Volatile Memory by Seth Haddon
Review by James Thomson

A novella about the masks we wear, and what exactly it means to be a woman.

Wylla Sotain is a scavenger, living day by day, and searching for the mythical big score so she can finally repair her ship and drag herself out of poverty in an uncaring galaxy. In this particular future, people wear AI-powered masks to enhance their abilities. Wylla has a battered old MARK I RABBIT, which means her senses are heightened, like the prey animal she is.

It seems like her fortunes are about to change when she tracks down an expensive prototype that shouldn’t even exist, but she finds the MARK I HAWK lying on the face of a dead woman called Sable Veonya. When she puts the mask on, Sable talks to her and remembers being murdered. Now everybody is looking for them, including VisorForge, the corporation that is responsible for the masks, and the other scavengers who want a piece of the action.

The book is told in second person perspective, with Sable talking to you, the reader, as if you were Wylla. Harrow the Ninth readers will be quite familiar. Wylla is trans and has been fighting the system her whole life. Sable, on the other hand, now has no body at all. They both accept each other quickly, and a relationship develops between the two of them while they try to track down Sable’s killer, and avoid the authorities.

There are so many enjoyable and unique ideas here, and the plot moves very quickly. I do wish this was a full length novel, so the story had a bit more time to breathe, and the romance could develop slightly more naturally over time. As it is though, you can probably read this in one sitting, and get the whole thing downloaded into your brain near-instantaneously. Which, honestly, seems quite fitting.

Recommended!

Wylla is a trans woman trying to make it in a hyper capitalist sci-fi future, where deviation from the norms of gender identity and appearance is viewed as transgressive. She's made her body truly hers, and hacked every online marker and registry to reflect that, and she'll be damned if she backs down. MARK I HAWK, previously grafted to the face of a corpse, is a woman of questionable identity, struggling to remember her past or just how she got into the circuitry of a mask to begin with.

Let's start with the good. Wylla is freaking awesome; HAWK is pretty dang cool too. The world set up by Haddon is interesting and deeply uncomfortable and dystopian and has a lot of promise with regards to depth and nuance. The hyper capitalism is HYPER capitalism, with everything being named after capitalist/corporate structures, and I think that's a neat spin on this variant of the genre.

But unfortunately that leads me to the bad, of which there's a few for me. The first is that the world building wasn't enough! There's so many cool and interesting concepts that I feel just deserved more than what was given. We're given enough to understand that the power structure is similar to that of a corporation, especially with the words used and applied to positions of power, but we don't have the context to know exactly why they're bad and what they've done. For example, the Subsidiaries have arrived, and they're super important, but nothing is fleshed out enough beyond the foundations to tell us exactly WHY or what kind of power they really hold.

Secondly, the writing style is strange and feels like it's trying to be more than it is or should be. It's from the perspective of the woman in the mask, and so at times it feels disjointed, and rightly so for the narrative, but in other ways makes more sense than it should for someone or some thing frequently divested of perspective and tactile information. In that same way, though, it could also be that the writing style itself just doesn't jive well with me, mainly because it feels like someone going through an almost wistful recollection of events tinged with reverence for Wylla rather than a continuous narrative happening in the now.

Absolutely none of that is to say that the writing is bad, not at all. I enjoyed the story despite my above gripes, and I'm interested to see what else Haddon does outside of his comfort zone! My final thoughts however are that I really feel like Volatile Memory needed more pages and more information to ease the reader into the setting, because there's so much there and it's genuinely so COOL and 176 pages just isn't enough!

Thank you NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group for the free eARC in exchange for my honest review!

This was a story about the masks we choose.

This was a fascinating reading experience and I'm struggling to review it. I don't enjoy a 2nd person POV narrative, and typically dnf right away if that's the style, but I was so interested in what was happening that I couldn't put it down and read it in one sitting. It's compelling, and definitely inspired me to think about what exactly makes us who we are: is it our memories? If not- what is it? I'll absolutely check out future entries into the same universe.

Thanks so much @tordotcompub and @netgalley for the eArc!

fun short novella about having a body and being a lesbian and also not having a body and being a lesbian. And being two lesbians in one body. While in space. Also transgender and anticapitalist about it

Lovers of female rage will enjoy Volatile Memory! Vengeful, action-packed, interesting, heavy. I really enjoyed the author’s choice of narrative device.

The analysis of what it means to be human through an AI character will always be interesting to me, i resonated a lot with the dysphoria present it felt raw to me, the identity theme was excellent and as for the world building it reminded me of time war which will always be amazing, it was unique

Volatile Mind definitely makes you think. It took me a minute to get into it but once I did, I was locked in. The story makes you think about humanity and what it means to be a human. The story follows a trans woman who is a scavenger. The world building was interesting and I felt like I wanted more, but of course , with it vainglorious a novella, there’s only so much. I think the author did a good job with the world building by showing and telling.

I feel as if I would get a lot more out of this by analyzing it with others. This would be a great read for a book club.


Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC

‘Volatile Memory’ feels like the love child between ‘This is How You Lose the Time War’ and Murderbot.

If you take all the poetry and romance and longing of Time War and mix that with the atmosphere and plot of Murderbot you have this book somewhere between that.

And actually, I think that’s all you need to know about this story. It’s romantic and fast paced and has your heart racing and swooning at the same time. Loved it!

what I thought I was getting when I requested this arc: a cool sci-fi novella with a sleek concept, a gorgeous cover, and queer protagonists.

what I actually got (in under 200 pages, mind you): a blistering, lyrical exploration of feminine rage, queer identity, and the weight—and liberation—of saying no to a world that demands we define ourselves for its comfort. and a sapphic romance powerful enough to rattle constellations.

volatile memory is the kind of book that sneaks up on you. beneath its novella-length shell lies a densely packed, emotionally devastating narrative. the prose is almost poetic in rhythm, and it’s written entirely in second person, which initially threw me for a loop, but once wylla and sable come face to face, the choice becomes very clear, and very smart. both of them are fully-realized, ferociously human characters navigating a world that deems their humanity—especially their autonomy—unacceptable. i could’ve easily devoured 500 pages of just them talking, scheming, being soft and furious in turn, but part of what makes this book work is how it embraces its brevity. no sentence is ever forgettable.

overall this is a beautiful, bold, unapologetically queer story. even if you're not a sci-fi reader, i still think this one could surprise you. it's that good. also, that gideon comp? yess. not because the tone is similar (it’s actually not), but the vibes are all there.

thank you to netgalley and tor publishing for the arc!

Volatile Memory by Seth Haddon is a powerful and poignant sci-fi novella that completely drew me in. Set in a gritty, tech-saturated world where people use masks to enhance their abilities, this story was both refreshingly unique and deeply thought-provoking.

At its core, this is a story about identity—about learning to know and accept yourself in a society built on rigid class systems, conformity, and corruption. It explores themes of transphobia and queerness with such care and depth, and the queer romance at the heart of it all was beautifully done.

I’m always here for stories with feminine rage and vengeance, and Volatile Memory delivers that in spades. It’s the kind of book that lingers in your mind long after the final page. I’ll be thinking about this one for a while.

Highly recommend picking this one up when it releases in July! Huge thanks to NetGalley and Tor Publishing for the gifted ARC.

Thank you to Netgalley for the eARC!

Volatile Memory is a a vividly imaginative sci-fi adventure that tackles identity and what it truly means to be human all while seeking out revenge and trying to avoid being hunted- gotta love characters that can multi task. I was immediately enthralled by Wylla and especially Sable (I am in love with our murderous rage filled disembodied queen) and the complex dynamic between them. It was so refreshingly unique and I am a little obsessed with the aesthetic of these animal styled masks that grant the wearer skills based on the creature it embodies. Honestly the entire story was just so gripping and entertaining. There was never a slow moment and it makes me wish that this novella had been a full novel so that we could spend even more time in this world and with these characters because I just so thoroughly enjoyed the brief time I had with them.

Thank you once more to Tor for this eArc! Volatile Memory is a debut novella with an incredible premise and worldbuilding that delivers on it. In a sci-fi, spaceship-ridden world of scavengers with animal-like masks, Wylla is a trans woman surviving in a transphobic world. But when she ends up finding an unprecedented sentient mask, her life is turned upside down.

This is a super tense, yet hearfelt weird novella -- which I think you all know is my favorite genre! For fans of odd speculative fiction, with a cool narrative framework and mind-stretching world building, this is perfect. And if you like slightly toxic but mostly sweet, they're-in-a-weird-situation, alla Locked Tomb, Baru Cormorant, sapphic couples... Man, are you in for a treat!

My only issue was again: the ending. I just thought it was a tad too rushed, but I do think I'm quite picky on beginnings and endings, especially in novellas. But the narration, worldbuilding and premise here are so good, that it more than makes up for it. Overall, a fantastic debut at Tor, and I can't wait to see what Haddon does next!

Seth Haddon is a fantastic fantasy writer, and I'm so happy he's making his debut into science fiction. He does an incredible job of making well rounded, queer characters in interesting settings that hook you from the beginning. I really couldn't put this down!

I'm so happy to have been given the chance to read Volatile Memory early. This novella has been on my radar for a while now, and it was exactly as cool as I'd hoped it would be. Short, punchy, cyberpunk, unapologetically queer, and deeply emotional, Wylla's and Sable's strange story reminded me of an animated film from the 80s, brimming with saturation, overflowing with anger and violence, and tied together with a on-the-nose message. Furious, although a little predictable. Beautifully written, despite a few weak character points. Overall, an easy five-star read for a weird as heck story with a very cool world, cooler main characters, and a bit of a cheeky, abrupt ending. The message here could've been refined and dialed back, but I understand the need for layin' it on thick.

Dark but hopeful, VOLATILE MEMORY is an amazing story of revenge and the ghosts that haunt us long after they're gone.

Seth Haddon’s sci-fi debut Volatile Memory (out July 22, 2025) is one of the best novellas I’ve read in a while. The book follows Wylla, a trans woman, as she tries to live her life as a scavenger. She, like other scavengers, goes after bounties and searches for important items to sell in order to earn credits. In this world, each person has at least one mask made by VisorForge that they wear that gives them some sort of ability associated with the animal the mask is based on. Wylla’s go-to mask is a Rabbit: good for finding hidden threats and for always being on the lookout. Other masks include Ox (for superior strength), Chameleon (for camouflage), and Rattlesnake (for poisonous attacks). When our story begins, Wylla has just received a summons, along with other scavengers, to some backwater planet for an unheard-of mask. It’s a fight to get to it, but what she finds on the body of a dead woman is a mask she calls Hawk. Wylla has never seen or heard of a mask like this before, and trying to keep it might just undo everything she has ever done to become the person she knows she is on the inside.

This novella is compared to This is How You Lose the Time War in its description, but I think a more accurate comparison would be A Memory Called Empire. Inside the Hawk mask is the consciousness—or the mimic of one—of a woman named Sable who died with the mask on her face and who sent out the communication that Wylla picked up. From the moment Wylla puts it on, she finds herself talking to Sable, and Sable makes a home inside Wylla’s head. Sable is to Wylla what Yskandr is to Mahit. Much like Yskandr and Mahit, Sable and Wylla try to piece together just what happened to Sable to kill her because Sable cannot remember. I adore A Memory Called Empire, so I knew from the first chapter that I was going to adore this too. There is something about the genre of weird science fiction where someone is stuck with another person’s voice in their head that I just love, and this is another story that I can safely put into that pile.

The point of view works great. It’s almost a first person/second person hybrid, kind of like Harrow the Ninth, where we’re getting Sable’s perspective of everything Wylla is going through. Sable alternates between using the “we,” “I,” and “you” pronouns to describe the events of the story, and the shifts in perspective work really well. I wasn’t sure how the romance was going to work, but Haddon does a spectacular job setting up who Sable is now and who Wylla has worked so hard to become; it’s basically meant to be. The world here is huge, but Haddon’s might be one of the only novellas I’ve read recently that benefits from the short length. This story could have been so much longer and so much bigger, but focusing on Sable and Wylla’s relationship and who they are as people more than anything made it feel like 133 pages was just right. I couldn’t put the book down. It’s everything I wanted it to be and more, and it’s so fast-paced that I finished it almost before I was ready. There is a big focus on revenge in this piece, and I was rooting for Sable and Wylla every step of the way as they worked so hard to achieve it. I really don’t have any critiques on it! This was a story made for me, and I adored every second of it. I hope Haddon writes more science fiction in the future.

Trigger warnings for: lots of death, underage marriage, assault, talk of fertility, gruesome murders, suicide, and some dysphoria.

3.5/5
This is my first book by Seth Hadden, and I liked the writing enough that I’d probably read another, but I have a lot of conflicting feelings about this one in particular
It’s well written, to be clear, though in a different style than I expected and it’s just not my favorite.
I liked Wylla, and really enjoyed the commentary on identity and corporation that runs throughout. Sable I liked as well, though I feel like we got less of a personality from her. I also don’t think I truly saw a romance, and not for the lack of instant connection they technically had. It just didn’t feel romantic to me.
The story was interesting, and it was very fast paced. That combined with the length made it an extremely quick read.
I’m not sure I believe there was time for both romance and plot in here, not for the space that either one deserved, and I think this might have been better as something more full length in the end. But it’s interesting and I’ll definitely read something else by this author

This was just stunning. If you like me love Murderbot and the Locked Tomb Series I think this will be right up your alley. Specifically if you loved Harrow the Ninth’s second person POV then I think you’ll like this. The exploration of what it means to be human through this sentient AI character was so interesting. I loved the connection between Hawk and Wylla. Their messy burn the world down attitude just felt raw and resonant. This book just gives you a lot of ideas to chew on; it’s a great addition to Tor’s collection of queer sci-fi stories.

CW: Murder, suicide, transphobia, and torture

Thanks to the publisher for providing me with a free e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

4.5 rounded up

I'm *living* for the weird and queer sci-fi novellas lately. I've followed Haddon for awhile but hadn't actually picked up any of his books until now. I'm glad I started with Volatile Memory!

This was a fascinating queer space adventure, filled with sapphic longing and rage and questions of identity and self. The world-building was quite unique - I really enjoyed the animalistic masks that Haddon created for this story. If you're a fan of "This is How You Lose the Time War" and Meg Smitherman's novellas, you'll enjoy this one!

Thank you to Tor and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Absolutely amazing. I'm still sifting through my emotions and layers of this book but it was everything I needed. A more detailed review to come!