eARC Review – Last Memoria

Title: Last Memoria (Memoria Duology #1)

Author: Rachel Emma Shaw

Publisher: Self Published

Publication date: May 10th, 2020

253 pages

5/5 stars

Goodreads Synopsis

A heartbreaking dark fantasy thriller about flawed people making flawed decisions. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind meets Joe Abercrombie.

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.

Review

**Thank you to the author for providing me an early copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review**

Last Memoria reminds me of The Memory Thief by Lauren Mansy where people have the ability to steal memories. However, in this world it is called being a memoria and it is something that is considered monstrous and is shunned. Sarilla, the MC, is a memoria who is used by the King to manipulate and punish those who work against him. Sarilla doesn’t want to be used this way, but she doesn’t have a choice. When she gets her chance to escape she does, but not without consequences.

I found Last Memoria to be captivating, well-written, and at times heartbreaking. The characters were easily likable and there was a good amount of development from beginning to end. For a fairly short book, a lot happens without the writing feeling forced or the plot moving along too quickly.

The ending includes some twists, but one is so big and I did not see it coming at all! I was also excited to learn that it will be a duology. The ending doesn’t involve much of a cliffhanger, but there is clear possibility for the story to continue which I am looking forward to and will definitely read when it comes out.

I highly recommend this self-published book, especially if you read and enjoyed The Memory Thief.

Happy reading, folks!