Memory by Linda Nagata

Jubilee is a rambunctious child in a dangerous world, but her childhood is cut short when her brother, Jolly, is taken by the silver. The silver is by nature unpredictable. Sometimes it creates, sometimes it destroys, but it is always deadly to the players it touches. That's why she's so disturbed when, just before being taken, her brother tells her that he called the silver. Years later, a stranger appears out of the silver looking for Jolly. But no one can survive in the silver, and Jolly was taken years before. Troubled by the questions this man raises, Jubilee sets out to discover the truth of her brother's disappearance.

I've recently returned to library reading, now that my office is so conveniently close to the Vancouver Public Library, and Memory was the first book I've selected in several years where I haven't already read the author. It's a bit of a thrill diving into a work by an unknown author, and in Linda Nagata's novel, my risk paid off. Memory is a well-crafted science fiction. The characters are engaging and memorable, and her smooth writing made it difficult to put this book down.

I always try to think of things that worked for me and things that didn't, but I really had trouble coming up with things that didn't work in this book. The fact is that Nagata explores a number of themes with a clarity and art that I admire: identity, love, and fate. It's a subtle and gripping work from an author I plan to continue reading.

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Copy source: library
Genre: science fiction
Format: hardcopy

View my suggested books by Linda Nagata

Memory