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A review by jce
Murder by Memory by Olivia Waite
mysterious
slow-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
2.5
This is one of those times when I'm honestly a bit baffled. Did I read the same book as everyone else? Because so much of this sounded so up my alley but my reading experience was so disappointing.
I listened to the audiobook ARC, and the narrator was good. Not particularly outstanding but definitely no complaints about the narration. But despite the book being quite short I found it impossible to feel engaged with the story. I was so bored and had to force myself to finish.
I love a sci-fi story where the main character wakes up on a ship with no idea what's going on. The reason that works so well for me is that I like discovering things along with the MC. This book does kind of the opposite. The main character knows what is going on with the world of the story, they are confused about the body they are inhabiting. It felt like there was SO much explaining of the world building. And if you are into that kind of thing I bet you'll love this. I'm not and was so very bored. What propels my interest in this kind of story is an affinity, or at least interest in the main character. We are in their head, and it needs to be an interesting place to be. I found this main character void of much personality at all. I wanted so badly to like this book, but while it technically checked all the boxes that had been in the description, there was nothing to hold onto when it came to the characters. Give me a main character with some personality! Make them unique and interesting or really relatable or really awful or SOMETHING.
So yeah, this just did not end up being my cup of tea. I do think readers more interested in a lot of details about sci-fi world building will like this. I was really disappointed with it and really wishing it had delivered on the things I was so excited about.
I listened to the audiobook ARC, and the narrator was good. Not particularly outstanding but definitely no complaints about the narration. But despite the book being quite short I found it impossible to feel engaged with the story. I was so bored and had to force myself to finish.
I love a sci-fi story where the main character wakes up on a ship with no idea what's going on. The reason that works so well for me is that I like discovering things along with the MC. This book does kind of the opposite. The main character knows what is going on with the world of the story, they are confused about the body they are inhabiting. It felt like there was SO much explaining of the world building. And if you are into that kind of thing I bet you'll love this. I'm not and was so very bored. What propels my interest in this kind of story is an affinity, or at least interest in the main character. We are in their head, and it needs to be an interesting place to be. I found this main character void of much personality at all. I wanted so badly to like this book, but while it technically checked all the boxes that had been in the description, there was nothing to hold onto when it came to the characters. Give me a main character with some personality! Make them unique and interesting or really relatable or really awful or SOMETHING.
So yeah, this just did not end up being my cup of tea. I do think readers more interested in a lot of details about sci-fi world building will like this. I was really disappointed with it and really wishing it had delivered on the things I was so excited about.