Last Memoria

Last Memoria

by Rachel Emma Shaw

2 out of 5

Synopsis
A heartbreaking dark fantasy thriller about flawed people making flawed decisions. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind meets Joe Abercrombie.

Sarilla has learnt one thing from stealing memories. Everybody lies.

There's nothing Sarilla hates more than stealing memories, but the king forces her to take them to keep his subjects in line. She wants to escape to where nobody knows what she is or what she can do, but her plans go awry when she runs into Falon.

Falon has a six month void in his memories that he's desperate to restore. He doesn't know why they were taken or what they contained, nor why the man he loves is acting so cagily about what happened during that time. He hopes to use Sarilla to get back his stolen memories and doesn't care what she wants or why she's desperate to escape. She will help him get them back, whether she wants to or not.



Review
Sarilla is a Memoria - both hated and valued for her ability to steal memories. When she is reunited with Falon - a man who has no memory of ever loving her, finally she can find some redemption.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Sarilla was owned by the King, his pet, his monster. She stole memories from his enemies, to inflict pain and discover their secrets for her master. She has no freedom, and no choice. This will be her role until she is driven mad by the stolen memories that blacken her skin.
Her brother breaks them out, to try and find other Memoria.

Falon and his friends are on a mission to find who has stolen his memory, when they stumble on Sarilla.
They are torn between their duty to the king, to return his pet monster; and to use her to get Falon's memories.
Falon despises this unnatural creature, with no idea that he ever loved her.

I loved the existence of memory-stealers. The race are well-thought out, with memories being stored as marks on their skin, until they decide to share them with others.
The Memoria have their rituals and traditions, for them it is an honour to share information through memories; and it is only their enemy - the King and his people - who have abused their power, and turned them into something feared.

The not-so-good.
I had a few issues with the story. At the beginning (and several points throughout) I felt like we'd been dropped in the middle of the story, and I had to keep checking that this was the first part of the series. It felt like the author was dropping us into the middle of a play, without any clues to what had gone on before and why stuff was happening.
Perhaps the author was too familiar with the world she'd created, and forgot about us newcomers; or perhaps that was her intention, to make us feel like we were going along with missing memories.

The first half is narrated by Sarilla. She's not a very reliable narrator, as she struggles to control the memories she has, and doesn't always know if she's in the present, or slipped into the past of herself, or a victim.
With all the abuse the poor girl had suffered, I felt sorry for her, and could understand her lack of fight (because defeat was inevitable); but she had no drive of her own.
First, she followed her brother's plan; then she's dragged all over the country by Falon and his friends; then she's at the whim of the King. She just allows the tide to carry her where it would; which wasn't very appealing for our main character.

The second half is narrated by Falon, which improves the agency issue. He is on the hunt for his missing memories, and he's ready to take charge.
Even with his missing memories, Falon is a lot easier to follow, and the story gets stronger.

The plot frustrated me. Most of the story takes place on the road, flip-flopping between what their aim is, because of no real reason, just because it suits the plot.
For example at the very start, Sarilla and her brother, Rysen are on the run. This was masterminded by Rysen. Yet they stray from their hidden pathways, to go to the pub, so Rysen can have a drink and flaunt his magic. Funnily enough, he gets caught and Sarilla is on her own.

Sarilla then tries to make her way into Town X, but she's stopped by Falon & co. who drag her all the way to Town Y, but stop at the gates because they realise (with the same amount of information they had before) they need to be at Town X.

Then there's the whole cliche of withholding information 'because reasons'.
It's not just Sarilla, with her memory-stealing-magic. Falon's friends are holding back what they know or suspect, when they know Falon is tearing himself apart over this.

Unfortunately, this book was not for me.

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