Recovering Forgotten Memories
4.5 stars
I have never heard of this author before this book but the moment I saw that Marie Lu loved it, on top of the wonderfully intriguing plot summary and cover, I had to read it. And after reading this story I can confidently say that if she continues to write books she will be an auto-read author. It's hard for me to believe that she's only written one story before because the writing in this book and the plot is so unbelievably entertaining that it's hard to believe she hasn't had multiple international bestsellers. And I can tell that this book is going to be one that every lover of young adult, dystopian, and science fiction will have to read.
I really liked how even though this is a dystopian world the problems in it relate to what we see in today's world. The world that this story is set in is full of pollution and environmental problems. In order to escape the pollution, the government has built ecocities in the sky to try to escape the effects it has on the body. Then there is a nice science fiction element because the people can spend their days in an alternate reality through technology and they do this to try to eliminate driving and other things that would cause more pollution in the world
This story is told from two sisters' POVs who are trying to find one another. I really liked Cee's chapters as it has a nice element of survival and adventure. She's abandoned on an island with a robot and trying to survive as well as make her way back to a sister she hardly remembers. Throughout the book, we're slowly learning more as she gets her memories back. We also get chapters from her sister which helps us to have a different outlook on the world and to understand how it functions better. We follow her as she does a little bit of detective work to figure out what led her sister to the point of disappearing and now everyone thinks she's dead. She also works with someone who knew her sister to figure out the truth and to come up with a solution for the world's problems.
At times I felt like the actions of the characters was a little forced especially in some of the romantic relationships that happen. The romance doesn't make up the book but there is a little bit and for me, I wasn't into their relationship at all because it was very unnatural. But the other relationships in the book especially the ones between sisters were very engaging and had me caring for them and what happened to them.
I also love that this book had a nice mystery element to it. So this book took two of my favorite genres, dystopian/science fiction, and thriller/mystery, and put them into one. I didn't think this book would be a mystery but it definitely had that psychological thriller element. I did not see the twists and turns coming and when it happened I was shocked. But once learning the truth I could understand things that I couldn't make sense of before. And after knowing the truth there were little details that I remember reading before and thinking that's kind of off, but now understanding the truth it all clicked. The author did wonderful adding little hints and details that if you look close enough you would figure out something, but I don't think you would be able to understand the whole truth until it is revealed to you.
The ending also had me needing more. I know this is a standalone novel but it definitely ended in a way that could become another book. You can kind of guess what happens but I love this story so much that I hope that the author will decide to make another book. There is so much that could still be said. Overall a wonderful new story where what's inside is just as stunning as the cover.
I have never heard of this author before this book but the moment I saw that Marie Lu loved it, on top of the wonderfully intriguing plot summary and cover, I had to read it. And after reading this story I can confidently say that if she continues to write books she will be an auto-read author. It's hard for me to believe that she's only written one story before because the writing in this book and the plot is so unbelievably entertaining that it's hard to believe she hasn't had multiple international bestsellers. And I can tell that this book is going to be one that every lover of young adult, dystopian, and science fiction will have to read.
I really liked how even though this is a dystopian world the problems in it relate to what we see in today's world. The world that this story is set in is full of pollution and environmental problems. In order to escape the pollution, the government has built ecocities in the sky to try to escape the effects it has on the body. Then there is a nice science fiction element because the people can spend their days in an alternate reality through technology and they do this to try to eliminate driving and other things that would cause more pollution in the world
This story is told from two sisters' POVs who are trying to find one another. I really liked Cee's chapters as it has a nice element of survival and adventure. She's abandoned on an island with a robot and trying to survive as well as make her way back to a sister she hardly remembers. Throughout the book, we're slowly learning more as she gets her memories back. We also get chapters from her sister which helps us to have a different outlook on the world and to understand how it functions better. We follow her as she does a little bit of detective work to figure out what led her sister to the point of disappearing and now everyone thinks she's dead. She also works with someone who knew her sister to figure out the truth and to come up with a solution for the world's problems.
At times I felt like the actions of the characters was a little forced especially in some of the romantic relationships that happen. The romance doesn't make up the book but there is a little bit and for me, I wasn't into their relationship at all because it was very unnatural. But the other relationships in the book especially the ones between sisters were very engaging and had me caring for them and what happened to them.
I also love that this book had a nice mystery element to it. So this book took two of my favorite genres, dystopian/science fiction, and thriller/mystery, and put them into one. I didn't think this book would be a mystery but it definitely had that psychological thriller element. I did not see the twists and turns coming and when it happened I was shocked. But once learning the truth I could understand things that I couldn't make sense of before. And after knowing the truth there were little details that I remember reading before and thinking that's kind of off, but now understanding the truth it all clicked. The author did wonderful adding little hints and details that if you look close enough you would figure out something, but I don't think you would be able to understand the whole truth until it is revealed to you.
The ending also had me needing more. I know this is a standalone novel but it definitely ended in a way that could become another book. You can kind of guess what happens but I love this story so much that I hope that the author will decide to make another book. There is so much that could still be said. Overall a wonderful new story where what's inside is just as stunning as the cover.