In the city of Craewick, memories reign. The power-obsessed ruler of the city, Madame, has cultivated a society in which memories are currency, citizens are divided by ability, and Gifted individuals can take memories from others through touch as they please.
Publisher: Blink
ISBN: 0310767652
Pages: 368
Publication Date: October 1st 2019
RRP: 18.99
Personal Rating: 3/5
Seventeen-year-old Etta Lark is desperate to live outside of the corrupt culture, but grapples with the guilt of an accident that has left her mother bedridden in the city’s asylum. When Madame threatens to put her mother up for auction, a Craewick practice in which a “criminal’s” memories are sold to the highest bidder before being killed, Etta will do whatever it takes to save her. Even if it means rejoining the Shadows, the rebel group she swore off in the wake of the accident years earlier.
To prove her allegiance to the Shadows and rescue her mother, Etta must steal a memorized map of the Maze, a formidable prison created by the bloodthirsty ruler of a neighboring Realm. So she sets out on a journey in which she faces startling attacks, unexpected romance, and, above all, her own past in order to set things right in her world.
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This e-ARC was provided to me by Blink through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
In The Memory Thief, we follow the story of fierce Julieta Lark (who goes by Etta at the beginning of the story). She lives in a world where some people have the gift to remove, trade and manipulate human memory.
Lauren Mansy created a very captivating world with many unique aspects to it. In particular the social divide of the regions being based on professions. She created a unique aspect of superpowers that are normal in the world of Craewick, but still uncommon enough that there is a social divide the gifted and ungifted.
While Julieta was an interesting character whose main desire was to protect her family she lacked a bit of depth. Oddly enough she was always forgiven for her mistakes and did not have to struggle too hard for it to go her way. There was no real struggle she had to confront. There was also her love interest Reid…who also had no depth. Aside from the annoying instant love their relationship had no depth, it was forced upon the reader and there was no spark to keep it interesting. When he left her to do to an actually very interesting plot twist, I was actually relieved I did not have to deal with their dynamic, but alas…he came back and forgave her for all her mistakes.
The plot also had weird pacing to it, maybe because the whole story happened over four to five days. It was hard to keep track since one moment Julieta is being attacked and then figure out her emotions for a situation and then attacked again. Time was a bit confusing and hard to keep track of through the novel so half the time I was not sure if it was day or night and how far they were in their journey.
The Memory Thief did have a few interesting twists. Quite a few of them caught me off guard and left me a bit flabbergasted. I especially enjoyed the secondary characters like Ryder and Uncle Felix. I wish we could have seen more of those two.
Overall the novel was enjoyable but not crazy special. It’s a quick easy read if you find yourself bored on a Saturday morning.