Like many readers, I enjoy taking notes on my thoughts during stories and highlighting quotes, so I am sharing 10 thoughts I had while reading The Thief of Memory by Sunyi Dean. I’ve also done a review for The Thief of Memory here.
**Ye Be Warned**
Spoilers Ahead.
~1~
“you do not see why your people should struggle just because the seasons are fickle.”
Sunyi Dean, The Thief of Memory
Second person is strange, but I seem to be reading it easily so far.
Second person is a hard one to write in. It either intentionally or unintentionally involves the reader and can be offputting. I don’t enjoy reading second person all that much.
~2~
“Enter the heart of the mountain, following legend, following bones.”
Sunyi Dean, The Thief of Memory
Odd. It pulled me out. It’s more like a command than telling a story like it has.
The story did start to involve the reader too much for me, but I don’t think that was its intention.
~3~
“Transparent fists bear a hollow staff carved from air, and its haft sparkles like ice. The mountain spirit. Me. “Who comes walking in my mountain caves?” I say again, for I do not yet know you”
Sunyi Dean, The Thief of Memory
Now it’s confusing.
At 33% of the way through the story, I’m now completely lost and slowly giving up.
~4~
“I drift across the stones, closer, noting that you flinch but do not retreat; still you remain kneeling, filling the waterskins with urgent precision.”
Sunyi Dean, The Thief of Memory
It is interesting narration, but the first person/second person mix makes the reading bumpy rather than smooth.
It should have been one or the other, but not both.
~5~
““I am not a monster!” she hissed. “I am a hero!” Pride inflamed her with hot strength; she had to fight. “Are you? Are you sure?” The Thief stared”
Sunyi Dean, The Thief of Memory
Are the roles reversed somehow?
I’m completely lost at this point, and I don’t know what is happening. You know, when you try to figure out what is happening next in the story and try to predict the ending? Here I was, just trying to figure out what HAD happened in the story.
~6~
““You bargained for rain in the time of drought with a colourless spirit of evil. The spirit has given a season of rain so great the village has drowned and your people have scattered! And you, Miquon, with your wretched staff and twisted knife—you are the Thief of Memory!””
Sunyi Dean, The Thief of Memory
I like the twist, but how can she be the thief of memory?
I don’t even know…I remember being so confused and needing to reread this a lot.
~7~
““Miquon the Tall,” I say, my empty form swirling, “my bargain is this: I wish you to believe three lies.””
Sunyi Dean, The Thief of Memory
Who is talking right now? How can “I” not be Miquon? It sounds like the spirit, but what?
I don’t even know. It was a rough read.
~8~
““How can I believe a lie?” you protest,”
Sunyi Dean, The Thief of Memory
This is why second-person is rough. It’s involved the reader far too much.
I know it sounds dumb, but when you’re reading, you don’t expect to be told that you “protest” to something.
~9~
““It is simple,” I say. “First, I ask you to believe that you are a hero. Second, I ask you to believe that your enemy is the Thief of Memory.” I gather my shapeless, colourless self and force it into the form of a lean—though still colourless—young man. “And third … I ask you to believe that you are not the Thief of Memory.””
Sunyi Dean, The Thief of Memory
SO IS THE FIRST PERSON MIQUON, THE SPIRIT OR BOTH? Define them as two entities. One has done something to the other or pick a single point of view; just anything.
The story could have been so good, but it was so confusing.
~10~
“you think you know everything, eighteen and brave, eighteen and still a child.”
Sunyi Dean, The Thief of Memory
I’m twenty-six-years-old and can admit I know the square root of fuck all. Eighteen, yeah, I may have thought I knew a lot, but as of reading this, I know I’m dense.
Okay, so, I was a bit fed up after a mere twenty-six pages.
10 Thoughts I Had While Reading THE THIEF OF MEMORY
Review for The Thief of Memory here.
