Decided To Post This Here Too!

I'm convinced any negative reviewers/DNFs of The Archive Undying are mainly fantasy readers rather than sci-fi. I see people on goodreads complaining about there not being enough worldbuilding or explanations of what things are, that's just sci-fi! In the best sci-fi media we ride on vibes! Lack of exposition is a feature, not a flaw! We learn on a need-to-know basis, and this book is doing a really good job at that; when it's important, you'll find out what it is/how it works in a subtle, non-intrusive way. Until then, it's about people, and emotions, and scary robots with people (and probably emotions) inside, and you're just along for the ride.

I'm only 20% in and it's already so good, I can see this being a comfort book I reread multiple times. I can't wait to see where this series goes, what gets revealed in this book, and what we'll be left to speculate on until the next.

Has anyone said this yet

Haunted Waves

surprise :]

fresh Silly question for you, if you'd like one:

what animals would TAU characters be?

Lucky you, wife and I had the daemon debate years ago and have OPINIONS:

Sunai is a mongoose. Reasonably cute looking but actually extremely adept at very specific violence. Action twink at it again to keep the colony safe.

Veyadi is a raccoon -- hear me out!! Too clever! To the point that he is a constant problem for himself and others! LITTLE KING TRASHMOUTH. HE'S GAY.

Jin is the largest and most regrettable parrot. Has figured out how to open doors and we are all suffering for it.

Imaru is the coolest person on deck because she probably is legitimately like, a wolf -- but the kind that's on the verge of domesticating itself.

Gonna do a few more under a cut bc they're not really spoilers, but they take up more room later in the book, so if you want to go in cleaner! Avoid! I just want to talk about them! You're welcome!

Ruhi is a police dog. A dog, with all the positive prosocial instincts that come with being a dog, but unfortunately also a cop.

Madam Wei is a swan. I often compare her to some kind of terrifying raptor bird, but I think swan fits better overall bc of how she seems elegant from a distance but up close is just the most frightening thing in the pond.

The Maw is one of those poor rhesus monkeys raised in a lab with terry cloth mothers.

The passenger is a robot.

And because my wife would not help me finish this list until I added her other blorbo: Ueda is a scrungly old lioness who is still not dead, much to her own surprise as much as anyone else's.

the beginning

Ok but like, imagine if Grimm tried to turn back time on legacy day to stop Raven from refusing to sign, only for another student to end up rebelling each time.  On the first time loop, He rewinds to an hour before legacy day and has the main snow white characters move to the back of the line with an excuse of saving the best for last or something of the sort. He assumes that since she’s a teen and everyone else will sign before her Raven will give into peer pressure and sign without a scene. But then halfway through Hunter, who wasn’t moved because he plays a more prevalent role in the red riding hood story, slams the Storybook of Legends shut and declares his unwillingness to live a life of violence and to live without the love of his life, thus causing the daughter of Cinderella who just signed the book to fling herself into his arms. Unexpected, but Grimm rationalizes that if he just moves Hunter to the back as well then it’ll all be fixed. Highschool relationships tend to be short, and legacy is more important after all. So on the second loop he moves all the snow white characters to the back, and sits in the crowd with the tension finally leaving his shoulders now that the main problem has been diffused. Except it hasn’t been diffused, because Briar Beauty watches her story play out in the book and in a fit of hysterics rips the binding in half once she sees a reflection of future self in the mirror, with tired eyes wearing clothes a century behind the time reminding her violently of her mother. And it just keeps happening. On one run through Cerise Hood tears her cloak off and reveals her true heritage as a wolf, causing pandemonium on the crowds. On another Darling Charming somehow takes a sword out of her long skirt, and severs her page from the book, declaring she refuses to be a damsel anymore. On one incredibly harrowing timeline everything was going fine until Kitty Cheshire refused to sign, giving him a nonchalant shrug and a taunt of “better rewind again” while her ever present smile haunted him. It gets to the point where he rewinds to a month prior to legacy day, spending that month keeping Ashlynn and Hunter away from each other, Bribing Kitty, separating Cerise and Ravens class schedule so that their friendship can’t form and pushing Darling to take on a damsels in distressing honors project with Apple in hopes his top student will rub off on her. In the end his efforts are fruitless however because somehow Apple is the one to rebel, apparently having fallen in love with Darling sometime in that month. just, the chaos if it all.

Perhaps you will appreciate this: I dreamed about reading the sequel to TAU and in it they encountered the grave of someone who had been in a romantic relationship with an AI god. The AI god was unnamed; the person was only known as the Spinmaster. I will not ask you to confirm/deny the trend of naming oneself after a laundry machine in order to court a giant robot.

oh my god i'm THRILLED

i will neither confirm nor deny the details but i WILL say book 2 is replete with fun new characters (and their fun new identity problems) who have fun new relationships with AIs (as well as fun new AI/AI relationships -- it's extremely yuri up in here rn, which i mean in the star-on-star-to-black-hole sense of the word)

phighting OC I drew for artfight

all character credits to TripleBaaambi <3

Reference images included for context, and the two different versions of the art

I took a few liberties with Tucker's design here lol like I know he wears a beanie (I think) but i really liked the hat on him! it matched the rest of the outfit imo

What do yall think

first go at sketching characters of The Archive Undying, which is a book you should read