The story is considerably plot-driven, with the reader being motivated to learn the next morsel of backstory, only to find that it’s pretty much what you guessed it would be. Unfortunately, there’s not much more to it than that. These represent the high points of the book, in my opinion. These scenes are enjoyable mind-bending and entertaining, as are Wasp’s several debates and arguments with the ghost. Nothing goes in a straight line, nothing is what it appears to be, and where you end up is as much a matter of willpower and thought as it is deliberate navigation. The best parts of the book involve Wasp exploring the world of ghosts, where nothing is as it seems.
The ghost’s story, as it happens, introduces a lot of the elements that other readers seemed to enjoy: peeks into the ghost’s past reveal civil war and a super soldier program that isn’t so different from the Archivist system, and indeed has some deep connections to it. They go from untrusting, reluctant companions to developing a deep respect for one another. Their relationship is one of mutual convenience: the ghost needs Wasp’s help finding someone from its former life Wasp is looking for a way to escape a life she’s come to hate. Wasp’s companion through most of the book is a nameless ghost who can speak to her. I just wish I had been a bit more surprised. The ending itself wraps the story in a neat little bow and hits every beat you might want it to. There are some revelations that occur about halfway through which are announced to the reader so forcefully you just know they will figure into a climactic confrontation at the end of the story, and in fact they do. A major downside is that it makes the novel highly predictable. It’s a common literary technique, but it’s employed so heavy-handedly here that it’s hard to overlook. That is the kind of thing that happens in this book over and over: something said to be rare or difficult or impossible is mentioned, and then shortly after it comes to pass.
Something learned early on is that ghosts don’t talk, which obviously means that a ghost will begin talking to Wasp soon. All of this is instigated by the Catchkeep-priest, who goes out into the world and finds those marked with claw scars on their cheeks by the goddess known as Catchkeep.
Every year, she must face down duels from upstarts who want to take her place. Ghosts are dangerous, you see–they can kill the unwary.
Wasp is an Archivist, as the title suggests, whose job it is to hunt ghosts. The great cities of world civilizations have crumbled into dust. There are spoilers ahead, so be warned!Īrchivist Wasp is set on Earth in an undetermined future. It was OK, but I was left wondering why there wasn’t more to it. I’ve been trying to give some different kinds of novels my attention this year. Nicole Kornher-Stace’s Archivist Wasp is one such foray.
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