TW: people in an asylum, violence, flashbacks

This book was basically everything I look for in a fantasy novel: well thought-out characters, lack of toxic masculinity, a plot that is a metaphor for bigger things, sassy dialogue, and not a lot of main characters dying. One of my favourite quotations is when the protagonist Etta says "Don't make a scene.," and her companion Ryder responds that "Not making a scene is what lead to this" (pg 22). This is such an important issue right now and I think Mansy addressed it wonderfully. 

This book was so well-written that the only break I took in reading was to get myself a snack. The visuals are stunning and the power dynamics are so interesting. There is this thread running through the book that you are not your past but you can become a better person from it. However, this is also tied to the idea that you don't have to forgive people that have wronged you-- that it is your choice. Many characters are not what they seem and no one is wholly any one thing which I really appreciate. 

For most of the story Etta is plagued with regret but she learns that it is not her fault for reacting to a situation that she did not choose to be in. She frequently has flashbacks and many of them are from four years ago-- when she was fourteen. She blames herself for her actions but the people around her help her realise that she was just a child and was doing what she could within limited options. I am quite passionate about this being a narrative that needs to be seen more often especially relating to childhood trauma.

As you can tell, I was deeply engrossed in this book and would have given it five stars except for one thing: the lack if diversity. This is something that I would not have noticed except that I have actively been looking for diversity when I read to better understand how to be an ally. I read this book very carefully and took notes, but there are no skin colours listed for anyone. While this may seem like it is so people can be interpreted any skin colour, stuff like this ends up being heavily white-washed since our society has been trained to believe that unless otherwise stated (and quite often even when it is stated) that everyone is white. Additionally, I did not notice any characters that were not heterosexual. The book was very nuanced, but it could have benefited from some diversity. 

The author could improve her book by including more diverse characters (and being very careful when using terms like Tribes), but overall this is a smashing debut novel and I look forward to seeing what she writes in future!

Are your memories really your own? Seventeen-year-old, Etta lives in Craewick, where memories are used as currency. A gifted individual’s rank is determined by their Gifted abilities. Etta’s gift is unique and makes the corrupt, power-hungry ruler, Madame, jealous. Madame issues a formal letter to auction off Etta’s bedridden mother’s memories. Etta is willing to go to any lengths to save her mother, including embracing the past she has sworn off. Will she succeed? The main character is a strong female heroine. The plot is unique, fast-paced, and action-packed. Fans of Leigh Bardugo and other magical fantasy fiction will enjoy reading this book.

I massively enjoyed reading about the moral ambiguity of the novel's concept. The immediate double cross set up a fast pace, and it held strong with intriguing character development.

Etta is a former Memory Thief hiding in plain sight as an ungifted to try and protect her mother and escape her past. When she is double crossed by the corrupt ruler Madame she is forced to return to the Shadows she betrayed to try and save her family and possibly so much more...

The author had some great and unique ideas in this story and even threw a few greats twist and shockers at me. I love the idea of the memory trade and how it can be used for good or bad. I really think this book could have been taken from Ok, to good or really good by being broken out into more books or even just a duology. There was so much action packed into this one book that it made scenes and relationships feel rushed. There were several points where the book could have paused nicely (or left a cliff hanger) and went into a second book. 

I was also really enjoying the characters and world, as well as the unique settings that were trekked through. Again I just wish more time had been taken to build out the characters and places, it left me with less attachment to the main characters than I would typically have. There was also some great opportunity for side characters that just got a little lost in the hustle. 

Overall the story was still worth the read, the story was action packed and never slowed down. I finished the book in about 2 days...and let’s not forget to mention the absolutely gorgeous cover! I would recommend to someone who enjoys YA Fantasy and prefers a quick standalone to a long detailed series. 

Thank you to Blink YA books and NetGalley for allowing me to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

What a great concept. I absolutely loved this book cover as well, definitely what made me run want to read this story. 

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for giving me an ARC in exchange for an honest review*

** I was provided an electronic ARC of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.**

Lauren Mansy's novel, The Memory Thief, follows a teenaged girl, Julietta, in a world where memories are used as currency. Memories can be traded, stolen, sold, and more. The Gifted have varying types of abilities regarding the manipulation of memories, where the Ungifted have no such talents. Julietta, who is Gifted, has been given a date by the cruel ruler of Craewick, Madame, who will be auctioning Julietta's mother's memories. The auction will kill Julietta's mother. To save her mother, Julietta seeks assistance of the guild of thieves, The Shadows, that she once betrayed. Of course, a quest results and a whole mess begins.

I was very much intrigued with the world that Mansy built for this novel. I liked the set up of the four Realms, and the "power" system of the Gifted seemed to be very well-developed with lots of room for variation. I even liked the concepts of memories being traded, stolen, etc. and found the application to be something fresh and welcome. 

I did have some struggles with the writing style of this novel. I understand the importance of memories to the content of the novel, but the constant insertion of memory information in flashback form created a disjointed narrative. I felt that with as much development went into the world, the power systems, and the ideas of the plot, relatively limited development went into the characters beyond surface level. As a reader who can overlook weak or commonplace plot points in favor of a well developed character, my reading experience for this book was very much detached and very surface-level rather than being drawn in. 

I also found that each of the twists that were introduced were somewhat transparent, made things easier for the characters, and sometimes just confusing and unnecessary choices. I definitely thought the romantic interest was completely unnecessary and thought the book would have been better served by excluding it entirely. 

Overall, while I enjoyed the world and power system, the novel fell solidly into "just okay" for me because of the aforementioned things. While I'm not upset at the novel in the slightest, I don't know that I will continue with the series that seems to be hinted to come.

I will be honest, after reading the synopsis I was intrigued but I wasn’t expecting to fall in love with the story like I did. I really enjoyed how fast paced the story was. The author weaves in world building and character development beautifully with a message that you can overcome your past mistakes and change for the better. If not for date night I would’ve devoured this book in one day. I hope there’s more to come from this author!

NetGalley Review

I absolutely loved the concept of this book. The thought of buying or stealing memories is so unique and frightening at the same time! I was hooked from the first page but something shifted near the middle of the book. I'm not sure if it was me or the book, but I suddenly wasn't quite as hyped for it as I was when I first began reading. I think the biggest issue for me and possibly the reason why I fell out of it was due to the pacing. I was immediately hooked from the start, but shortly afterward, I kept trying to find reasons to keep me reading.

But do not let this deter you from reading. The Memory Theif has so many great aspects to it. For the most part, the character's interactions with each other felt genuine. However, at some points, it did sound as if they were all one character rather than their own unique selves. I enjoyed Etta's character, but I felt like something was missing in the end. Though there was some growth to her character, I wish there had been more. There is a lot of action within this book, which I absolutely loved. The characters have their own abilities, which are and aren't explained at the end of the book. For some, I needed a little bit of a stronger definition and explanation. 

Overall, I enjoyed The Memory Thief. Though I most likely won't pick this book up again, I do recommend if you enjoy action, instant connections, and the concept of the novel.

Thank you, NetGalley for giving me a chance to review this book!

The Memory Thief hooked me in when I first read the summary. I haven't read many books where memories were considered a currency and reading a book where "citizens are divided by ability" gave me a Red Queen sort of vibe (which I kinda enjoyed). I thought I might as well give it a chance. 

Unfortunately, I did not enjoy this book very much. 

The beginning of the book was off to a good start, and I found myself wanting to read more. However, when I started to get almost halfway in the book, I began to lose interest and felt my eyes skimming over words while my mind was wandering around the place. Too many things were happening all at once seemingly out of nowhere and I was sometimes confused then exasperated by it.

The Memory Thief had a good summary, but that was all it had: a good summary. The premise of it was good, just the way it was written undid it all for me.

I really love the concept of memories being currency! I thought that was a really fresh and creative idea. I loved the beginning of the book too, the MC had so much agency! But once I reached the middle, I started to lose interest. There were too many characters being introduced, and the pacing was too fast, not letting me really understand and feel for the characters. By the time I reached the end of the book, I wanted more but it seemed to end abruptly. All in all, it's a pretty good book and if the author decides to write a sequel, I would def read that too.

This book had a lot of promise and the description had me very intrigued. It started out great but a third of the way in it started slowing down and feeling a bit choppy. I wanted to love this book but I had a hard time staying interested. I think it’s definitely worth the read it just wasn’t for me.

I really enjoyed this book. I flew through it in one day! It’s face paced, the premise is fantastically intriguing, and the characters are exciting. We only know them for a short time but I felt like they were well developed. ⁣⁣
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I was pulled to this book because of the premise. A world where memories are currency? What a fabulous idea! An epic journey to save her mother? Count me in! ⁣⁣
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Though I liked that it was fast-paced, I also felt it was a bit detrimental at times. The whole story takes place in about a week and several of the points in the timeline felt a bit murky and confusing. I also felt like, due to the short timeline, emotions seemed a bit rushed as well. I won’t go into detail because it would be a major spoiler, but one very big moment was kind of ruined for me because Etta was just like “okay, I accept this as truth” even though her whole life she believed something different. ⁣⁣
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All in all, I would definitely recommend this read. It’s quick, it’s fun, and it’s light.

This book was received as an ARC from Blink in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own. 

I did not know what to expect when I started reading this book, but I must say I was surprised and blown away in the best way possible. The story with Etta and her mother being in the insane asylum was a plot twist that was unexpected with these types of fantasy novels. This book reminded me a lot of the Red Queen series and the morbid twisted take on a fantasy adventure. I know a lot of our young adult readers will be very fascinated with this book because it was different from beginning to end and with all the twists and turns loaded throughout this book, they will not want to stop reading.

We will consider adding this title to our YFantasy collection at our library. That is why we give this book 5 stars.

A very powerful page-turner that I couldn't put down. I fell for the characters and could relate to them. I highly recommend this to everyone and this book definitely deserves some hype.

There's a great concept and a lot of potential here, but I found the execution choppy and drawn-out in all the wrong places and too abrupt in others. I struggled with it honest from the beginning, this one just wasn't for me...

The Memory Thief had a ridiculously strong start. I was immediately pulled in by the world and the roles magic plays. We have a female MC who is hiding as an Ungifted, a tyrannical ruler who wants to gain more power, and a secret society of rebels who plan to overthrow this ruler. I mean, I'm such a sucker for these kinds of books. And the way memories and gifts intertwine in the magic the Gifted hold? Sign me tf up.

So why did I give this 3 stars?

Even though it had a strong start that had me invested from the first few pages, I found myself not liking the book more and more as I kept reading. The beginning is basically everything I wanted it to be. It had great character introductions, interesting rule-making, a magic system that was unique, and a very cohesive plot that had a clear end-goal. The middle is definitely what made this book suffer. We added in a ton of more characters who play significant roles in the story, yet we either know too much or too little about them. Sometimes characters descriptions would be repeated over and over where you're like "OK WE GET IT", and other times you question why a character does a certain thing. There's never really a balance. We also added in a romance that i never truly bought, and by the end I was left extremely unsatisfied with its overall development.

I didn't get invested again until the climax of the book. I was all-in once again when I reached the 75% mark. Then....things took a turn for the worse again. At around 90% it just...collapses on itself and makes a very abrupt ending we never see. We have to have it explained to us. It also has this sort of recap feel to it when you watch a TV sitcom episode, where everyone gathers around and takes turns to talk. It just didn't sit with me and just left me overall annoyed. We didn't get to see any of these great things, and the explanations just felt very rushed.

Overall, this book has a strong start, a weak middle, and a very so-so end. I'd probably proceed with caution and highly recommend picking this up at your local library.

ARC provided to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Book: The Memory Thief 
Author: Lauren Mansy
Rating: 4 Out of 5 Stars


I would like to thank Netgalley and the publisher, Blink, for providing me with an ARC. 

So, both the book and the author are very new to me. I thought the summary sounded very cool and that’s what lead me to give this title a try. I was amazed at how just complex the world and the characters were. The book itself is a mixture of science fiction and fantasy-though I would call it more of a fantasy than anything. The book its isn’t very long, but I loved just how much Lauren managed to weave into it. 

The concept of the book itself is very interesting. The characters live in this world where people are either Gifted or Ungifted. The Gifted have powers that allow them to take memories and the Ungifted don’t. This leads to one of my favourite things in fantasy and science fiction: the divide between classes and the power struggle that follows. I love seeing characters stand up against injustice and how they truly do want to change the world they live in. I love seeing this play out and The Memory Thief did not let me down. Plus, it always helps when the main character isn’t doing it to better themselves, but for the sake of someone they care about. 

The first half of the book has such a punch that I flew right through it. Like others have pointed out, I did feel that the second half kind of lost this punch. I don’t know what it was, but it just didn’t seem as strong to me. It was almost as if the editors made Lauren cut some stuff out that really shouldn’t have been. There were a lot of twists and turns as well as flashbacks. I know a lot of people don’t like the flashbacks, but I enjoyed them. I always like it whenever we get something that adds an overall touch and charm to the story. However, I would have liked more of an explanation as to what the significance of them were. 

The characters were also well written. I personally would have liked to have seem Madame a bit more developed. I always do enjoy me a well-developed and complex  villain. The other characters were fine. As you kept on reading, though, you could tell just how complex they actually were. Again, this is where the flashbacks helped. The backstories that came from the flashbacks allowed us to see just truly how complex everything was. 

Overall, not a bad book. I’m giving it a four star because, like I said, I did feel like the second half was rather on the weaker side. 

The Memory Thief comes out October 1, 2019. 

Youtube Book Preview: https://youtu.be/7e1Sbs6AzM0

I love the concept of this book. Using memories to trade, to celebrate, or even to punish, is so intriguing to me. The main character Etta Lark is strong, smart, and self sufficient. She takes no nonsense from anyone, all the while living in a dangerous world under a terrible ruler. That being said, I had a few issues with the pacing. I felt like the “plot twists” were thrust upon the reader, but were not flushed out enough. The characters didn’t have enough time to develop their relationships and get them to where they ended up being. For example, I felt the relationship between Etta and Reid was just going through the motions -- there was the instant attraction, the “coupling”, the fight, etc, with no true evolution. I did love the relationship between Etta and Ryder, and I wish she had been in the book more. 

I was given an advanced reader's copy via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I just reviewed The Memory Thief by Lauren Mansy. #TheMemoryThief #NetGalley 
I absolutely loved this book. The characters are so great. I totally had a dream about something so similar to this plot a couple years ago. It was great seeing it as a book.

First, I was "okay, this is a cool concept", and slowly I became very invested. I love a story that keeps me on my toes and The Memory Thief didn't disappoint. I never saw a twist coming. 

While the pacing was a bit uneven and the relationship needed more flushing out for me, the storytelling made up for it.