A review by daybreak1012
The Memory Collectors by Kim Neville

4.0

Classify this under books with fascinating concepts that go in unexpected directions. This book seems like it will be charming but I spent most of my time reading it feeling ill at ease. There is this dark reverberation that runs as an undercurrent that I just couldn't shake, but neither could I put the book down. In fact, the more uncomfortable I became, the faster I needed to turn the pages. I have yet to determine if this is because I needed to know what happened next or because I needed the book to be over.

What I liked about The Memory Collectors:
Once the story got moving, it really moved - This book had a slow build, but it built layer upon layer until it practically crackled with intensity. While I wouldn't call the writing lyrical at all, it was powerfully effective, not just getting across its point, but taking the reader into emotional, nearly tactile, places. Within the first three chapters, I felt like the story was almost stressful for me to absorb, as if I were getting the air sucked out of me with each word. I won't say this is a bad thing, because it sure sounds bad, until you consider that I tagged this under "things I liked." As I said: it was effective writing. I think you're supposed to feel this way about the story, honestly.
The ability presented is a fascinating concept - It's not unfamiliar to me. I first encountered it in The Keeper of Lost Things, but I am laughing to myself now, because I thought that was a dark book. But this ability to imprint inanimate objects with the emotions of the person to whom the objects belong is one that leaves the lane wide open for some storytelling. There are infinite objects in the world that can be imbued with any mixture of an emotional cocktail, and the stories that can spin off of this are equally infinite.
This book is adept at answering questions - It doesn't feel like it for a long time. Most of the book, actually. Trust the process. You'll get them.

What I didn't care for:
Seemingly unbalanced darkness - This book is heavy. The characters have secrets, none of them good. Even though there is a degree of redemption by the end, I am not certain that it was enough to get me completely to a place of hopefulness. I think it tried, but when there is just so much darkness gathered in one place... well... the story illustrates this better than I can here while avoiding spoilers.

What left me conflicted:
The characters, all of them - I still don't know how I feel about these characters. I can't say that I really liked any of them, though I liked some of them better than others. There were just so. many. secrets. that I spent the better part of the book not really knowing who any of them really were. This is conflicting because the plot itself is devised of the secrets and without them, you don't really have a story to tell. So, sacrifice any sort of connection with the characters at the altar of a plot that compelled you deeper, whether you want to go or not.
The various settings - Again, most of the spaces stressed me out more than I actually liked them -- the singular exception being The Dragon -- but you almost couldn't avoid having the other settings be uncomfortable because they were practically characters themselves that drove the plot.   

Worth noting:
Some language - Not a lot, but it's there, if that is a deal-breaker for you.
Parts of this book read like a horror movie - In fact, I could absolutely see this playing out in my head like a horror movie. It had some uniquely disturbing scenes.

This book played with a concept that is magical realism at (for me) its best. It's just real enough to be believable, but also just enough magic evident to keep it with one foot firmly in fantasy. There is a strong lesson woven into the pages of this story of the bent "use your abilities for good and not evil", which I appreciated. Another lesson would be that buried secrets will do more harm than good -- every secret held in this book was hungry for destruction. If I could use two words to describe The Memory Collectors, they would be 'riveting' and 'sinister'. I was completely creeped out through a good portion of the story, so depending on whether that's a characteristic you're drawn to or avoid would weigh heavily on whether this is a book for you.