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A review by annettebooksofhopeanddreams
Memento by Jay Kristoff, Amie Kaufman
4.0
The Illuminae Files is without a doubt my favorite sci-fi series ever. The format is unique, the story despite the format very vivid and the characters are all amazing. I was therefore kinda sad that I could never read this short story. And just when I decided to let it go and to stop looking for it, I saw the announcement that it was gonna be available as an e-book! I mean, of course I would have loved the print, but at least now I could read it!
And despite the fact that it's a novella and really short, especially compared to the books, it does manage to tell a complete story with all the elements of the original series. Just like in the original series we get to know the characters via chats and descriptions of video recordings. And just like in the original books we also see the human interaction through the eyes of an AI. I already fell in love with said AI in the series, I fell in love with it even more in this story.
This story is basically about an AI with an identity crisis. Everyone keeps on telling him that he's not a person, however, he does think for himself and isn't thinking one of those things making us be? We watch him learn new lessons, we watch him drive humans to madness (quite literally) and we watch him struggle with the nuances of human interaction. Since I already read the series I knew where this was going and it makes a very famous saying true: Every mistake of a computer has been created by humans.
In a beautiful way this story ties in with the original series. It's been a while since I read it, so the details were a little hazy, but it worked and fit perfectly. And the ending of this short story is just heartbreaking. If there would have been a few more poems in there, I would have started crying and I'm not even joking right now. I'm very happy that the authors decided to give every reader a chance to read this wonderful story!
And despite the fact that it's a novella and really short, especially compared to the books, it does manage to tell a complete story with all the elements of the original series. Just like in the original series we get to know the characters via chats and descriptions of video recordings. And just like in the original books we also see the human interaction through the eyes of an AI. I already fell in love with said AI in the series, I fell in love with it even more in this story.
This story is basically about an AI with an identity crisis. Everyone keeps on telling him that he's not a person, however, he does think for himself and isn't thinking one of those things making us be? We watch him learn new lessons, we watch him drive humans to madness (quite literally) and we watch him struggle with the nuances of human interaction. Since I already read the series I knew where this was going and it makes a very famous saying true: Every mistake of a computer has been created by humans.
In a beautiful way this story ties in with the original series. It's been a while since I read it, so the details were a little hazy, but it worked and fit perfectly. And the ending of this short story is just heartbreaking. If there would have been a few more poems in there, I would have started crying and I'm not even joking right now. I'm very happy that the authors decided to give every reader a chance to read this wonderful story!