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The Thief of Memory is a 26-page short story by Sunyi Dean, first published on August 30th 2022, by Tor.
The story follows a young woman travelling across the desert trying to catch the thief who stole her memories.
EVALUATION
Genre
The Thief of Memory’s characters, genre, plot and theme were all good. The characters got a bit hard to follow due to the prose, but other than that, I enjoyed the story. It was a little dark which was nice, but also surrounded by so much mystery that I was happy to keep reading.
Characters
The characters were good. Simple, but with depth. The Main Character was well-rounded with a goal and past. The Memory Thief was ancient with twistedness.
Pacing
The pacing was good. There was never really a moment (pacing-wise) where I felt I was pushing myself through the story. The Thief of Memory had a good cadence, keeping a steady beat as it went on.
Prose
The Prose is where it got a bit funny.
Honestly, I wasn’t a fan of the writing style. Throughout the story, the writing changed from first, second and third-person narration. While sometimes it was easy to keep up with, most of the time, I found it challenging.
For most of the story, the only characters are the Memory Thief and the Memory Owner. However, at some points, the two become one and individual simultaneously. The narration is first and second-person during these parts, making it hard to distinguish who is who. It was ultimately confusing to work out whose feelings and thoughts were whose.
However, the confusion added to the effect in some way. Since the Main Character had lost their memories, the confusion with narration conveyed the utter confusion the character would be feeling.
Second-person narration is also quite tricky to work with. As much as you want to pull your reader into the story, placing them directly in it through second-person narration can actually push them away. Readers will naturally insert themselves into stories and characters they relate to. The narration, in this case, seemed to, at some points, be between two people while the reader was invisible and listening to the conversation.
While it was interesting, it was still tricky to read, and if second-person were a narration style to be played with, then I feel maybe sticking to it would have been better. Switching to the third-person made room for massive and direct comparison, allowing the second and first-person narration to be seen as odd rather than the norm.
Story Impact
I enjoyed reading the various narration, even if they were difficult to read. It was interesting to see second-person played with as it is the rarest out of the three. I don’t think I would try writing in the second person like this or want to read something like this again.
RECOMMENDATION
In the end, the story was really good. Full of adrenaline, obstacles and history. The length of the piece fitted nicely, and the story did well as a short story. Even though there was much more to the world, this story didn’t need more. Although, I feel the world itself could be used again in another story. I did enjoy this piece despite the writing style.
Information & Rating
Rating: 3/7
Book: The Memory Thief
Author(s): Sunyi Dean
Series Name: Standalone
Pages: 26
Genres: Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Short Stories,
Format: Kindle
ISBN/ASIN: B0BC5JR16H
Publication Date: 31st August 2022
Publisher: Tor.com
Reading Speeds
(Based on Kindle/How Long To Read)
Average Estimated Reading Speed: 36 minutes
Based on the average of 300WPM
My Estimated Reading Speed: 25 minutes
Based on my calculated speed of 211WPM
Calculated by How Long To Read’s test
Goodreads Blurb
The Hero must journey across the desert to capture The Thief Of Memory and retrieve her stolen memories. But what she finds in the end may destroy her.
