The Unbound by Victoria Schwab
Release Date: January 28, 2014
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Genre: YA Fantasy, Paranormal
ISBN: 978-1423178200
Source: Bought
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Imagine a place where the dead rest on shelves like books. Each body has a story to tell, a life seen in pictures that only Librarians can read. The dead are called Histories, and the vast realm in which they rest is the Archive.

Last summer, Mackenzie Bishop, a Keeper tasked with stopping violent Histories from escaping the Archive, almost lost her life to one. Now, as she starts her junior year at Hyde School, she’s struggling to get her life back. But moving on isn’t easy — not when her dreams are haunted by what happened. She knows the past is past, knows it cannot hurt her, but it feels so real, and when her nightmares begin to creep into her waking hours, she starts to wonder if she’s really safe.

Meanwhile, people are vanishing without a trace, and the only thing they seem to have in common is Mackenzie. She’s sure the Archive knows more than they are letting on, but before she can prove it, she becomes the prime suspect. And unless Mac can track down the real culprit, she’ll lose everything, not only her role as Keeper, but her memories, and even her life. Can Mackenzie untangle the mystery before she herself unravels?

With stunning prose and a captivating mixture of action, romance, and horror, The Unbound delves into a richly imagined world where no choice is easy and love and loss feel like two sides of the same coin.

What a wonderful sequel to The Archived this is! Sequels are hard but there’s no sophomore slump here. The Unbound delivers and is easily one of my favorite books of the year. What always pulls me into a Victoria Schwab book? Her writing. It’s so beautiful. The rhythm. It’s so fluid. The look of the words on the page. The feelings these words evoke. Everything about Schwab’s writing is as close to perfection as one can get. Her voice, her style, man, that’s talent and this here is exquisite. She’s a storyteller. A wordsmith. And that’s just the beginning.

Normal wouldn’t fit us, even if we wanted to wear it.

The imagery is so vivid. The world building continues to fascinate me. The structure of the story is familiar to The Archived, pacing, flashbacks to the past and all. I must also say, I loved the format of the text messages that pop up every so often. As for tone? It’s no secret Schwab is a huge fan of Neil Gaiman. I’m sure he’s read her stories and is proud. The creepy, the disturbing. The fear, the mystery. It’s all here. Oh boy, is it here. As for the story and the characters at play…

Do they know you’re broken?

I was beyond thrilled to discover that much of The Unbound takes place at Mac’s high school, Hyde because I really, really, really wanted to visit her high school setting while reading The Archived which was set in the Coronado and the Archive. I wanted to see that side of her. Now, I have. Here, Mac is tugged between the Archive, home and work at the Coronado, and school with both her parents and a therapist watching like hawks. The contrast between crossed boundaries, tightened boundaries, and no boundaries is endless here and I love that so much. Mac battles with surrendering control…coming face to face with her fears, pushing them through a door, and moving on. But what do you hold onto and move on from when you don’t know what’s real?

And doubt, Da warned, is like a current you have to swim against, one that saps your strength.

When someone from Mac’s past comes back to haunt her and with Agatha from the Archive waiting for Mac to slip so she can deem her unfit to serve in the Archive, Mac has even more to juggle, even more to figure out. Can she trust herself? She’s good at lying and conning others but how long will she fool herself? That loss of control, that loss of truth, that void is boundless. And Mac has to find her way out. But that’s not all.

My fear follows me into the Narrows. My nightmares follow me out.

When people around Mac begin disappearing, she can’t help but try to figure out not only how they’re disappearing but how she’s connected. Following Mac on this journey as she tries to do the right thing, stretches herself too thin, and then on top of that believes someone (maybe or maybe not connected to Agatha) is framing her…what a ride this is. The shades of black and white and grey are boundless. The more Mac discovers, the more she realizes – the more I realized that we don’t always see the impressions people make on us and others nor do we always see the impressions we make on others. There are so many layers to brokenness and hope and acceptance. All while ironing out compromise and sacrifice which Mac handles in such a delicate way.

You think I can’t tell the difference between nightmares and memories?

She has help along the way from both old and new characters, which I loved. I absolutely had a ball watching new friendships bloom and familiar relationships brighten. It was quite a delight to be able to see another side of Wesley. Hyde uniform wearing Wesley. Wesley as much in his element as he also isn’t, there at Hyde. Cash, Safia, and Amber were also fun. Especially Cash. What a guy. Everyone needs a friend like Cash. Mac hasn’t forgotten about Lyndsey, her best friend from back home before she moved here…her thread to “normal” if I may say so.

Mac’s grief for Ben is still present and her love for Da is as well though her vision of Da expands. Remember, impressions. Now’s a good time to say…I love that being Crew and the bond between Crew is so complex it makes love simple. This point makes me want to mention Sako and Eric, new characters that will be hard to figure out at first. I love how complex Sako is. Sako is very protective over Eric who she loves but she also takes her job very seriously. This combination is dangerous. So even though I found myself on Eric’s side, I also found myself – still find myself hoping Sako can see beyond her perspective and break down her walls for everyone else. I hope this isn’t the end of The Archived and we can get a book three and if that happens we haven’t seen the last of Sako. I’d love to see her arc continue. There’s so much more to her I’d love to see.

The Archive wouldn’t be the same without Mac’s anchor, Roland and Patrick, stiff as ever. Though it’s Agatha who plays quite a role in The Unbound. Roland rolls with the punches and Patrick is well, Patrick but Agatha doesn’t quit. Her persistence is admirable until it veers towards overbearing and she never lets up. So. Everyone gets what they have coming for them in The Unbound. Some of it’s good. Some bad. And every moment of it is a thrill to read. These are all wonderfully crafted characters, this such an excellent story about oh so many things. Surviving. Living. Dying. Trust. Sacrifice. The list goes on. The complexity of this story blows me away. I must say, this book is a master class for writers. This book is everything I hoped for and more as a reader, writer, and as a human being stripping away the other two labels. If I haven’t said it before on this blog, I will read anything Victoria Schwab writes. Absolutely magnificent.

The Unbound by Victoria Schwab is available today.