Last Memoria by Rachel Emma Shaw [SPFBO]

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Sarilla has learnt one thing from stealing memories. Everybody lies.

There’s nothing Sarilla hates more than stealing memories, but the king forces her to take them to keep his subjects in line. She wants to escape to where nobody knows what she is or what she can do, but her plans go awry when she runs into Falon.

Falon has a six month void in his memories that he’s desperate to restore. He doesn’t know why they were taken or what they contained, nor why the man he loves is acting so cagily about what happened during that time. He hopes to use Sarilla to get back his stolen memories and doesn’t care what she wants or why she’s desperate to escape. She will help him get them back, whether she wants to or not.

Travis’ Review

This may be one of the most unique books I’ve read in years. The concept of memory magic is fascinating, and explored quite a bit in this story. Given that our two point-of-view characters both have a rather unconventional relationship with memories, there’s an element of unreliable narration that adds to the mystery of the plot.

Last Memoria is also the only book I’ve read that switches protagonists halfway through. We begin with Sarilla, a memoria capable of stealing memories fleeing the king who used her to keep his subjects in check. Eventually, we switch to Falon, who has a complicated backstory with Sarilla that’s muddled further by the gap in his memory.

The story gripped me almost immediately with its compelling world. Magic memory-stealing vines, memories that work their way like ink into the body of memoria, and a reluctant torturer on the run! Its hard not to fall in love with it all.

However, the memory magic was a bit of a double-edged sword. Of all the finalists, Last Memoria felt like it was the most in need of another round of copy editing. Some passages are confusing and words are occasionally just missing from sentences entirely. But the effect of that actually complemented the feeling of missing memories and not being able to trust your mind.

Overall, I greatly enjoyed this book. It may not be the most polished of the SPFBO finalists but it was a gripping read from start to finish and a story I’ll remember for years to come.

My final score is a 7/10.

Tam’s Review

Much like Travis, I really enjoyed Last Memoria. The book has a very compelling storyline as it follows the stories of Sarilla and Falon, a magic-user capable of stealing memories and a man who has had memories stolen. It made for a very interesting dynamic between the two of them, particularly given Sarilla and Falon have a history together that only Sarilla can remember.

The memory magic used throughout the book is unique and incredibly interesting to read about. Memoria have the ability to take memories from people they touch and store them in their skin, however, as they steal more memories it becomes harder and harder to tell what is real and what isn’t. This is particularly interesting when Sarilla runs across people who she has taken memories from or has memories of. She often finds herself running lost in old memories that aren’t her own. The downside of this, however, is that there were a few times where I was struggling to work out if what was happening was in the present or a memory.

The story on a whole was very compelling too and left me constantly wondering what was going to be thrown at the characters next. A large part of it involved Sarilla escaping an abuser and dealing with all the people she’d been forced to harm under his rule and the impacts her actions had on other people too.

Overall, Last Memoria was a fantastically unique book that I really enjoyed reading.

My final score is 7/10.

Taking both scores into account, The Fantasy Inn’s final SPFBO rating is a 7/10

(Buy the book: Amazon | Various Stores)