This story is perfect for fans of Martha Wells, Ann Leckie, or Tamsyn Muir. Follows Sunai, a man harboring memories of a robotic god that destroyed almost everything in its city when it fell. Sunai was the only survivor and can't die, age, or forget. An intricate plot takes us through the stories of many human characters and other gods and artificial intelligences. Identities merge and separate in strange ways, and the stakes can be a little hard to follow. It's convoluted, but still a very good and worthwhile read. The audioboook narrator is fantastic.

"The Archive Undying" had an incredibly interesting premise and great cover. I liked the characters and found their personalities and relationships interesting. However, the worldbuilding is lacking here. It's difficult to follow the plot, and there's not enough information to make the world make sense. After 26.3%, I genuinely don't know what's happening or why. It's odd that this book is so long without clearly explaining anything.

DNF @47%

I'm bummed because this premise is really fascinating and I LOVE the cover. The Archive Undying is experimental science fiction with a lot of very cool ideas involving AI robots worshiped as gods, and people who share their consciousness with AI. I was really into the first part of the novel. I didn't know what was going on, but Sunai is a chaotically queer character who is pretty interesting and it is playing with perspectives too. The thing is, there are SO many unique elements to the world and names for things that are not really explained or described in a way that lets the reader conceptualize them. The prose itself is really lovely and it seems clear that the author knows exactly what they have in mind, but that isn't translated to the reader effectively enough.

I can be okay with feeling confused about parts of a world or plot, but I need something that grounds me and I just couldn't find that in this story. I read almost half of it and I could only tell you very vaguely what happens after the first 20%. It's a frustrating reading experience and based on the reviews, there's not even a big payoff where it all suddenly makes sense. For instance, Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir is a master class in an author keeping the reader disoriented and in the dark for the first half to 2/3 of the book, but then has a turning point where the pieces all fall into place. A fantastic example of experimental sci-fi that still really works for the reader. This just feels under-explained and from what other reviewers are saying, there's never a point at which things suddenly make sense. So unfortunately, I'm going to DNF this one. I received a copy of this book for review from the publisher, all opinions are my own.

DNF @ 20%

I'm sorry, I can't listen to thirteen more hours of this. Life is too short. What's really frustrating is that this could have been SO GOOD. The pieces were all there. I actually really liked the writing, and the narrator was doing a great job bringing the characters to life. The concept was also really frickin' cool. It's very clear the author spent a lot of time building up this world. But complex and well thought out worldbuilding isn't enough if your readers literally do not know what is going on in your plot. I was so lost by the time I finally threw the towel in. I had the character dynamics, but there was nothing given to us to be able to understand even the basics of this world and how it operated.

I don't think I'll be giving this book another go in hard copy, but I would read from this author again when she's done with this series because her actual writing was very intriguing, even as I had zero idea what was happening in the book.

Audiobook narrator: Yung-I Chang

Genre: science fiction

It’s Sunai’s lot in life to keep dying. You could say he’s even used to it by now. He’s a “walking, talking artifact of corruption,” a relic AI fused with a human body, trying to f*ck his way through life figuring out what he’s doing here.

The Archive Undying is going to be hard to describe. If you read the blurb and expect a book of action, you may be left wanting. Yes, it’s about the things you can put into the summary: corrupt AIs and giant fighting robots, but that’s just surface level plot. It’s speculative, a book of ideas, with lush writing and stunning prose that makes you stop and think. It’s about death and dying, but also about rebirth.

The worldbuilding is descriptive and yet also feels intentionally sparse, because the world itself is a matter of perception: is it even real? Do we have a solid enough grasp on the concept of reality?

If you enjoy contemplative ideas driven science fiction like Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep or even Ursula K Le Guin, I recommend checking out Archive Undying. There isn’t a strong narrative plot arc, but sometimes you just need character- and idea-driven stories about AIs and mechs.

The audiobook, narrated by Yung-I Chang, was wonderful to listen to, as I always appreciate the audio boost for a slower, more contemplative story.

Thank you for to NetGalley and @tordotcompub for the eARC and MacMillan Audio for the ALC. The Archive Undying is available 6/27/23.