I'm reminding myself of the "review" I had written for the first book in this series, The Archived:
"So much awesome I can't even begin to decide how much awesome there is!"
No doubt, I loved that book, though if asked about details, I'm not sure if I can give any concrete ones: I love the world built around The Archived, I love the characters running the entire show, and I love that the concept is different and unique from the common trendy YA story now-a-days.
It's been nearly a year since I finished the first book and few details had to gradually surface in my mind as I started reading this second book. It had me concerned that The Archived wasn't as memorable as I hyped it up to be. But eventually, I fell into the world of The Archived's story and began to enjoy The Unbound in the same fashion.
The Archived series has one of few things I am automatically drawn to: a hidden world and a main character who must live in secret of this hidden world without letting the outside world know a thing. These types of stories are just so much fun with so many possibilities.
If I loved The Archived with its almost perfect story, characters and world, then I'm totally in love with the series after finishing The Unbound. Liking The Unbound by itself, however... that might be a different feeling in itself.
Instead of a 4.5 star rating I had initially given it after I finished reading it, I decided to give it a 4 star rating now after I've had time to digest the book a little more.
It was a fun book and it was good on its own terms, but it wasn't an entirely awesome ride; the first few chapters detailing MacKenzie's school life actually kind of bored me... and for the slightest moment, I got annoyed with her for some reason. I found myself wondering if this suddenly emo-drama queen was the same MacKenzie Bishop I remembered from The Archived (the kickass heroine hiding a kickass secret job while trying to overcome and deal with not so kickass tragic family issues).
The entire high school introductory portion fell a bit flat for me.
But then the mystery started, the plot reared its head, Wesley Ayers appeared in all of his Guyliner glory... And I remembered why I loved The Archived so much in the first place.
This review probably isn't much better than my review of the first book (even though it's admittedly much longer). It has few details and no summary (I don't really write professional, well thought-out reviews, honestly) and simply states a fact: Despite my initial qualms about the slowness in the beginning, this book was still such an excellent read!
So much so that this book is going onto my personal favorite's list. While I honestly loved the first book more than this second one, I don't deny that I loved the progress that the story line has made in The Unbound.
And now to wait out another year until a possible third book will come into existence.
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