"Memory's Wake" is the first book in Selina Fenech's trilogy by the same name.
A young girl stares defiantly out at the reader. Her pale skin is only further accented by the dark fringe of her pixie cut and the smudges of too much eyeliner. She wears a punk inspired top featuring a broken heart over crossbones, layered on top of a pink and black striped long sleeve shirt. In the background a dragon rears menacingly.
With no history, no past, no memories, and no name, Memory struggles to adapt to a world she literally knows nothing about. Hunted and in pain from the first moment she awakes, Memory is forced to put her life in the hands of pale beautiful stranger with magic at her fingertips. But as Memory and her strange new friend race across the even stranger land they encounter danger and fear at every turn and learn that nothing is ever as it seems, even Memory herself.
What I liked:
- It's hard to create a successful tale around a character with no memories and no visible backstory, but Selina Fenech manages do it not only well but beautifully. There are times that we understand and know more than Memory does but it only serves to make Memory's struggle more poignant.
- Oh ...my...god...the illustrations! So beautiful. So amazing. I wish I had as much talent for art as this woman must have in her pinky finger. I was blown away from the first beautiful illustration and looked forward to each installment with a sense of ravenous giddiness. I wanted more, always more.
- The relations between the characters develop so naturally, nothing seems forced.
- The pacing is perfect throughout the book. It never drags or jumps ahead of itself. Everything flows in just the way it naturally should.
- Our characters are beautiful flawed creations prone to both the best and the worst emotions that the gamut of human experience has to offer. It makes them real, and bonds you to them.
- Even though it's a trilogy Selina Fenech managed to create a satisfactory ending that still left you wanting to see more of the characters in the future without creating that irksome left hanging sudden stop. I can't wait to find out who the true orchestrator of the whole ordeal really is.
- Memory works so hard to get her own memories back only to have her goal ripped away brutally in the end. And really you hate to see her yearn for something that you as the reader know she is really better off without.
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| 5 out of 5 crowns |
Recommended for young adult and adult fantasy readers. Younger children and those who have spent time in a children's home may find some of Memory's backstory a little disturbing. Also recommended for fantasy art lovers due to the delicious beautiful illustrations throughout.
Synopsis:"Lost in a world full of monstrous fairies, a troubled sixteen year old has
to find out who she is and why her memories were stolen before she is found by
those who want her dead.
She takes the name "Memory" and knows she has just one goal - to find her way home, wherever that is. But this land is strange. No technology to be seen, and iron is banned, thanks to a pact the humans have with the magical creatures who share their pre-industrial era world. In her t-shirt and torn jeans, Memory knows she's different, even before she performs impossible magic.
Haunted by her past, chased by a dragon, wanted by the king and stalked by
the strange, handsome savage that seems to know her, everyone is after Memory,
and she suspects it's not just for her eye-catching outfit. Her forgotten past
holds dangerous secrets that will challenge everything she believes and risk the
lives of everyone she loves."
She takes the name "Memory" and knows she has just one goal - to find her way home, wherever that is. But this land is strange. No technology to be seen, and iron is banned, thanks to a pact the humans have with the magical creatures who share their pre-industrial era world. In her t-shirt and torn jeans, Memory knows she's different, even before she performs impossible magic.
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