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A review by queenterribletimy
Last Memoria by Rachel Emma Shaw
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.