My rating: 3 of 5 stars
The concept and bones of this world and story are amazing; sadly they haven’t been given the space to transpire, breathe and sink in for the reader. I feel like there is a trilogy or at least 1000 page epic story here; and it’s been ruined by being chopped down or rushed into ~300 pages, one POV, and for a broad audience; instead of the darker feel I hoped for from the blurb.
Convenience
Unfortunately Lauren Mansy has made a critical error. One of my number one pet peeves in writing is convenience or too much luck. Our leading gal sure seems to know everyone in the realm and they are always super nice to her and helpful. Is there not one person (besides our clear bad guys) that lives in this land that isn't all for her?
What's worse is that I would expect in a world where memories are sold to the highest bidder (and lost to the original person forever) that you'd forget lots of people over the years because you sold all their memories or the memory of what their name is, where they are from, etc.
Timeline
If anyone has a timeline of the events during The Memory Thief I'd love to see it. To me as the reader I thought only a couple days passed by. Yet there are multiple comments made by our first person leading lady about how she felt someone had "changed so much" since she last saw them or something had evolved or grown which really confused me. I'd love to really know how much time actually passes from the beginning through each event to the end.
Rushed
There is so much that could have been explored here inside this unique construct of a world. But within ~300 pages and so much plot it's just not possible to do the story or characters justice. I wish this was a trilogy, with a broader arc, more opportunity to explore the memory situations created, and a lot more time for our characters to live, learn, and grow.
Overall
I just wanted a lot more from a book with such a great idea/concept (and beautiful cover). I know The Memory Thief is Mansy's debut novel and so I would consider reading another of her future books. I really hope that she takes the time (and her publisher allows her) to really explore her ideas and characters further. Mansy is young and so I have great hopes for her abilities to grow and become a solid addition to the YA fantasy (or adult fantasy) genre.
Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review.
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1 comment:
Clearly there is only one explanation why everyone knows and loves the heroine: a former love interest of her sold off all their memories with her as porn material! The whole memory selling business sounds like a really interesting plot point, shame it was so poorely executed.
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