I was excited to read this because I adored Semiosis. Unfortunately this one just fell flat for me. I didn't find the story consistently engaging, and the passive narrative voice didn't engage me in the story. On a positive note, I did enjoy the ideas in the story, so it does have some redeeming qualities!

Unfortunately I didn't connect or was interested in this story from the get-go. I had to DNF it at 36% right when he met one of 'them' I was only slightly interested and the angle of being an an undercover 'artist' wasn't too appealing to me.

This is a book I should have loved based on the premise alone. Sue Burke is known for writing smart science fiction narrative. This one was creative but those stylistic choices did not work for me.

The narrative voice is a unique one. Unfortunately the passive voice left me unengaged from the story and protagonist.

Again I liked the ideas in this story. I honestly thought I would love this novel so I am quite disappointed. I hope this book will work better for other readers.

Disclaimer I received a copy of this⁸ book from the publisher.

This is a book that targets a very specific type of reader -- someone who enjoys art, philosophy, politics, and social engineering. It also requires a tolerance for moroseness, as it takes a while for that air to dissipate.

Okay, was this book good? Yes. Did it take a while to get into? Also, yes.

I wasn’t sure what exactly what was happening for the first third of the story. Then it all started to make sense and by half way through it became extremely interesting. I still have quite a few questions and not sure of certain things on why / what happened happened. But the concept of sentient AI is great and the story was absolutely intriguing.

Actual rating: 3.5/5

I had to restart this audiobook multiple times, because as the story went on, I struggled to follow the storyline and it felt like I was perpetually missing details. But still, at 20%, I feel like I have no idea what's going on.

The story starts and moves so abruptly, it's like it's a sequel. Especially because I am listening to an audiobook rather than flipping physical pages, it was hard to track the changing POVs, some of the words/names that I couldn't see spelled, and one of the most annoying things: every person from one of the cultures was referred to as "they/them" yet described as male/female otherwise. It was SO confusing trying to track who was speaking or if it was indeed a group rather than an individual since THEY/THEM traditionally refers to more than one individual. And naturally, that was made all the more confusing because it's a male narrator attempting to do various voices and accents.

So this is a DNF for me, This audiobook asks too much of the reader to fill in what's going on and who is talking.

I received an audio arc from netgalley and dreamscape media in exchange for an honest review.

DNF as not a fan of the narrator, some sort of Dick Van Dyke ‘British Accent’ no one speaks in this kind of mash up of cockney and Queen’s English, please learn what area of England/ Britain you are meant to be from as it makes no sense either geographically or in social standing and is very jarring to listen to.

A decent story, but it feels like the story got away from her.

Our MC lives in a world that straddles the opulent and rich, the educated and roughnecks, and humans and machines. As in most "perfect societies", a revolution is in the works. What ensues is a fairly standard machine uprising, with MC as the locus around which the maelstrom spins. However, there is a positive spin to the trope, with a heavy emphasis on art leading change (or at least growth).

But, see, here's where it gets away from Burke...

There is ZERO connection to the title, which I.... just dont get. I feel like the plot swapped position at least 3 times in the first 100 pages, as well, which led to a bit of a disjointed story and sltook me out of the universe. While she hit her stride after that, the rest of the story felt obvious and oversold.

Overall, I'm not disappointed I read Dual Memory, but there was little 'value added'.

As I listened to the Audiobook, a bright spot was the narration, as real life was breathed into dialog.

My thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Dual Memory by Sue Burke
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I’m surprised how much fun I had while reading this novel. Subtext is everything, of course, but what can I say? I love a good diatribe.

Between discussions of the nature of art, revolutionary planning, anti-cap sentiment, a plethora of AIs puppeteering the whole shebang — and friendship, I just fairly rocked with this novel.

It’s not perfect, but I still had a great time, so that counts for a lot.

It is a cool departure from Sue Burke’s other novels and not a bad thing in the slightest. It’s just different.

I can’t wait to follow her writing career.

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