A review by sashahc
The Archive Undying by Emma Mieko Candon

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• 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

5.0

“The Archive Undying” by Emma Mieko Candon is deeply influenced by post-war Japan - specifically mecha and kaiju and anxiety about mutation.  It follows Sunai, a backcountry guide and traumatized disaster queer, through a world full of corrupted and dying organic AI. They are near-gods who used to rule city-states and who destroyed those cities as they died.  Sunai has reasons to stay out of sight, but there are gods to kill and there is Veyadi, an appealing doctor and pilgrim with his own secrets.  The landscape is deeply creepy and everyone’s intentions are inscrutable.  At times, it has a hallucinogenic quality, and it’s not always clear whose consciousness is whose. 

Emma Mieko Candon: “[The heart of the story is] being alive, despite it all. Being sweet because of it. I have spent a lot of time thinking I needed to justify breathing. I think that’s very sad. I want people to protect and nurture themselves and each other, and I hope they find some of that in this book.”

Emma Mieko Candon (they/them) is a queer author and mixed race fourth generation Japanese settler in Hawaii.  They are an escaped academic drawn to tales of devouring ghosts, cursed linguistics, and mediocre robots.  They are an anime editor and remain academically haunted by identity, ideology, and imperialism.