Samia

This book had me feeling unhinged—in the best way. The hook is brutally clever: malevolent “antimemes,” predators you can’t remember, ideas that eat memory, identity, and reality itself. That’s the frontline Marie Quinn walks every day as director of the Antimemetics Division: a war you can’t record, can’t recall, and might already be losing. The novel leans hard into that paradox. Scenes slide out of reach, notes go blank, and the act of thinking about the threat is exactly what lets it touch you. I kept catching myself flipping back pages like, “Did I miss something…or did something miss me?”

Told mostly through Marie’s perspective, it’s a tight blend of sci-fi horror and paranoid puzzle box. She’s a fascinating lead—brilliant, stubborn, and quietly haunted—tasked with building protocols for an enemy you can’t even prove exists. The book makes thought itself feel dangerous: every memo is a weapon, every redaction a shield. The tension doesn’t come from jump scares; it comes from watching competent people try to out-maneuver an absence that keeps deleting the rules as they go. I loved how the narrative form mirrors the threat: chapters that click into place a beat late, reveals that feel like remembering a dream, and a handful of “wait—how long have we known this?” moments that are chef’s-kiss disorienting.

Beyond the mind games, it’s surprisingly humane. It asks what identity means if your memories can be edited, what leadership costs when you’re the last line of defense against something no one else can perceive, and how far you go to protect a world that won’t remember you did. It’s exciting, confusing, and addicting in the best way—my brain felt rewired mid-chapter. The ending landed a little sad for me, but it’s honest for a universe where forgetting is the ultimate camouflage and victory doesn’t always look like recognition.

If you crave smart, high-concept sci-fi horror that makes your neurons spark—and you like the terrifying question “How do you fight what you can never remember?”—this absolutely delivers. I would devour a part two yesterday.

Alright so there are some interesting elements in this book, like the magic and school system, the types of powers, the detail in spells. I also like the main MMC and I'm curious about this family drama and how he is connected to the main FMC. However, the writing is a bit juvenile and I think there should have been more of a dive into the banter between the two main MCs, sone more details on powers, some follow through on the investigation of the attacks and overall a refinement in the writing because it was splotchy and felt like random at times. Especially the spicy scenes could have been done better they felt too odd when these two characters barely talked. Maybe multiple POV would be helpful? I would be down to read the second book to figure out the mystery but honestly would not rush to read this series. I feel like it needs another edit and re-read/refinement. It just made me wish I was reading a better version of the same thing.

This was an amazing wild ride of a book and I LOVED every second of it!! The unique magical system, the underlying dystopia, the mysterious world that we don’t know much about yet. Alfom has my heart and I am desperate to read all the novellas and get deeply immersed in this book. This is a perfect mind bending book for scifi and dark fantasy lovers alike. It’s not for everyone but I think being a hardcore scifi girlie I really loved it so much. I’m so curious to see what these Other beings are in the world that we just started learning about.

This was a deeply dark and moving novel about pain, desperation, and the formation AND continuation of generational trauma and how we can deal with it. While it feels almost unreal that two sisters would kill their uncle, it doesn’t shock me at all. The emotions and dynamics of this immigrated Indian family is something I deeply resonated with. How we hide things and how we never say what we should really say. It made me feel incredibly sad and empathetic towards these girls who we only know through the lens of one sister and that lens is bleak. However this is quite a brilliant book that showcases what it’s like to try to assimilate into “American”/western culture and how it feels to be torn between these two culture when you’ve been raised in America but have parents and family that have essentially lived a totally different life than you. I was really moved by this and can’t wait to see more from this author.

So I listened to the audio immersion version of this by Soundbooth and holy crap it was AWESOME! It was super entertaining having music and background noise, different voices, humor, I was very entertained. Obviously I started for Princess Donut (who wouldn't) but the story is pretty interesting. It feels like there's something underfoot that we still don't know cuz we are the humans reading (or in this case listening) through Carls POV. So as he learns stuff, we learn stuff. We're left on a cliffhanger and ONLY have covered 2 dungeons that's crazy! I can't even imagine what will happen next. Very excited for the next Soundbooth immersion audio to come out so I can continue my journey that way because it totally spoiled me for this series.