Thursday 14 August 2014

The Memory Keepers by Natasha Ngan

Synopsis (from Goodreads)

Pages: 343
Publisher: Hot Key Books
Released: 4th of September 2014

"No one can take your memories from you... can they?"

Seven is a thief with a difference - he steals downloadable memories from banks and memoriums to sell onto London's black market, trading secrets and hidden pasts for a chance at a future of his own. He makes sure he keeps some special stuff back to 'surf' himself though - it's the only real form of entertainment he can afford. But one night, as Seven is breaking into a private memorium in a wealthy part of London, he is caught in the act by one of its residents; Alba, the teenage daughter of London's most famous criminal prosecutor. Instead of giving him away, Alba promises to keep Seven's secret - as long as he allows her to go memory-surfing herself. In doing so, they discover a hidden memory about Seven's past, revealing a shocking secret about Seven's childhood, the government and a mysterious experiment known as The Memory Keepers...

Now Seven and Alba will have to race against time to unlock the maze of The Memory Keepers - but can they keep themselves out of harm's way before the London Guard - and Alba's father - catches up with them?

What I Have To Say

I was so happy that there were early copies of this being sold at YALC. I've read Ngan's other book The Elites and really enjoyed it (review when I get a chance) so I had high hopes for this. I didn't realise that I would like it so much more.

The world shown in The Memory Keeper's was very well thought out. It was so well built and and really felt believable too, which is possibly because of the disturbing similarities with ours, I could potentially see our world becoming like that in the future.

I also really, really liked the characters. Alba was so sweet and Seven so mysterious. And both of them felt really real with good backstories and issues. The other characters like Alba's mother and Dolly were also interesting.

The thing I liked most though was how many twists and turns there were. Seven's character naturally gave room for a lot of reveals, but some of the others characters really surprised me.

I'm sure a lot of people are getting sick of Dystopia, but this one is really worth reading.


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