A review by rigbees
The Archive Undying by Emma Mieko Candon

adventurous dark medium-paced

• 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

3.75

This book is on the cusp of being great, but its most prominent flaw is that it's confusing. Now, this confusion is absolutely on purpose (there's shifting perspectives, and one of the narrator isn't revealed until 75% of the way in), because it seems like it's meant to impart the feeling of disorientation. It feels very much like the back half of Evangelion, where the focus is on the psychological horror and mindscapes the main character gets locked into. However, it's missing scaffolding leading up to that. And, again, it all feels like it's a deliberate artistic decision instead of a flaw of the writer, because information comes out in the last 25% of the book that makes the pieces lock into place.

While I'm not sure I could recommend this book without caveats about what to expect, I'm interested in where the series is going. With the world-building pieces revealed in the conclusion, I feel like the next parts of this series are likely going to be better than this first book. Maybe that's because I really, truly wanted to love this book - but we'll see where it goes next!