A review by ailenach
The Archive Undying by Emma Mieko Candon

Did not finish book. Stopped at 51%.

really disappointed with this one...i went in really excited: the concept sounds sick, the cover is eye-catching as hell (i Really need to learn my lesson wrt that.....) but then i encountered the most incomprehensible execution of that sick concept, beating my head against the nonsensical wall of (admittedly sometimes beautiful, but like in a distant way) prose for several weeks before calling it. reading this was like pulling teeth, clawing through a page at a time until i decided to give up. though the descriptions of the setting can be almost lush (considering theyre painting a picture of a tech wasteland), it feels like youre being held at a distance, never given a chance to actually connect with the characters or events. i was not convinced by veyadi and sunai's relationship or any of their motivations; it just felt like i was told something should be so, therefore i should just accept it (when i was even able to pick up on what was going on). in the end, it was just too tiresome without anything to make it fun, and the sense of obligation to try and finish it was sapping my enthusiasm for reading anything else so. goodbye.