Waiting on Wednesday

"Waiting On Wednesday" is a weekly event, originally started by Jill at Breaking the Spine , that highlights upcoming book releases everyone is waiting on...hence the title. This week's pick is The Archived by Victoria Schwab. Here's the synopsis:

"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.

Da first brought Mackenzie Bishop here four years ago, when she was twelve years old, frightened but determined to prove herself. Now Da is dead, and Mac has grown into what he once was, a ruthless Keeper, tasked with stopping often-violent Histories from waking up and getting out. Because of her job, she lies to the people she loves, and she knows fear for what it is: a useful tool for staying alive.

Being a Keeper isn't just dangerous—it's a constant reminder of those Mac has lost. Da's death was hard enough, but now her little brother is gone too. Mac starts to wonder about the boundary between living and dying, sleeping and waking. In the Archive, the dead must never be disturbed. And yet, someone is deliberately altering Histories, erasing essential chapters. Unless Mac can piece together what remains, the Archive itself might crumble and fall.

In this haunting, richly imagined novel, Victoria Schwab reveals the thin lines between past and present, love and pain, trust and deceit, unbearable loss and hard-won redemption."

The first word I can think of is WOW.  I am IN LOVE WITH A CAPITAL 'L' with the plot for The Archived which sounds fresh, original and very clever.  The cover is gorgeous and by the way, hallelujah for no headless girl in a pretty, floaty dress.  Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against those covers but I like it when the cover reflects what the book is about and I think this cover looks mysterious and eerie.  I'm a big fan of Victoria's and I really enjoyed her debut novel The Near Witch which I reviewed here.  She is a beautiful writer and I have a very good feeling about The Archived. Like most people, I'm dying to get my hands on a copy and this has to be one of my most anticipated reads for 2013 at this point.  As always, it's way too early to comment on international rights but the US release is 2013 with no exact date as of yet.