Review Detail

Mackenzie is having a bit of trouble readjusting to life after Owen. On top of being unable to sleep because Owen haunts her nightmares, people around Mackenzie are disappearing. She is convinced it has something to do with the Archive - somebody who thinks Agatha's ruling at the end of The Archive wasn't exactly fair.

Victoria widens our cast of characters in The Unbound when Mackenzie goes to school. She is quickly inducted to The Court, and although we only see these individuals while she is at school, I grew rather fond of them. They give Mackenzie that sense of normal that part of her longs for, a friendship that she experienced with Lyndsy, where she isn't worried about Histories and the rules of the Archive.

Of course, there are also my two favorite characters - Wesley and Roland. I smile when Mackenzie interacts with both of them and I love the relationship she has with each of them. Wesley was already beyond swoon-worthy but he surpasses even that during The Unbound. Roland still continues to fight for and care for Mackenzie like the perfect elder brother/father figure that she desperately needs. (I'm not saying her father is not there, because he is and he loves her deeply, but he cannot be there for her in the way she needs when it comes to the Archive.)

Mackenzie becomes her own person throughout the course of The Unbound. She still reflects on the things Da told her, but she also starts thinking for herself. She worries she is faltering in the eyes of the Archive (aka Agatha) and that they'll wipe her memory and leave her with nothing but holes. Despite the terrifying dreams and disappearing people around her, she is determined to find out what is happening to her and why. I do wish she would confide in Wesley more, but at the same time she wants to protect him - especially after the events at the end of The Archive. However, he quickly informs her that "I care about you, Mackenzie, and because of that, it's never not going to be my fight."

This book makes me sad. Not because it was bad or because the content itself is sad, but because this amazing story followed it's amazing predecessor and now . . . it's in limbo. This series needs a finale. It needs a third book. The ending of this one? Powerful. And power like this cannot be stopped! Plus, I need me just a bit more Wesley in my life.