couple even in the midst of
body horror, possession and betrayal. - Its thoughtful depiction of religious trauma.
There’s a lot of shifting between POV types; it’s deliberate, but confusing. Adding to that, the POV characters’ perceptions are often unreliable. When I reread this book (I say “when” because I’m definitely planning on rereading this book), I’ll consider going with a print or digital version instead of the audiobook, as I found myself rewinding during several scenes. All that being said, this book is worth the work it takes to read it. I truly enjoyed every minute of it!
Graphic: Body horror
rowanbg's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Body horror, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Cannibalism
Minor: Sexual content
justkyliep's review
- 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: Body horror, Death, Suicidal thoughts, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Confinement and Cannibalism