Saturday, October 19, 2019

The Memory Thief by Lauren Mansy



DNF @ p. 101

I was having such an excellent streak of luck with YA titles, and then it all went south. Man, I don't know what it is about this book. I was so excited to read it when I first heard about the concept. The idea of memories as currency seemed like such a great idea and I love fantasy worlds built around dark topics. There was a compelling body-snatching element here that sounded way too good to miss and perfectly creepy for October.

Reading this was an exercise in tedium, though. The writing was especially juvenile, and seemed like it was about five years too young for the reading audience (e.g. middle grade instead of mid- to older-range teens). I didn't like the main character at all, and didn't find the world as it was represented here engaging or interesting at all. In fact, it kind of made me uncomfortable, because I felt like it smacked of pro life support propaganda. The heroine is trying to save her mother who's been in a coma for years and is essentially stopping the government from pulling the plug. Your read on this might vary, and that might well not have been representative of the author's thoughts or intentions, but it generated a very visceral response of revulsion from me.

Between the writing and the subject matter, this really wasn't for me. I just didn't buy the world building, wasn't a fan of the info dumps, and didn't really like the way that the theft of memories or their implication was portrayed here. The way that gifts and memories work here kind of remind me of the Death potion from Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, and if it had been more like that, it could have been really cool. As it is, I was just completely put out. Your mileage may vary.

Thanks to the publisher for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review! 

1 out of 5 stars

1 comment:

  1. I completely agree with this review. I found it a bore, and it took me 4 months to read.

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