A review by lizziehutchings
The Archived by V.E. Schwab

5.0

~~edit 11/08/21~~

Can it get much better than finishing The Archived on a dark and stormy night?

"And he does an unfathomable thing. He smiles."

Man, had I forgotten so much amazing plot and character action this book had. Wesley is my favorite character still - amazing. Schwab's writing is immaculate in this book - especially knowing how much she dumbs down her writing for younger age groups.

I still can't believe The Returned is a no-go so far, but I still check V.E.'s instagram daily with my fingers crossed that it might be so! More review content below.

Have a wonderful evening.

~~original~~

5.0 stars!!!!!

“It takes at least three assassination attempts to scare me off. And even then, if there are baked goods involved, I might come back.”

Ah, I love V.E. Schwab. So much. Her books literally do everything for me. Every time. I tried to think about what's wrong with this book, and maybe I have a clouded bias, but I definitely could not think of much that bothered me about this book.

First of all, characters. The characters were well developed and unique, and they were fabulously flawed and annoying. All the good things. All the good things. I am super glad that there is more to the series as well because I need to see more of these characters. They were delightful in this short book, but I cannot wait to dive more into them in [b:The Unbound|13638131|The Unbound (The Archived, #2)|Victoria Schwab|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1361898093l/13638131._SX50_.jpg|19250879]!

Second of all, plot. As all V.E. Schwab books fabulously are, The Archived had a fantastic plotline that carries the reader through the frickin mud. I cried, and my jaw dropped several times--and just wow. Queen Victoria delivers again.

Concept. This sounded so interesting in the description the whole "what if there was a library where dead bodies were shelved like books?" This book carried through in that aspect as well and certainly did not disappoint me.

Writing. I love that Victoria can write for any audience, and it will still have everything that I love about her writing in it. The quality of writing in this book is shy of the material she writes today, but that is to be expected, as it is one of her earlier books. I can't wait to pick up the sequel and the rumored third book, [b:The Returned|20799109|The Returned (The Archived, #3)|Victoria Schwab|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/book/50x75-a91bf249278a81aabab721ef782c4a74.png|40143005]...

Have a wonderful afternoon