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tabatha_shipley's review
5.0
What I Did Like:
-Dual POV storyline. I’ve seen that done a lot. I haven’t often seen it done like this and I LOVED the way it shaped this story.
-The messages and themes in this one are HUGE. Really the entire book could be driven by the question if you had a chance to cut one thing from your memory, would you? Big messages, big lessons.
-Characters. They’re both so much deeper than they seem on the surface and I loved diving into their backgrounds. This book has MORALITY QUESTIONS, which is one of my favorite things to see in YA books. Can you be a good person if you have done bad things?
Who Should Read This One:
-Fantasy readers. The world created here by memory reading is wonderful. It’s a great dive into a fantasy world that has been well conceptualized.
-Science Fiction fans who like books that go just outside the realm of plausible into something that forces them to THINK.
-Readers who like BIG emotions packed into their characters.
My Rating: 5 Stars. This will appeal to a wide range of readers. Highly recommended!
For Full Review (including what I didn’t like): https://youtu.be/e27XHLzNjdg
-Dual POV storyline. I’ve seen that done a lot. I haven’t often seen it done like this and I LOVED the way it shaped this story.
-The messages and themes in this one are HUGE. Really the entire book could be driven by the question if you had a chance to cut one thing from your memory, would you? Big messages, big lessons.
-Characters. They’re both so much deeper than they seem on the surface and I loved diving into their backgrounds. This book has MORALITY QUESTIONS, which is one of my favorite things to see in YA books. Can you be a good person if you have done bad things?
Who Should Read This One:
-Fantasy readers. The world created here by memory reading is wonderful. It’s a great dive into a fantasy world that has been well conceptualized.
-Science Fiction fans who like books that go just outside the realm of plausible into something that forces them to THINK.
-Readers who like BIG emotions packed into their characters.
My Rating: 5 Stars. This will appeal to a wide range of readers. Highly recommended!
For Full Review (including what I didn’t like): https://youtu.be/e27XHLzNjdg
geethr75's review against another edition
5.0
Oh my god!! I finished this book in one sitting, not even breaking for food. This is just so good! The story is enthralling, the characters so believable and real, and the twist in the end was something I'd never even expected. This was entertaining and heart-breaking and so so beautifully written. A truly amazing read. Just read it!!
queenterribletimy's review against another edition
3.0
I've read Last Memoria for SPFBO 6, in which it's a finalist. This review was originally published on Queen's Book Asylum along with the reviews of the rest of the team. Our collective rating is 6.5/10. My personal rating is 6.5 which amounts to 3.5*
It’s been a week since I’ve finished reading Last Memoria, but I still have no idea how I feel about it. On one hand, it was a super fast read, but on the other, I’m not quite sure if I liked anything about it. If that makes any sense. It sure does not for me, but whatever. I might figure it out by the time I finish writing up this review.
So we have this kinda bleak world where the kingdom is plagued by something called the blackvine, stealing people’s life. Created by a race called memoria in answer to an attack on them some time ago. Some of the nobles are rioting against the king who doesn’t want to do anything about it, but at the same time keeping his “pets” around to use for his own ends. His nieces and nephew are descendants or the memoria, having some of their powers such as keeping memories away from others, or giving them others’. With them on his side, looking inside one’s head is not much of a problem. It also comes handy when your nobility tries to assassinate you from time to time.
Sarilla, the king’s favorite “pet” tastes freedom for the first time and though torn between her old life and the possibility of a new one, she can’t quite shake off her identity. The first part of the books tells her story – well, part of it, anyway – in third person. In the second part we switch to Falon’s first person narrative. Which is an interesting choice at first glance, but it’ll make sense at the end. Falon is the bastard son of a high ranking Lord, who is in search of his lost memories along with his two friends. When their path crosses with Sarilla just outside of Arvendon where Sarilla is headed, that’s when Last Memoria gets really interesting.
The writing itself is pretty engaging and Shaw deals with questions such as self-identity, prejudices, and how much memories can define us. Actions have consequences, the characters are neither black nor white, but they probably fall into the darker shades of gray. Then again, it’s a question of your POV. I think my biggest issues with Last Memoria were that I couldn’t make myself like or even care about any of the characters. And that for a long time I couldn’t see where to book was going or what the point of almost anything was. I think it also lacked some worldbuilding and honestly, the ending was somewhat underwhelming. Last Memoria also had one of my pet peeves where characters wander up and down for a long period of time and seemingly nothing happens – which would be fine if I enjoyed spending time with the characters, but I really didn’t all that much. And I usually prefer character-driven books. I only wish Havric got more spotlight, he was the only character whom I actually liked from the beginning.
Last Memoria is a dark novel about hard choices, about coming in terms with our own identity, about betrayal, about consequences to one’s actions. About love and hate and everything in between. Whether the characters will have a happy ending is yet to be seen, though I think it will all depend on whether they come to terms with their own demons.
It’s been a week since I’ve finished reading Last Memoria, but I still have no idea how I feel about it. On one hand, it was a super fast read, but on the other, I’m not quite sure if I liked anything about it. If that makes any sense. It sure does not for me, but whatever. I might figure it out by the time I finish writing up this review.
So we have this kinda bleak world where the kingdom is plagued by something called the blackvine, stealing people’s life. Created by a race called memoria in answer to an attack on them some time ago. Some of the nobles are rioting against the king who doesn’t want to do anything about it, but at the same time keeping his “pets” around to use for his own ends. His nieces and nephew are descendants or the memoria, having some of their powers such as keeping memories away from others, or giving them others’. With them on his side, looking inside one’s head is not much of a problem. It also comes handy when your nobility tries to assassinate you from time to time.
Sarilla, the king’s favorite “pet” tastes freedom for the first time and though torn between her old life and the possibility of a new one, she can’t quite shake off her identity. The first part of the books tells her story – well, part of it, anyway – in third person. In the second part we switch to Falon’s first person narrative. Which is an interesting choice at first glance, but it’ll make sense at the end. Falon is the bastard son of a high ranking Lord, who is in search of his lost memories along with his two friends. When their path crosses with Sarilla just outside of Arvendon where Sarilla is headed, that’s when Last Memoria gets really interesting.
The writing itself is pretty engaging and Shaw deals with questions such as self-identity, prejudices, and how much memories can define us. Actions have consequences, the characters are neither black nor white, but they probably fall into the darker shades of gray. Then again, it’s a question of your POV. I think my biggest issues with Last Memoria were that I couldn’t make myself like or even care about any of the characters. And that for a long time I couldn’t see where to book was going or what the point of almost anything was. I think it also lacked some worldbuilding and honestly, the ending was somewhat underwhelming. Last Memoria also had one of my pet peeves where characters wander up and down for a long period of time and seemingly nothing happens – which would be fine if I enjoyed spending time with the characters, but I really didn’t all that much. And I usually prefer character-driven books. I only wish Havric got more spotlight, he was the only character whom I actually liked from the beginning.
Last Memoria is a dark novel about hard choices, about coming in terms with our own identity, about betrayal, about consequences to one’s actions. About love and hate and everything in between. Whether the characters will have a happy ending is yet to be seen, though I think it will all depend on whether they come to terms with their own demons.
popthebutterfly's review against another edition
3.0
Disclaimer: I received this e-arc from the author. Thanks! All opinions are my own.
Book: Last Memoria
Author: Rachel Emma Snow
Book Series: Memoria Duology
Rating: 3.5/5
Publication Date: May 10, 2020
Genre: YA Fantasy
Recommended Age: 15+ (memory loss, stealing memories, slight violence, some romance,… did I say memory loss?)
Publisher: Indie Published
Pages: 253
Amazon Link
Synopsis: Sarilla has learnt one thing from stealing memories. Everybody lies.
There's nothing Sarilla hates more than stealing memories, but the king forces her to take them to keep his subjects in line. She wants to escape to where nobody knows what she is or what she can do, but her plans go awry when she runs into Falon.
Falon has a six month void in his memories that he's desperate to restore. He doesn't know why they were taken or what they contained, nor why the man he loves is acting so cagily about what happened during that time. He hopes to use Sarilla to get back his stolen memories and doesn't care what she wants or why she's desperate to escape. She will help him get them back, whether she wants to or not.
Review: Overall, this was a good book. The plot is interesting and the book forces you to think constantly throughout the book. The book had okay character development, I felt it was too rushed though and didn’t give the character enough to realistically make the change. Overall, I really thought the book was intriguing.
However, I did have some issues with this book. I feel like it didn’t have any worldbuilding. There was a lot of room to expand on this world and I felt like it wasn’t taken advantage of. The pace was also incredibly fast and it felt like it was running a race.
Verdict: It’s a good story, but needs to be polished a bit more.
Book: Last Memoria
Author: Rachel Emma Snow
Book Series: Memoria Duology
Rating: 3.5/5
Publication Date: May 10, 2020
Genre: YA Fantasy
Recommended Age: 15+ (memory loss, stealing memories, slight violence, some romance,… did I say memory loss?)
Publisher: Indie Published
Pages: 253
Amazon Link
Synopsis: Sarilla has learnt one thing from stealing memories. Everybody lies.
There's nothing Sarilla hates more than stealing memories, but the king forces her to take them to keep his subjects in line. She wants to escape to where nobody knows what she is or what she can do, but her plans go awry when she runs into Falon.
Falon has a six month void in his memories that he's desperate to restore. He doesn't know why they were taken or what they contained, nor why the man he loves is acting so cagily about what happened during that time. He hopes to use Sarilla to get back his stolen memories and doesn't care what she wants or why she's desperate to escape. She will help him get them back, whether she wants to or not.
Review: Overall, this was a good book. The plot is interesting and the book forces you to think constantly throughout the book. The book had okay character development, I felt it was too rushed though and didn’t give the character enough to realistically make the change. Overall, I really thought the book was intriguing.
However, I did have some issues with this book. I feel like it didn’t have any worldbuilding. There was a lot of room to expand on this world and I felt like it wasn’t taken advantage of. The pace was also incredibly fast and it felt like it was running a race.
Verdict: It’s a good story, but needs to be polished a bit more.
clearlye's review against another edition
3.0
Last Memoria throws you right into the middle of the story and the action which I really enjoyed. The premise of a memory thief and the way memories, their loss and importance to a sense of self are explored is very interesting. Part way through the book had a sudden perspective shift which really threw me. I had to push through to keep reading as it was just not as enjoyable for me. This is also around the time where character's decisions started feeling shaky as well and their characterisations just don't feel as solid. I'm glad I pushed through because there is a pay off with the strands of the plot pulled together which make also those questionable don't feel quite right characterisations all fall into place to make sense.
bookishlykenia's review against another edition
5.0
I love books that hold my interest from start to finish. No inbetween or the beginning was slow then it picked up. Nope this was fast paced and it kept me guessing the whole way through. Even at the end it had me guessing what would happen next.
I tend to read at night, this always ends with me going to bed at two In the morning. But with this one, I could not put it down. I had to find out every ounce of information to see who was lying and to whom. Because everybody lies.
You will come to find out, this is my favorite line from the book. Everybody lies. The plot was done well, I think, a girl who can steal memories. She hates who she is and feels she is not redeemable. She’s in love with a man who wants to be excepted just like she does. Their relationship hit heard because they had secrets and as confused as they were, there was love there. Fight me if you want but there was love and I am game!
This book had me in tears, which means it was memorable. Seriously, if I cried, the story will always have a spot in my heart. I’m not kidding!! And I cried hard, I love books where emotions run raw and your able to imagine those feelings and manifest them onto yourself.
Wow this reviews is totally at the rush of my thumbs (typing this on my phone) and completely different mood from my review on my blog. So if y’all are interested link is in my BIO! You check out my full review on there! So excited for book 2! I’m ready for my heart to bleed some more.
I tend to read at night, this always ends with me going to bed at two In the morning. But with this one, I could not put it down. I had to find out every ounce of information to see who was lying and to whom. Because everybody lies.
You will come to find out, this is my favorite line from the book. Everybody lies. The plot was done well, I think, a girl who can steal memories. She hates who she is and feels she is not redeemable. She’s in love with a man who wants to be excepted just like she does. Their relationship hit heard because they had secrets and as confused as they were, there was love there. Fight me if you want but there was love and I am game!
This book had me in tears, which means it was memorable. Seriously, if I cried, the story will always have a spot in my heart. I’m not kidding!! And I cried hard, I love books where emotions run raw and your able to imagine those feelings and manifest them onto yourself.
Wow this reviews is totally at the rush of my thumbs (typing this on my phone) and completely different mood from my review on my blog. So if y’all are interested link is in my BIO! You check out my full review on there! So excited for book 2! I’m ready for my heart to bleed some more.
becca_ca_ca's review against another edition
4.0
I was given a copy of this book for an honest review, so here goes!
Last Memoria is an interesting concept about a young woman who can take the memories of people she touches (goodness, we’ve certainly all wished for that ability after a night out...). However, after being separated from her brother, she tries to meet back up with him, while avoiding her jailer King, who it appears used to enslave her.
This did a lot of back and forth travelling at the beginning, which I wasn’t a fan of. However, once that was over and the main storyline got underway, the pace picked up. It was also a narrative of two parts, from two different perspectives which also made this interesting to read. It wasn’t just our memory stealing protagonist we heard from, which made for some insightful storytelling.
AND THE ENDING! The switch in narrative made that twist at the end much more powerful.
Were there some issues? Yeah... but the world building, plot development and set up for the next one out weighed a line of corny dialogue here or there.
Will I be picking up the second one.
Definitely.
Worth a read :)
Last Memoria is an interesting concept about a young woman who can take the memories of people she touches (goodness, we’ve certainly all wished for that ability after a night out...). However, after being separated from her brother, she tries to meet back up with him, while avoiding her jailer King, who it appears used to enslave her.
This did a lot of back and forth travelling at the beginning, which I wasn’t a fan of. However, once that was over and the main storyline got underway, the pace picked up. It was also a narrative of two parts, from two different perspectives which also made this interesting to read. It wasn’t just our memory stealing protagonist we heard from, which made for some insightful storytelling.
AND THE ENDING! The switch in narrative made that twist at the end much more powerful.
Were there some issues? Yeah... but the world building, plot development and set up for the next one out weighed a line of corny dialogue here or there.
Will I be picking up the second one.
Definitely.
Worth a read :)
beccadillonx's review against another edition
5.0
When I first saw this book, the cover drew me in. The beauty and darkness of it made me interested to what the story involved. I ended up reading this book in two days, split only because I started it one evening so had to go to sleep.
I thought that it would be a stereotypical girl meets boy romance story, I didn’t really understand just how much of a dark thriller this book was. It brings up the importance of memories as historical knowledge, the idea that memories make a person and the power that memories can hold. It makes you question who is a victim and who is a villain, as you learn so much as the book progresses.
I felt shock, upset, and intrigue, as the book begins by keeping you with a small shroud of mystery, not really knowing what is going on, but not so much that you lose interest. Instead, I felt that I HAD to continue to read to find out what was happening and why. You get the sense that you don’t know the full story until the end similarly to some of the characters which I absolutely loved, I was really kept on the edge of my seat. There was a lot to process but in no way was it overwhelming.
I loved the unique personalities of each of the characters, although I do wish we would have learned about and seen more of some of them such as Havric. I did however, enjoy how the book is split into two parts, so you can see different perspectives of the story, further pushing into the idea of who is good and evil, and whether there is a good as we are constantly reminded that everybody lies.
I also want to quickly note that the writing style was also beautifully done, I felt like i was there in the moment everything was described so well, I really fell into the writing of the book.
Overall I really LOVED reading this book. Even from a short paraphrased description my mum was hooked on the idea and I’m sure she’ll want to read it as well. I have rated it 5/5 and I CANNOT wait for the next book in the series to come out!!
*I received a free copy for my own honest review, Thank you to the author for reaching out to me and giving me this opportunity!*
I thought that it would be a stereotypical girl meets boy romance story, I didn’t really understand just how much of a dark thriller this book was. It brings up the importance of memories as historical knowledge, the idea that memories make a person and the power that memories can hold. It makes you question who is a victim and who is a villain, as you learn so much as the book progresses.
I felt shock, upset, and intrigue, as the book begins by keeping you with a small shroud of mystery, not really knowing what is going on, but not so much that you lose interest. Instead, I felt that I HAD to continue to read to find out what was happening and why. You get the sense that you don’t know the full story until the end similarly to some of the characters which I absolutely loved, I was really kept on the edge of my seat. There was a lot to process but in no way was it overwhelming.
I loved the unique personalities of each of the characters, although I do wish we would have learned about and seen more of some of them such as Havric. I did however, enjoy how the book is split into two parts, so you can see different perspectives of the story, further pushing into the idea of who is good and evil, and whether there is a good as we are constantly reminded that everybody lies.
I also want to quickly note that the writing style was also beautifully done, I felt like i was there in the moment everything was described so well, I really fell into the writing of the book.
Overall I really LOVED reading this book. Even from a short paraphrased description my mum was hooked on the idea and I’m sure she’ll want to read it as well. I have rated it 5/5 and I CANNOT wait for the next book in the series to come out!!
*I received a free copy for my own honest review, Thank you to the author for reaching out to me and giving me this opportunity!*
sincerelyabiblio's review against another edition
3.0
This book really sparked my interest and I was really excited when Rachel Emma Shaw reaches out and offered a free digital copy for an honest review!
There were a lot of things I liked about this story and a lot of things I struggled with. Overall, I think it was a good story and I’m intrigued to read the second part but I’m not exactly dying for a continuation of the story. That being said, I think I would still recommend it to certain readers.
My non-spoiler 3 pros and cons are:
Pros:
1. Falon was a really interesting character that was well written! I also loved Havric as well.
2. The memoria world was amazing. I loved the physical descriptions, their world, their magical abilities. You can tell this is where most of the authors initial focus was in writing the story as it’s the most flushed out. I even wish we could have stayed in the memoria world longer!
3. The descriptions of the cities were so good, I loved that you had one underground, one building upwards towards the sky and another that was your basic city. Arvendon was definitely my favorite!
Cons:
1. It took me until chapter 11 to get into the story and even then the second half was written much better and the plot was more interesting. It just was a con for me that it took so long to get to that point.
2. Sarilla began to get a little annoying. She was constantly keeping secrets and deciding who got to know some things when. And then she would go through phases of being really independent and wanting more for herself to just following whoever was around her that decided they were in charge. I think it would have been better to get more of her character in the beginning than at the very end.
3. There were a lot of characters we didn’t spend a lot of time with that sad things happened to and I just did not care about them at all. (More in spoiler section below.) I wish we could have had more time with these people!
Beware minor spoilers ahead!!
By certain readers, I mean those who don’t quit reading a book the second they become disinterested. I think that’s a very fair way of reading but I’m always the type to push myself to finish! And in this case, I was super glad I did!
This beginning of the novel was super hard for me to get into. I was really confused by what was going on, what it exactly meant to be a memoria and how the memories seemed to suck them in. It seems like a power that was really out of control and made Sarilla a hard narrator to follow. By about chapter 11, I understood what was going on and the plot really began to develop. This felt like a really late start and I wish we would have either spent more time with her and her brother or that we had spent no time with them at all. In all honestly, I didn’t really care about his fate. I didn’t know his character enough to like him but knew enough to be turned off by him. I felt the same indifference with her sister, father, and the whole memoria population. The surprise factor of what happened to them was totally there, we just didn’t get the time to fully connect with these characters!
The second half of the novel is narrated by Falon. I loved the second half! I really liked how conflicted Falon was and how we got to see what it was like for someone who had gaps in their memories. He had so much emotion that flipped between hating her and loving her. It felt pretty real for the situation he was in. And this brought us to the ending which I really liked because even though Sarilla was starting to really annoy me, it made sense why she had become the way she was and in the end I was happy with her fate.
As I said, this book is definitely not going to be for all readers but for those who stick with it, you won’t regret it!
There were a lot of things I liked about this story and a lot of things I struggled with. Overall, I think it was a good story and I’m intrigued to read the second part but I’m not exactly dying for a continuation of the story. That being said, I think I would still recommend it to certain readers.
My non-spoiler 3 pros and cons are:
Pros:
1. Falon was a really interesting character that was well written! I also loved Havric as well.
2. The memoria world was amazing. I loved the physical descriptions, their world, their magical abilities. You can tell this is where most of the authors initial focus was in writing the story as it’s the most flushed out. I even wish we could have stayed in the memoria world longer!
3. The descriptions of the cities were so good, I loved that you had one underground, one building upwards towards the sky and another that was your basic city. Arvendon was definitely my favorite!
Cons:
1. It took me until chapter 11 to get into the story and even then the second half was written much better and the plot was more interesting. It just was a con for me that it took so long to get to that point.
2. Sarilla began to get a little annoying. She was constantly keeping secrets and deciding who got to know some things when. And then she would go through phases of being really independent and wanting more for herself to just following whoever was around her that decided they were in charge. I think it would have been better to get more of her character in the beginning than at the very end.
3. There were a lot of characters we didn’t spend a lot of time with that sad things happened to and I just did not care about them at all. (More in spoiler section below.) I wish we could have had more time with these people!
Beware minor spoilers ahead!!
By certain readers, I mean those who don’t quit reading a book the second they become disinterested. I think that’s a very fair way of reading but I’m always the type to push myself to finish! And in this case, I was super glad I did!
This beginning of the novel was super hard for me to get into. I was really confused by what was going on, what it exactly meant to be a memoria and how the memories seemed to suck them in. It seems like a power that was really out of control and made Sarilla a hard narrator to follow. By about chapter 11, I understood what was going on and the plot really began to develop. This felt like a really late start and I wish we would have either spent more time with her and her brother or that we had spent no time with them at all. In all honestly, I didn’t really care about his fate. I didn’t know his character enough to like him but knew enough to be turned off by him. I felt the same indifference with her sister, father, and the whole memoria population. The surprise factor of what happened to them was totally there, we just didn’t get the time to fully connect with these characters!
The second half of the novel is narrated by Falon. I loved the second half! I really liked how conflicted Falon was and how we got to see what it was like for someone who had gaps in their memories. He had so much emotion that flipped between hating her and loving her. It felt pretty real for the situation he was in. And this brought us to the ending which I really liked because even though Sarilla was starting to really annoy me, it made sense why she had become the way she was and in the end I was happy with her fate.
As I said, this book is definitely not going to be for all readers but for those who stick with it, you won’t regret it!