BOOK REVIEW: ARCHIVIST WASP BY NICOLE KORNHER-STACE

Title: Archivist Wasp
Author: Nicole Kornher-Stace
Release date: May 5th 2015
Released by: Big Mouth House
Purchase: Amazon

SUMMARY:

Wasp's job is simple. Hunt ghosts. And every year she has to fight to remain Archivist. Desperate and alone, she strikes a bargain with the ghost of a supersoldier. She will go with him on his underworld hunt for the long-long ghost of his partner and in exchange she will find out more about his pre-apocalyptic world than any Archivist before her. And there is much to know. After all, Archivists are marked from birth to do the holy work of a goddess. They're chosen. They're special. Or so they've been told for four hundred years.


Archivist Wasp fears she is not the chosen one, that she won't survive the trip to the underworld, that the brutal life she has escaped might be better than where she is going. There is only one way to find out.

REVIEW:

What a weird book. I mean, I can say that this is gorgeously written. The writing style reminds me of Victoria Schwab and Erin Morgenstern. I was constantly amazed by how the words flowed together so perfectly, YET reading this was such a chore. I kept yawning at the first 80% but after that, it was all about hype.

I feel like it’s been so long since I’ve read YA that doesn’t have in-your-face romance in it. And what little romance it has doesn’t involve our main protagonist, Wasp. Honestly, I don’t even think that it can be called romance because there’s nothing stated directly to prove it, but my reader’s instinct says that whatever Foster and the Ghost had/has is something close to it. Or maybe it’s just my romance-loving self, speaking.

The world that Nicole created is greatly imaginative and the concept is risky in the sea of YA books, and it’s something that I’ve only seen in this book ever, and the world-building is satisfying too!

I also enjoyed the mystery surrounding the ghost’s past and I liked him a lot too, even though I felt detached from the story in the beginning, I was constantly cheering for him. And Wasp! Poor, poor Wasp and poor upstarts and poor past Archivists! Forced to duel each other, it was either kill or be killed for them. Being lied to by that infuriating Catchkeep Priest all their lives made me sympathize with Wasp. As well, I love the character development. Thought it was spot on and that ending? Flawless!

IMO, this should get a movie! I honest, to goodness, think that Archivist Wasp would look really good on the big screen.

Rating: 3.5 Fairy wings