Book Review: The Unbound by Victoria Schwab

The Unbound (The Archived #2)
Author:  Victoria Schwab
Publisher:  Hyperion, 368 pages
Publication Date:  January 28, 2014

From Goodreads:
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?

Review:
Reasons Why You Should Read This Book:

1.  It's beautifully written.  I admit it, I usually love books because of the characters and the plot so I barely notice the writing.  But I actually did notice the writing in this book because it's just that good.

2.  Mac and Wesley.  Mac can be frustrating because she's not as open as you want her to be and she keeps pushing Wesley away, but that's important to the story.  Keepers have to keep secrets and it's just so hard for her to open up to him because she knows if anything happens to him she'll end up getting hurt.  

“Caring about someone is scary, Mac. I know. Especially when you’ve lost people. It’s easy to think it’s not worth it. It’s easy to think life will hurt less if you don’t. But it’s not life unless you care about it.”

“The funny thing about armor is that it doesn't just keep other people out. It keeps us in. We build it up around us, not realizing that we're trapping ourselves.” 

So it's a learning experience and Mac shows growth in this book.  She's a strong character and she can take care of herself although at the same time she is going through a lot in this book.  So many times in books the characters have horrible things happen to them and it doesn't seem to affect them, but Mac is dealing with not being okay, which I appreciated. 

And Wesley…I can't get enough of him.  He's worth it (if you read the book, you'll know what I mean).  Seeing him in a different element with his friends just made me love him more.  There's so much more to him that we don't know and I really hope we get a chance to find out.  

3.  Secondary characters.  I wasn't sure if I would like the fact that Mac had to go to school, but the new characters are amazing!  Loved the interaction between them.

4.  Unique world.  It's becoming harder and harder to find truly unique worlds, and sometimes I feel like I'm reading the same book over and over again, even if I love it.  Not so with this book.  The premise of the Histories and the Archives, with the Keepers, the Librarians, and the Crew…so creative.  

My understanding is that this series is done unless enough people buy these books. So buy them!  There's so much potential to this series and although the author wraps up this particular story (so no cliffhanger, don't worry), I want more!!!  I highly recommend this one.

Posted by:  Pam