Sun and Laure are sisters stuck in an abusive home. When Sun comes across an 18-year-old archivist – a rare supernatural professional who can consume the spirit of a dying person and assume their identity, speaking as them after their biological death – she hatches a plan to escape with her younger sister. But as their relationship begins to attract scrutiny and the jaws of a trap begin to close, the trio must work together to survive in VS Nelson’s THE ARCHIVIST.
THE ARCHIVIST displays a strong set of attributes necessary for a successful supernatural mystery. The central idea of archivists is an intriguing one, providing opportunities to interrogate grief and mortality as well as asking bigger questions about the nature of the soul and immortality. The protagonists can feel a bit flat at times – all three are essentially snarky teens – but their distinct affects give their banter enough energy to sustain the text and advance the plot (the secondary characters showcase more variety, the abusive father-figure a particularly chilling standout). The prose itself is quick and confident, especially in stranger moments: a new face settling over the archivist’s own, a stranger’s voice emerging from their mouth; silver threads of spiritual matter connecting two people or disappearing at death; a group of well-meaning friends dissolving into recriminations during a “visit” with their deceased comrade.
The plot is the weakest element of the text. There are a number of compelling moments (many of them as families come – indeed, literally – face-to-face with the death of a loved one), but these don’t always relate meaningfully to one another; the individual scenes of the archivist’s work don’t always deepen the reader’s understanding or advance the plot. There are a few scenarios or episodes which organize the plot overall, and these too can seem unconnected and underdeveloped. The introductory action involves an escape from an abusive caretaker; there’s the rising action of unusual suicides of teen girls, linked to an eerie all-girls’ school but also played out with police-procedural scenes; there’s also the unusual domestic life of the archivist with the two girls who have unexpectedly become part of his world. Elements like the girls’ school feel like they deserve entire novels unto themselves, a la A Series of Unfortunate Events; elements like the developing familiarity of the protagonists, which apparently take months in story time, pass by in quick summary when they could be rich with material. THE ARCHIVIST does have all the important pieces, but the plot still needs some massaging – lengthening, cutting, or otherwise restructuring the relationships between components – to hang together effectively. Nevertheless, THE ARCHIVIST’s capable prose, well-drawn characters, and intriguing world are pitch-perfect for a fun paranormal thriller.
Although the plot can feel disconnected at times, VS Nelson’s THE ARCHIVIST has all the necessary ingredients to satisfy readers hungry for supernatural mystery.
~Dan Accardi for IndieReader