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3.01 AVERAGE
3.01 AVERAGE
This could have easily been a whole series but instead it was crammed into one book. The story was great but it needed more time for the characters and romance to grow.
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The concept of this book has so much potential and is really the only reason this book earned a third star. I was so disappointed by all the plot holes and lack of character development. Even for a YA book, I'm soooo disappointed with this read.
adventurous
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Lauren Mansy’s The Memory Thief was the Mocha Girls Read book club read for October. I appreciate how all my book clubs push me to read stories I may not have picked on my own. I love the YA fantasy genre, so I was intrigued by the premise of using memories as power. In this world, the Gifted can take memories and weaponize them by forcing bad memories on other people. There’s an evil tyrant named Madame who enjoys wielding memories for cruel means and keeping an iron fist on the city of Craewick. She even auctions off the memories of anyone she deems a criminal to the highest bidders. If you want to be a painter, don’t go to school, buy the memories from a skilled one.
The story is told from the POV of Etta Lark, a teenager who hides her gift as penance. Four years ago, a terrible accident doomed her mother to the asylum. Unluckily, Madame has decided to put her mom’s mind on the auction block which sparks Etta into action. Filled with regret and steely resolve, she seeks out her former rebel group, the Shadows for a way to save her.
The author is a good writer, so it was an easy read. It did take a few chapters to get into the story. This is a clean YA story, which is not my usual fare. It was cute to see the romance play out with passionate stares, hand-holding, and a few kisses. The active plot is very dark with people using negative memories in combat.
Full review on my blog: https://teresaelectro.wordpress.com/2019/12/31/cbr11-review-29-the-memory-thief-by-lauren-mansy/
Reviewed as part of Cannonball Read 11
The story is told from the POV of Etta Lark, a teenager who hides her gift as penance. Four years ago, a terrible accident doomed her mother to the asylum. Unluckily, Madame has decided to put her mom’s mind on the auction block which sparks Etta into action. Filled with regret and steely resolve, she seeks out her former rebel group, the Shadows for a way to save her.
The author is a good writer, so it was an easy read. It did take a few chapters to get into the story. This is a clean YA story, which is not my usual fare. It was cute to see the romance play out with passionate stares, hand-holding, and a few kisses. The active plot is very dark with people using negative memories in combat.
Full review on my blog: https://teresaelectro.wordpress.com/2019/12/31/cbr11-review-29-the-memory-thief-by-lauren-mansy/
Reviewed as part of Cannonball Read 11
Can't tell if the prose was bad or the narrator. The beginning told way too many stories of people who aren't actively part of the present tense so it's difficult to keep them straight. The ending was very anti climactic. Imagine the most exciting scene starts to happen and then the narrator blacks out and you're super bummed you missed all the action and now you have to listen to other people retell the story.
I thought that the premise of the book was very interesting and something I would really enjoy with an interesting "magic" system, a unique world, and a heist plot. But I was disappointed to find that the book neither had strong character development nor was the world building that interesting. The Gift system was only interesting as we start learning about it, but there were never enough answers about the Gifts and it seemed that the author just used it as a plot device to explain certain events. None of the characters really stood out. I ended up forgetting about certain characters and types of characters after having just read about them and I didn't feel like any of them had any depth.
It was a quick read and the concepts were all very interesting, but I felt that the characters and the plot were all very surface level. I would have enjoyed it more if it delved deeper into the separation of the Gifted vs. the Ungifted or the idea of suffering turning into love.
It was a quick read and the concepts were all very interesting, but I felt that the characters and the plot were all very surface level. I would have enjoyed it more if it delved deeper into the separation of the Gifted vs. the Ungifted or the idea of suffering turning into love.
Thank you, NetGalley for giving me a chance to review this book!
The Memory Thief hooked me in when I first read the summary. I haven't read many books where memories were considered a currency and reading a book where "citizens are divided by ability" gave me a Red Queen sort of vibe (which I kinda enjoyed). I thought I might as well give it a chance.
Unfortunately, I did not enjoy this book very much.
The beginning of the book was off to a good start, and I found myself wanting to read more. However, when I started to get almost halfway in the book, I began to lose interest and felt my eyes skimming over words while my mind was wandering around the place. Too many things were happening all at once seemingly out of nowhere and I was sometimes confused then exasperated by it.
The Memory Thief had a good summary, but that was all it had: a good summary. The premise of it was good, just the way it was written undid it all for me.
The Memory Thief hooked me in when I first read the summary. I haven't read many books where memories were considered a currency and reading a book where "citizens are divided by ability" gave me a Red Queen sort of vibe (which I kinda enjoyed). I thought I might as well give it a chance.
Unfortunately, I did not enjoy this book very much.
The beginning of the book was off to a good start, and I found myself wanting to read more. However, when I started to get almost halfway in the book, I began to lose interest and felt my eyes skimming over words while my mind was wandering around the place. Too many things were happening all at once seemingly out of nowhere and I was sometimes confused then exasperated by it.
The Memory Thief had a good summary, but that was all it had: a good summary. The premise of it was good, just the way it was written undid it all for me.