We get a peek into the cracks forming in the Archive, but it's not until T he Unbound that we begin to see just how fragile the system really is. The great thing about the way the first two novels in the presumed series have gone so far, is that the first book allows you to get familiar with the character, her world, and the way her mind works. While The Archived sets the stage, The Unbound threatens to blow the whole thing up. Things really start to heat up when she discovers that someone in the Archive is deliberately altering Histories and threatening the stability of the entire system. These internal complications come to the forefront when her job forces her to lie to those closest to her, like her well-meaning parents and her new neighbors. Her true conflict stems from dealing with the loss of her younger brother Ben, and the burden that her late grandfather - and former Keeper - has laid upon her shoulders. There are elements of both tropes in the story, of course, but Mackenzie's character is deeper and richer than that. She's not all about rebelling against authority and, unlike other YA series, her existence isn't defined by a romantic relationship. This other world comes fully realized with an established hierarchy that keeps everything running smoothly, even though Mackenzie, who occupies a lower rung, manages to shake things up now and then. When this happens, Keepers like Mackenzie must return them to their shelf before they can escape back into the living world. While most of the dead stay at rest, occasionally a History will wake up and attempt to find their way out of the endless maze. The world of The Archived is exactly like our own on the surface, but after someone dies, their body - known as a History - is shelved in the otherworldly realm of the Archive. As you might expect, Mackenzie is anything but ordinary in fact, she's a Keeper. Schwab's first novel in the series, The Archived, introduces us to 16-year-old Mackenzie Bishop.

The archived schwab