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A review by cara_p
The Memory Thief by Lauren Mansy
I should say in advance that I did finish the book and it kept me interested enough to keep plodding through. My main issue was simply that with a little more time and development, it could have moved from mostly decent to absolutely excellent. I really liked the *idea* of this book and the way the whole memory thing worked had a lot of potential. I mostly enjoyed reading it, but it all felt so very easy and convenient (and just a bit predictable).
The idea is that people in this world fall into three main categories, those who are nothing special, those who can transfer memories by touch, and the powerful who can give and take memories simply by looking at you. The main character is extra special: she has an unreadable mind. When her mother's life is under threat, she makes a pact with the rebel group to go on a mission for them to steal a memory from a tyrant ruler in exchange for the rebels saving her mother. It's not a bad story, and the idea of the world had me pretty excited.
The characters themselves were ok, but nothing special. Apart from her unreadable mind, there was nothing particularly memorable about Etta. It was one of those things where you feel like you've met all the characters before and just changed their names and the setting. They were fine and the dynamics were mostly fine, but there wasn't anyone or anything that stood out. I *did* appreciate that though Reid wasn't the most trusting, he was a genuinely good and caring guy, rather than the Dark and Brooding, borderline abusive boys you often find in YA. I did kinda find myself enjoying their developing friendship, even if the romance was a bit on the fast side (the book only really takes place over about a week).
For fun, before the spoilers, here were some things that made me pause:
- how do you smirk angrily??
- what on earth does it mean to 'slit' someone's kneecaps?
- and, just to let you know Reid, Etta was never at risk of losing too much blood just from a cut on her cheek (some guy punched her in a fight)
Unfortunately, there were a few things that I just didn't find believable. First off, (and here the spoilers begin) Etta betrayed the leader of the rebels four years previously in order to save her mother. Believable. But it turns out the man she betrayed was her dad and she loved him but betrayed him anyway. How does that make any sense? Especially when it's revealed later that he would have given himself up to save Etta's mother anyway? If that's not enough, she was thirteen at the time and had been off on dangerous missions for the rebels for some time before this all occurred. At thirteen (and I'm positive, because I was so confused I flipped back to double check).
Then we have the fact that she was in love with her mission partner (also thirteen-ish) at the time. As in, they read like they're at least in their late teens. It would have worked far better if Etta and Co. had been aged up even a few years. The idea of her being sent on dangerous missions, being in (real) love, and bargaining with a merciless tyrant at that age is something of a stretch, especially since she seems to have had her gift for quite a while, but it's mentioned that it only begins to show around 10-12yrs old).
My last believability issue was that Etta arrives at the tyrant king's city to steal the memory she needs only to find out that lo and behold, she's his granddaughter, and in the last four years, he's repented and become a giant teddy bear and now he's going to help her free the land and save her mother (and, bonus, her dad isn't even dead, they're friends and it's all good). This *could* have worked if it had been done with a little more foreshadowing. As it stands, it gave me a bit of whiplash.
This is *not* a terrible book. If you can overlook a few believability issues and a few typos, it's an entertaining adventure in an interesting world. I'd love to see the author write more stories set in this world and develop its potential a bit more.
The idea is that people in this world fall into three main categories, those who are nothing special, those who can transfer memories by touch, and the powerful who can give and take memories simply by looking at you. The main character is extra special: she has an unreadable mind. When her mother's life is under threat, she makes a pact with the rebel group to go on a mission for them to steal a memory from a tyrant ruler in exchange for the rebels saving her mother. It's not a bad story, and the idea of the world had me pretty excited.
The characters themselves were ok, but nothing special. Apart from her unreadable mind, there was nothing particularly memorable about Etta. It was one of those things where you feel like you've met all the characters before and just changed their names and the setting. They were fine and the dynamics were mostly fine, but there wasn't anyone or anything that stood out. I *did* appreciate that though Reid wasn't the most trusting, he was a genuinely good and caring guy, rather than the Dark and Brooding, borderline abusive boys you often find in YA. I did kinda find myself enjoying their developing friendship, even if the romance was a bit on the fast side (the book only really takes place over about a week).
For fun, before the spoilers, here were some things that made me pause:
- how do you smirk angrily??
- what on earth does it mean to 'slit' someone's kneecaps?
- and, just to let you know Reid, Etta was never at risk of losing too much blood just from a cut on her cheek (some guy punched her in a fight)
Unfortunately, there were a few things that I just didn't find believable. First off, (and here the spoilers begin) Etta betrayed the leader of the rebels four years previously in order to save her mother. Believable. But it turns out the man she betrayed was her dad and she loved him but betrayed him anyway. How does that make any sense? Especially when it's revealed later that he would have given himself up to save Etta's mother anyway? If that's not enough, she was thirteen at the time and had been off on dangerous missions for the rebels for some time before this all occurred. At thirteen (and I'm positive, because I was so confused I flipped back to double check).
Then we have the fact that she was in love with her mission partner (also thirteen-ish) at the time. As in, they read like they're at least in their late teens. It would have worked far better if Etta and Co. had been aged up even a few years. The idea of her being sent on dangerous missions, being in (real) love, and bargaining with a merciless tyrant at that age is something of a stretch, especially since she seems to have had her gift for quite a while, but it's mentioned that it only begins to show around 10-12yrs old).
My last believability issue was that Etta arrives at the tyrant king's city to steal the memory she needs only to find out that lo and behold, she's his granddaughter, and in the last four years, he's repented and become a giant teddy bear and now he's going to help her free the land and save her mother (and, bonus, her dad isn't even dead, they're friends and it's all good). This *could* have worked if it had been done with a little more foreshadowing. As it stands, it gave me a bit of whiplash.
This is *not* a terrible book. If you can overlook a few believability issues and a few typos, it's an entertaining adventure in an interesting world. I'd love to see the author write more stories set in this world and develop its potential a bit more.