Cel Walden is having some mental health troubles. As a result, she loses her job at the library, but soon finds gainful employment as an archivist at the Logan Museum, a little-known repository of medical history. The new job is not quite what Cel imagined it might be: she's required to keep odd hours, obey a byzantine set of rules regarding her comings and goings, deal with a uniquely abrasive (and oddly secretive) boss, and, on top of all that, the museum (and her new apartment) both seem to be haunted.

Though Holly, the museum's resident librarian, is friendly and accommodating, Cel finds that the other stressors of her job combine to aggravate her already fragile mental state -- and it doesn't help that the ghost who is haunting her seems to have undergone serious mental health troubles of her own.

As a trained archivist and practicing librarian, the setting of this book was delightful for me (and will be even more interesting for folks in the medical history field). The characters here are given space to slowly reveal themselves, grow, and change, and the central mystery surrounding the archives and their restless ghost messily parallel Cel's own mental health struggles and their eventual "resolution" at book's end.

A wonderfully drawn, delightfully diverse, and extremely compassionate story. Definitely an instant favorite for me.

Thank you, NetGalley for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Archival Quality quickly wrapped me up in its storyline and took me along for the ride. I was intrigued by the slow discovery of what is going on. The story was beautifully paced with well-developed characters that made the story even more enjoyable to read.

This story was an excellent ghost story filled with deeper meanings about life. Throughout the story, Cel grows and shows just how strong she is despite struggling with her mental illness. It was truly refreshing and exciting to see a character like Cel.

Oy....
Where to even start with this....
I guess I will start with the most obvious thing - the art in this does not match the story AT ALL. The art is VERY juvenile, which gives the graphic novel the immediate appearance of being something that should be aimed at teens or even tweens - but (despite the fantasy elements of the story) the themes in the story itself are way too adult for the audience that might actually pick it up.
The protagonist is an adult woman suffering from diagnosed clinical depression so severe that it has cost her a job, since she was incapable of actually DOING her job (we actually see her sitting in a closet at her job crying and hiding) and yet she refuses help from not only from her family and friends, but also from doctors (choosing not to take medication because she's "afraid" of it... instead she decides that what is best for her is to take on an even MORE difficult and demanding job, and torpedo the heck out of her FIVE YEAR relationship with a guy who is not only the nicest dude on the planet, but also genuinely cares about her. (She breaks up with her because he is worried about her and wants her to get help).
Then we through in the freaking ghost of a lobotomized former patient of a horrible turn of the century asylum and nothing here makes ANY SENSE!

Also, not to be a total nit-picker, but I am a librarian - a REAL ONE with a DEGREE, and it annoyed the absolute CRAP out of me that not one of the characters were AT ALL qualified to do their jobs, (two of the main characters are college drop-outs who somehow become a museum archivist and a librarian???? REALLY?) and the ONE person who actually finished college tells everyone that he sucks at doing research? AY DIOS MIO!

I received this for free on NetGalley.

Basically, this is about a girl who takes a new job at a (supposedly haunted) museum. She then uncovers a dark secret about this museum and decides to take action.

I went into this graphic novel expecting a ghost heavy storyline. It didn't deliver. The plot focused on the archiving job itself as well as Cel (the main character) struggling with her mental health. Also, the cover shows a white ghost girl. This image was not used in the actual book. So that was slightly misleading. There was also a mystery involving the Board at the museum. I thought that added a lot to the plot, but the conclusion of that mystery was not satisfying for me.

As for the art, I (to be harsh) hated it. I much prefer when art is detailed and has vivid colors. The colors in this were muted (which could add to the supernatural theme, but in this case, did not) and unappealing. I also did not like the way that the characters were drawn. I prefer a less cartoon-like appearance.

While this was not what I expected it would be, it was still a solid read. I went through it in about an hour. None of the characters were memorable and neither was the story. Unfortunately, this won't be sticking with me.

A fun graphic novel for junior audiences. Good story and pacing!

*** Thanks to Netgalley and the author for giving me an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.***


I thought it was a pretty good graphic novel. There was haunting museums , a ghost friendship and there was a little of mental health issues, that in the end gave a pretty good message. Hope I can get my hands in other novels by this author. Also the afterword I think is called was pretty interesting as well.

I love the story, but the illustration is lack luster.

Archival Quality is a fluffy tale of mental disorder (depression, bi polar) with a mystery tacked on. As such, it is quirky but also heavy and I'm not quite sure balance was consistently reached between the two extremes. You'd think that the book would attempt realism but nearly the whole story was a rather silly and random urban fantasy. That made it hard to really get into the characters or plot.

Story: Cel needs a job and so applies and gets a position at a mysterious museum, under a mysterious curate, and with a mysterious new living condition in the museum. Since she suffers from depression issues, she's desperate from the job and readily agrees to move in to the small apartment reserved for employees who work the night shift. It's a strange job cataloging images from medical experiments done when the building was an asylum in the 1920s. But when a girl comes to her in her dreams and begs her for help, Cel is drawn into the supernatural mystery of the museum.

There are a LOT of hints throughout that the museum/asylum has a bad past and that something is very wrong in the present. From her boss' continually odd attitude to the weird images she is scanning to digital. We're supposed to be drawn into the mystery but I have to admit that there were so many 'clues' that thunked with the subtlety of an anvil that I was expecting a much bigger and more original 'hook' than was given. The whole ending was rushed and felt very anticlimactic.

The art is servicable but the potato bodies/facial features didn't leave much for nuance. As well, there were several scenes illustrated in a way that were very hard to figure out what was happening. I had to reread several times and still didn't understand what the author/artist was trying to convey in that scene. It distanced me from a story that was already somewhat disenfranchising considering our heroine spends most of the time arguing with/annoying/frustrating nearly every other character in the story. So while I understand she has mental issues, I found it really hard to even like her or want her to succeed.

Most problematic is that Cel felt far too much like a Mary Sue - despite her bad temper and offputting personality, people just love her to pieces and want to help her. Of course, she'll rebuff them all and assume they just don't understand her. But from the long suffering boyfriend to the ghost, they just keep putting up with her inexplicably. The world revolved around Cel and people were only in it so that it was important to her.

The mystery itself took forever to realize and then suddenly went from 10 to 100 within a few pages. Then the story was over and we weren't really given a mystery worth solving or any kind of satisfying denouement. It felt like the author was more concerned with the Mary Sue aspects than actually fleshing out a supernatural mystery. As a result, everything else except for Cel felt underdeveloped.

The story is easy to follow other than confusing panel layouts. My best advice with this story is to go in with an emphasis on Cel's feelings/mental state and not on the mystery or her friends/boyfriend. Because everything else felt as ghostly as our mystery girl haunting Cel's dreams. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.

Thank you to NetGalley and Oni Press for setting me up with this advanced copy of Archival Quality. I am not often drawn to graphic novels, but when I saw this one, I was instantly intrigued.
This was a lovely story about a girl struggling with her mental health while she tries to manage her life accordingly. Cel is diagnosed with depression, anxiety, and bipolar disorder, but she is too afraid to take her prescribed medications or seek treatment. This leads to losing her job, and struggling to live her day-to-day life. Enter: The Logan Museum – it’s haunted, but it’s got a job opening where you don’t need a degree. I absolutely loved seeing the mix between contemporary/mental illness rep. meets YA/fantasy ghost story. We do not get enough fantasy stories with diverse characters.
The entire cast was incredibly diverse, but it read organically. We got biracial/black representation, mental illness representation, and LGBTQ+ representation. However, it did not come off as “TRYING” to be diverse. The story was all-consuming, the art was absolutely beautiful, and I would definitely suggest this graphic novel to anyone looking to read a little more diversely, or who is looking for a fun and spooky read. I've already told my three closest friends that they need to preorder this graphic novel. Can't wait to get my hands on a physical copy! 4.5/5

I devoured this book in record time, and was so sad when it was over. As a librarian who has interned in archives, so many of the vocational aspects in this story rang true. Archives have an undeniable allure and air of mystery, and a medical museum's macabre overtones provide a beautiful setting. Weir's skill at storytelling, character development, and drive for justice are clear. I can't wait to read what she does next.

4.5/5 Stars

This book ended up being a lot better than I thought it would be.

I'm not entirely sure what I expected from this graphic novel, but it certainly wasn't what I got. I was very hesitant when beginning this book, mainly because this could've been pretty good or pretty bad. Luckily, it was the former. It's difficult to describe in some simple words, but I really enjoyed this air of uncertainty that was consistently present throughout the story, and I also enjoyed the focus on mental health, and how important it is to try to be healthy.

When I first realized that our main character, Celeste, was mentally ill and hadn't sought either treatment or medication, I became very...hesitant. I was worried that her not dealing with her mental health issues was going to be used as a plot device to add this "unreliable narrator WOW" to it, and would never be challenged. Instead it really ended up being a huge part of the novel, and also really relevant to the plot-line.

Celeste was an interesting character, one who evidently was struggling with anxiety, depression, and bipolar disorder. I can't speak for the representation here, but it is own voices, the writer having dealt with both depression and anxiety (not entirely sure about the bipolar disorder, she never mentions it in her afterword). Celine wanted to almost be cured of her issues altogether, despite that being impossible. It was very clear that she enjoyed her original job at the library because she didn't need to worry or stress about anything, and was the closest thing to stability she had. She was also extremely insecure about most of her actions, and insecure about most of her relationships, always scared that everyone just wants her out of the way because she is mentally ill.

Speaking of her relationships, I really disliked her boyfriend, Kyle. Kyle seemed to be very overprotective, somewhat passive-aggressive, and seemingly very demanding of Celeste. While I did understand that he was concerned about Celeste's well-being, seeing as how she wasn't dealing with her issues, I didn't understand why he constantly made EVERYTHING about their relationship, even accusing her of not caring about him when she saw her boss passing by for ONE SECOND and didn't immediately try to introduce the two. He was...a lot, to say the least.

I really liked how this plot suited Celeste so well, being the perfect mix of internal and external conflict, which I very much enjoyed. The progression of the plot invariably helped character development in a perfect arc. It was genuinely really well-done, and I had never seen it anywhere else.

I also enjoyed all the representation that was involved in this graphic novel, with there being 2 interracial relationships, and one relationship between 2 women that didn't seem to just be there for diversity's sake, and also wasn't based on stereotypes or had this tragic element to their relationship. It was really nice, and I wished that there was more of the couple and less of Cel and Kyle.

Overall, I really enjoyed this read, and thought it was extremely well-executed.

I really liked the illustrations in "Archival Quality" and thought they were really cute. The plot was interesting and I liked how it touched on serious subject matters. This was a nice short story and I would definitely recommend it.

An engaging story which deals with mental illness. To be honest, I'm not sure how I feel about the handling of mental illness and the main character. But, otherwise, could be a fun ghost story.

*thank you to Netgalley and Oni Press for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*

4 stars.
This was quite good! Each time I had to stop and put the book down, I felt myself looking forward to when I could get back to it. I love when a book can do this. I'll admit that at the start I wasn't too fussed on the illustrations. I am ashamed to admit that now but yeah, I didnt appreciate them until part way through when I felt that they actually worked and that they are quite good! This story deals with mental illness, particularly depression and anxiety and allll that comes with that. It's a very true example of what it's like, even though it's always going to be a bit different for anyone who does suffer from this, but the basics and more common trates of it were shown. So it was no real suprise to find out in the author's notes at the end that she had based the characters on real life. Cel in particular. I LOVED the relationship between Cel and Holly! They really liked and cared for each other and their friendship was so sweet. I also liked Gina, Holly's girlfriend. Another thing I really liked seeing is that the characters weren't stick figures. The females were curvey in body size and shape. Plus they were mixed race. See, there is quite alot to like about this. 

Now the actual story. It's about Cel who was a librarian (books!!!) but lost her job which upset her quite alot (understandably) but ended up finding another in an old Museum as an archivist. She met and became friends with Holly (I love her purple hair!!) and a guy named Aba. She also has a boyfriend who stood by her which was nice but he wasn't a favourite of mine. The Museum turns out to be an old Psychiatric Hospital/Aslyum which I really loved, and it's haunted by a ghost! It was a good story and I really hope that the author and illustrator write another graphic novel.

This was a quick, fun graphic novel read. The mental health representation was spot on, and the all around diversity was refreshing.

While this book isn't necessarily spooky, it's still fun. It takes place inside of a haunted museum for starters, filled with the ghost of a 1920s asylum victim, and shines a light on the poor treatment those with mental illness suffered back then. As time goes on, the MC Cel starts losing track of time, things getting moved around without her remembering, and fainting spells; Cel can't help but wonder if what is happening is real and what is an actual haunting.

I really liked Cel's friendships, especially the one with her co-worker, Holly. Her relationship with her boyfriend was just frustrating though.

As much as I was into the story of a girl working at a haunted museum and trying to find out information about a ghost that is haunting her- I really didn't like the art. The colors were nice but the style just wasn't my cup of tea.

While the ending seemed a bit anticlimactic, overall this was a pretty good read. I liked it.

This graphic novel was sweet. It wasn't thrilling, but it was such a good little book to read. It has a great representation of the struggle with mental health, and I really liked the way it was handled. Also, I thoroughly appreciated the glimpse into how far mental help has come. We could be living in a time where a lobotomy is the only way to "solve" anything. Thankfully, now we are a lot more aware of mental health and have easier ways to help us lead our best lives.

This was a charming read, and I really enjoyed it.

Sorry, this one was just not for me. I tried, but I just couldn't really like the MC, it would have been nice if we got a bit more background information on her before we see all sorts of awkward things happening.

Though I have to say that the guy who interviewed her was also not really the best. :| He seemed quite rude.

Plus the art is also not really working for me. Not really a style I like.