A Mirage in the Memory

I received this novella to judge for SFINCS. Opinion is my own, and does not represent that made by the team. The author also had it up for free on kindle, so I grabbed it for a verified review.

This prequel novella caught me off guard. It’s not only a post apocalyptic story, but also a scifi/futuristic story. The blend of which worked really well for me. It also read as withholding information on purpose, rather than just waiting for the full length novel like some other prequels do, which I appreciated, and it definitely kept me wanting.

Our gritty main character, Thibault, will do anything to free his wife. Sometimes that grittiness made it a little hard to believe the loving/longing relationship he still holds for his wife, but I had to keep reminding myself that it’s also post apocalypse, so people change and do whatever they have to to survive. When faced with an ultimatum, a final job, one that forces him to do something practically suicidal or never see his wife again, of course he must agree.

I thought the stakes were high and mostly were delivered on. I do wish some of that withheld information was explained a bit more by the end, but it was certainly intriguing and would read more.

I would be remiss to not mention the main factor that detracted from my enjoyment of the book though, which took it from a solid 5* down a notch. At the end of the book, there is a call to action to sign up for the author’s newsletter to receive a bonus epilogue. Personally and unfortunately, to me, the epilogue comes post story, but is typically integral to the lead up to the following book. To me that makes it necessary reading, not a “bonus” and that lack of accessibility hurt it overall. Like receiving 90% of the book you thought you bought. So personally a 4/5* for me.