Reset had a great premise: humanity gets reset every four years to stop attachment, greed, and all the negative emotions that lead to war.

Unfortunately, I didn’t feel it delivered.

The plot is slow. Nothing appears to move forward for most of the book. Even when the tension does pick up towards the end, it still felt slow-paced. Given it had set up a high-speed chase, it didn’t get my heart racing.

The characters felt boring. Aris spends most of the time refusing to consider different possibilities until suddenly she’s a believer in remembering the past. But I never found it clear why she clicked: she’d been having the dreams all along, why was it suddenly believable?

Metis could’ve been a strong lead. But he spent the time moping over Aris and not doing anything proactive. He was supposed to be a legendary figure, a key player in a secret resistance. The only thing he resisted was acting.
Thane was weak and annoying. While he maybe had more of a character arc than the others due to his ending, there was no strength to his character.

The characters who were the most interesting were the ones we lost along the way to further the plot for the supposed protagonists.

The dialogue was chunky and often repetitive. Metis and Aris’ interactions were dominated by Metis not keeping his hands to himself. Even his caresses were flat though; it was a very similar description each time and certainly didn’t encourage the reader to feel their passion. It was supposed to be a love story that defied science, time, memory loss… They won’t be writing epics about it, for sure.

I liked the premise of Reset. It had some interesting concepts and a strong idea. But to deliver, the reader needed to be able to emotionally connect with the plot. Between the slow pace and lacklustre characters, it lacked the spark needed to transform this idea into a page-turner. A lot of potential here, but unfortunately missed the mark for me.

Reset was such an interesting book! I appreciate a good dystopian novel every now and then, and I felt that Reset had a really fresh, unique concept. The idea is that society has all of their memories wiped every four years (referred to as Tabula Rasa). Then they start over - possibly living in a different city (one of only four cities that exist), likely working a different job, surrounded by different people, etc. The idea is that by doing so, it prevents people from forming prejudices, fighting, etc. It's meant to keep the peace. But with that comes a lot of sacrifice and control over their lives.

This book was really thought-provoking. Amidst the dystopian concepts there is also a love story. I did feel like the pacing slowed down once the love story came into play. While I appreciated the love story and what it added to the story, a part of me would have liked more of the story to focus on society and life as a whole, rather than have so much focus on this one relationship. But I also can see how that relationship drove the plot and was a necessary element to tell the story.

It was interesting to discover the positive things about the controlled society, but I also felt that the discontent and the cracks that were forming were so realistic. I will also say that reading this book gave me a whole different way of thinking about dreams. I also thought it was cool that a lot of the idea for the Four Cities and society was inspired by the lyrics of Imagine. It was really interesting to see how such a beautiful song with such lovely lyrics could create a world that is nowhere near as idyllic as it sounds.

While I did not have a problem with the ending, it did feel a little abrupt. I don't know what more I wanted from it, just that I wanted more. I felt like the ending answered some questions but left others. I didn't feel disappointed or unsettled, but was just hoping for a little more.

All in all, I thought it was a solid read and would recommend it to anyone interesting in dystopian stories.

Thank you to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for this e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

I started reading this book and found that it was not for me. I didn't want to review a book that I didn't finish.

Thank you so much to net galley and the publisher for giving me a copy of this book! This was my most anticipated book of 2021 and it did not disappoint. It took me a little while to get into but I loved this book and the plot of the book!

The book was well written, with a fascinating premise and strong character development. I highly recommended it.

I found the concept of tabula rasa, a blank slate, was well done, but found myself wanting more depth out of the characters.

This book just didn't work for me. I found it predictable and repetitive. Some readers may enjoy it, but it really wasn't for me. I found myself wanting more depth and perhaps this would've worked better in a shorter format.

A theme in dystopian/utopian fiction is: How do we manage a society after things have gone so very wrong, so that the mistakes of the past are not repeated? What would you do to make a society that will not come to extinguish humanity for good, this time? And what is the dystopian price to pay? Do you engineer society so that everyone takes drugs daily to subdue their passions, as in Equilibrium? Have everyone die at the age of 21, as in Logan’s Run? Stratify society in a distorted and restrictive way, as in Brave New World? Place a sin-eater of a tortured soul at the dark heart of the city, taking the sins of the city and the people, as in Those Who Walk Away From Omelas? There is a common assumption in all of these works that for humanity to have a utopia of any sort, bounds must be put on humanity, severe ones at that.

And so we come to Sarina Dahlan’s novel, Reset.

Review at TOR

This book is great! Would definitely recommend. Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to start over every four years? I don’t mean politically, I mean your entire life. Just a blank slate, all your wrong doings, cherished memories, ex lovers, wiped away so you can start fresh? Well if that sounds like a dandy way to live, you might want to check out our latest dark horse, Reset by Sarina Dahlan.

Reset takes place in the Four Cities, a post-apocalyptic utopia, designed and built by the enigmatic Planner. It is seemingly the only place humanity exists after the devastating Last War, in which the world destroyed itself. The people in the Four Cities live a peaceful life, without concern for material needs, and have all their worries taken from them. The price being that of their memories. Every four years they have to undergo the process of Tabula Rasa, and have them wiped. The Planner felt that the only way for humanity to attain peace was to consistently remove the past to avoid prejudicial buildup. The book follows a few characters as their lives get tangled up in the final months before the next Tabula Rasa. Metis, a concert pianist by day, and the mysterious Sandman by night, leads a small group of folk known as the Dreamers. They are consistently in search of the past, even though it is forbidden. Metis is searching for the next Sandman to take his place over the next four years, and happens upon Aris, a woman who is deeply embedded in his dreams. With only four months left in this life, will he be able to convince her that she must be the next Sandman?

Unfortunately, I have mostly negative feelings about Reset. I was sold on the premise, but the execution left me wanting. Before I get to the meat of my issues, I want to highlight some things that I really enjoyed about the book. It’s clear that Dahlan thought through the central idea and how people would end up living their lives in this new normal. The Four Cities, while not deeply explored, feel thought out and “planned.” There is a central and pervasive mythology about the history of the place, and it's incredibly tangible while having a vague sense of dread attached to it. Dahlan explores these mixed feelings in small and incredibly interesting ways. A lot of these smaller ideas felt like they could easily be expanded upon through short stories, enriching the world of Reset in cool and thoughtful ways. The one that stuck out to me the most was the Memory Market, a place where discarded items from people’s past were laid out so people could wander through and see if anything sparks something within them. Unfortunately, these ideas were relegated to paragraphs or sentences, and didn’t add much to the specific story being told.

I will say, a lot of my issues with this book do stem from personal taste. The majority of the book is romantic in nature, and focuses very heavily on how one’s relationships would be affected by the Tabula Rasa. While I’m not against romance in my books, I have a hard time with unrequited love stories, and Reset is all about that. Metis is haunted by Aris, and can’t stop thinking about how to get her to understand who she is to him. His memories of her are vibrant and full of desire and passion, yet she does not remember him in any way. A friend of Aris’, Benja, is similarly plagued by his dreams of a man in a white hat, and can’t stop talking about him to Aris. Thane, a sort of secret police officer, is also an admirer of Aris after a date with her and is jealous of her closeness to Benja. Meanwhile, Aris is just a free floating woman who does what she wants, and does not care for romantic or sexual attachment of any kind. This love square/triangle (Benja also has feelings for Aris, but accepts that she sees him as a friend), is the central focus of the story and it became very tedious for me very fast.

I think it would have been easier to swallow had the characters been people to root for. I’m not one to shy away from some good romantic drama, but I just didn’t feel for any of the characters. Aris was the most relatable in that she wanted no part of everything, but she didn’t really seem to have a reason to not be attached. She didn’t have other passions or needs to fulfill; she just felt like someone who needed to be shown the error of her ways when it comes to love. Metis and Benja were tough to relate to. They were just at eleven the whole time, pining for their innately chosen lovers, every aspect of their life consumed by it. Unfortunately, a lot of the emotions that are explored are theirs, so it only caused me to sour through the rest of the book. Thane, someone who could have had some interesting development, felt like a wet rag. There was a chance to explore his competing desires of duty and jealousy, paired nicely with regret and anguish, but he’s just there, draped in the corner waiting to be washed with the rest of the rags.

I could go on and on, nitpicking my individual issues with the book, but it would just feel mean and petty. I just couldn’t get into it beyond those small moments of interest. Part of it may be that I had bigger expectations when it came to the exploration of memory, and the idea of loss in relation to it. I wanted more ambiguity, more questioning, more concern for the society that had been created. Dahlan has expressed some of those ideas in small doses, and placed them in the story in just the right spots to flare up interest and exploration, but fails to deliver beyond their immediate relation to the love square. I wanted to like this book, but it just wasn’t meant to be. If you’re into unrequited love in a time where memory is fleeting, you might find something special here, but there are plenty of other books out there for me to explore.

Rating: Reset - 5.0/10
-Alex

The whole concept behind Reset is so thought provoking and unique! In the book, the powers that be wipe the minds of the citizens every four years, and they quite literally have to start over. Can you imagine? I had such a hard time wrapping my head around the actual horror of knowing that your life would end every four years. That everything you do during those four years is meaningless. Because not only do you lose your memories, everyone else loses their memories of you. So in a way, it’s a worse fate than death, since absolutely nothing you do will live beyond those years.

And it was, as such, the kind of book where you simply cannot help but wonder how you’d react. I decided that I would absolutely alternate between sobbing in the corner and drinking myself silly for four years straight. Luckily, this is not what our main characters choose to do. Aris believes strongly in the work that tabula rasa does, until she meets some people who want more. Her friend Benja is the first to really open her eyes to the possibly of more, but it’s Metis, her lover from a past life, who seals the deal for her.

And now that these folks have had their eyes opened to what life could be, it’s quite impossible to go back to going along with the mind wiping. In their search for answers, they begin to uncover so many secrets, and glaring downsides, to the entire project. As they soldier on for more information, the book shifts from thought provoking and relationship focused to an exciting mystery and survival tale, while still keeping it’s emotive character focus.

Bottom Line: Fascinating and full of moral questions, I was quite engrossed in Reset!

This book came to me courtesy NetGalley and is one of the most thought-provoking stories I’ve read in years. For the first time in forever, I was forced to slow down my usual break-neck pace through the pages. There were sentences that were so impactful, so profound, I had to savor them. Think about their implications. Consider the ramifications. It took me three days of profound enjoyment to reach the end.

The book was amazing.

And its ending left me in a glow that hasn’t left me in the past week.

In general, I love authors who play with human perception of time and connection with others. This book combined that with lyricism and philosophical passages that had old Beatles tunes haunting my brain and made me ponder how different individuals might conceive of and implement a utopia. And what they would force the populations of these idyllic locations to give up.

As someone who treasures my dreaming capacity, a passage like this one gave me shivers of horror:

By some reason that Metis doubts was Bodie’s will, he underwent the Dreamcatcher treatment. All Dreamers know the consequence of dream erasure. Once erased, the memories attached to those dreams are gone. They will no longer resurface.
from “Reset” by Sarina Dahlan

And the creeping gap of missing memories–even when driven by so noble a goal as peace in a post-apocalyptic world–makes the humans operating within them not much more than empty puppets:

“I don’t deny that Tabula Rasa was created out of a desire for peace. But anything that takes away choice eats away at our soul. Without our memories, we are but empty vessels waiting to be filled and drained at each cycle. Love, the most vital of human needs, cannot exist fully outside the garden of memories.”
from “Reset” by Sarina Dahlan

The story was an elegant and unique love story on many levels, crossed with a philosophical treatise on what it takes to live harmoniously, combined with a classic sci-fi exploration of the ethics of using advanced technology. The world-building allowed for a full exploration of each of these components within a richly imagined environment–down to the vaguely salty after-taste of water reclaimed through desalination for use in a manufactured desert oasis.

I’ve already started passing out the title and Amazon links to my friends and colleagues, because this book deserves discussion and sharing, whether or not your normal tastes run to sci-fi or even romance. I’d never heard of this author prior to reading this book, and from her Goodreads profile, it appears this might be her first novel, but based on the excellence of its execution, her next book will be an automatic purchase for me.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with this free advance copy to review.

Reset is a story about a society that “resets” everyone’s memories every four years. This Tabula Rasa has led to the erasure of prejudice and war. Everyone is happy! Right? Except some people remember parts of their past lives and see them in their dreams.

The boos raises some very interesting questions demand ideas about the importance and meaning of memory. It deals with ideas of free will and fate.

It was slow to get into but once I got into the main plot, it moved more quickly. I wish for a different ending. Not sure what I wanted. It I felt let down at the end.

Reset is a really enjoyable book. The premise really interested me, a future where people get their memory wiped every 4 years in the name of peace, but somehow some people remember through dreams parts of their past that they shouldn't. Seeing Aris go from an extreme live for the day mentality, not even bothering building any relationships because they won't last, to embracing the dreams she has as memories is a great experience. I loved her connection to Benja, it felt really genuine and valuable. Metis is also a very intriguing character that I wish would have taken more of a spotlight, he seems to know things he doesn't get to reveal completely.
My only complaint is about the characters that play the role of "puppet masters". I would love to know more about them, we do get the basic information on their background and motivations, but we don't really get to know who they are and it makes it hard to connect to them.
Overall, this is a really good read, the characters are compelling, the story is captivating and it leaves you thinking what approach you would take if you lived in a system like this and just how much of an influence your past can have in your present and your future.

TL;DR: Interesting take on classic dystopia that fans of the genre might enjoy, but with repetitive explanation and clunky dialogue. Most unfortunately, #Reset is a celebration of heternormative, mononormative, and frankly, toxic romantic love and relationships that deeply turned this reader off. My rating: 2 of 5 stars

The premise of Reset is reminiscent of other literary dystopian societies in the vein of Brave New World, We, 1984, etc. As a lover of the genre, I was interested in this take. In Dahlan’s Reset there are 4 city communities that survived an apocalyptic war generations before. The city’s creator instituted a system, called Tabula Rasa, whereby every resident has their memories erased every 4 years and children are produced and raised in facilities, not families. The philosophy behind this system is that humanity’s downfall is its propensity for things like love, hate, prejudice, revenge, etc., and therefore, it can only exist if the memories that make those feelings endure are periodically removed. One of my first frustrations with the book was simply how many times this philosophy was explained. It got very repetitive.

The conflict in the story arises because there are a small subset of people, called Dreamers, who convene in secret meetings to take a hallucinogenic that helps them remember their memories through dreams. The main question that Reset raises--a few too many times--is whether life is really worth living without memories, and the love and relationships they allow us to build.

The dialogue felt clunky and artificial. So many parts were supposed to have cute and sexy romantic vibes, but they just didn’t. I did a lot of cringing at the dialogue between Aris and Benja and Metis.

I also really disliked how mononormative this book was. It really, really glorifies the whole soul mate, love at first sight, fated romance thing. At several points it also comes off as explicitly critical of people who have open, poly, or ENM arrangements. At one point it’s even stated that “A marriage is an agreement between two people to be monogamous.” Sure that’s the dominant social norm, but it excludes a lot of happy, healthy married couples for whom that agreement is not a condition of their marriage.

On top of that, there’s also some less explicit shade thrown at casual dating and sex. Before the main character regains some memories, she was prone to having one night stands, but her life during that time is characterized as empty. There are also instances where the book justifies some really unreasonable examples of male jealousy. And generally toxic male behavior.

On a similar note, one of the plot twists is grossly reminiscent of the classic “woman does wrong and the world gets punished” trope. Eve eats an apple and gets humanity kicked out of Eden. Pandora opens a box she wasn’t supposed to and unleashes death and sickness on the world. Now we have: woman hurts man and he takes away everyone’s memories and capacity for long-term loving relationships. And somehow it’s treated as an understandable response? No thank you.

Now I’m getting nit-picky, but a description of one female character also drove me nuts: “She’s pretty. If only she would wear it with less severity and a little more warmth.” Like, I thought we all agreed it’s gross to tell women to smile more. This really irked me because it’s the kind of description I would expect from a male author.

Feminist rant done. I’m sure this book will appeal to lovers of The Bachelor and rom-coms that don’t hold up, but I need more nuance and social change in my fiction diet.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for giving me advance access to this book in exchange for an honest review.

Reset feels, in many ways, like one of the Cycles it describes: hitting the ground running with no explanation, blossoming into understanding, and ending (appropriately) somewhat abruptly. It’s a beautiful tragic romance built on the back of other tragic romances, leaving a handful of tantalizing threads hanging in the air and hinting at an even greater story. The ending is, in its own way, a hopeful one, even if it may take a breather after finishing to come to that conclusion.

(Received an A rating in Sci-Fi Magazine Summer 2021 issue)

What if society was reset every four years? That is the question Reset asks itself. Every fourth year, humans undergo “Tabula Rasa” in which their memories are wiped and they start a new cycle with a new name, job, home, friends. This helps in keeping the peace.

But what happens when people become interested in recovering their memories?

STORY
I think the story is pretty interesting! I never really need a lot of detail on technicalities or specifics when it comes to sci-fi stuff, so I can’t really judge on that, but I found it pretty complete! We get the origins of it, the consequences of it, and possibly the future of it.
The story flows very well. Not a lot of dull moments or chapters you really have to push through to get to "the good stuff". There are no wasted scenes here.

WRITING STYLE
The first thing I noticed when I started is that it’s in present tense! People sometimes feel iffy about that, but I felt it was a very deliberate choice, as the entire story is about making the most out of the present.
It reads very easy overall. It’s very dialogue heavy, but not in a way that you get confused over who’s talking. Exposition and info are given to you in a subtle manner.

CHARACTERS
There’s quite a few characters, but they all feel very distinct from one another. Aris, Metis, Benja, Thane… They have their own quirks and personalities and their own voice. I can’t say I got really attached to anyone in particular. That is something that is very hard to achieve though when it comes to action-packed stories.

ROMANCE
So…. I’m not a very big fan of romance generally, and unfortunately this was no exception. I kept thinking about how I would feel about Aris and I would honestly just check out if there was ever so much pressure put on me by a man I’d only met about a week prior. The book deals with that a bit, but it’s also quickly forgotten because there are more urgent things going on. I just felt it was a bit too fast. It felt more like infatuation instead of loving eachother for the person they were.

OTHER
I haven’t mentioned it yet but THAT COVER. It’s incredible.

This was a fun read! It’s a bit out of my comfort zone. Would definitely recommend it if you like a light dystopian sci-fi with a bit of romance on the side.

3.5 stars, especially for the lyrical prose!

Based on the description, I was expecting a story heavier on science fiction and philosophy. What, really, would be the ramifications for society if adult memories were wiped out every four years? Would that really bring about world peace? I would have liked for this to be explored more deeply. I kept thinking we might find some people who were living outside the confines of the Four Cities to contrast experiences with. I thought maybe there were humans in decision-making positions who weren't subject to Tabula Rasa, who could explain the sinister side of it. The author uses the story to touch on issues of great individual and societal import (we'd rely ONLY on found family in this scenario. I am still thinking about this), but at its heart, this is a love story - the most pressing questions for the reader are, will they or won't they find each other? Will they or won't they recognize what they have in each other (and will they be allowed to keep it)? The writing is beautiful and the characters are beautiful, but the story glances off the surface of its potential. The answers provided for how everything works feel insufficiently realized. I am grateful for the opportunity to read/review RESET, and would happily read another novel from this author, in the hope that she delves more confidently into her subject matter next time.

You go into this book expecting it to be the love story of Aris and Metis- but it is truly this overarching love story that has spanned the entirety of tabula rasa. For a standalone book, Dahlan does an incredible job of giving us the answers to most of our questions, even down to explaining what brought about Tabula Rasa in the first place and who the creator really was, and his motivations. Their story was really mind-blowing and I think that if Dahlan wanted to write anything else in this universe, writing about them would be a fantastic choice.

I think this book would be a good read for people who enjoyed Eternal Sunshine of A Spotless Mind. It has the same concept of true love bringing people back to their memories, without the toxicity of manic pixie dream girls and their male counterparts. I gave this book a solid 4 out of 5 stars. The only reason that it lost a star is that some of the logic was lost with regards to the memories and how they are pulled from people- as well as the dreams. I felt a little confused over reality and how it fit into this story at times, and that is the only thing keeping it from being 5 stars for me.

This has an interesting premise and is executed pretty well. I liked the idea of a story based on Buddhist philosophy. It's imaginatively told and includes some engaging characters. A lot of scifi fans will probably connect with this.

I really appreciate the ARC for review!!