Review: Unremembered

Unremembered
Unremembered, Book 1

Author: Jessica Brody
Pages: 320
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
Publication Date: March 5, 2013
Source: Publisher for review

Description from Goodreads:
The only thing worse than forgetting her past... is remembering it.

When Freedom Airlines flight 121 went down over the Pacific Ocean, no one ever expected to find survivors. Which is why the sixteen-year-old girl discovered floating among the wreckage—alive—is making headlines across the globe.

Even more strange is that her body is miraculously unharmed and she has no memories of boarding the plane. She has no memories of her life before the crash. She has no memories period. No one knows how she survived. No one knows why she wasn’t on the passenger manifest. And no one can explain why her DNA and fingerprints can’t be found in a single database in the world.

Crippled by a world she doesn’t know, plagued by abilities she doesn’t understand, and haunted by a looming threat she can’t remember, Seraphina struggles to piece together her forgotten past and discover who she really is. But with every clue only comes more questions. And she’s running out of time to answer them.

Her only hope is a strangely alluring boy who claims to know her from before the crash. Who claims they were in love. But can she really trust him? And will he be able to protect her from the people who have been making her forget?

From popular young adult author, Jessica Brody comes a mesmerizing and suspenseful new series, set in a world where science knows no boundaries, memories are manipulated, and true love can never be forgotten.

First Sentence: "The water is cold and ruthless, lapping against my cheek."

Review:
Unremembered is the kind of book that is really difficult to review. For one thing, Brody relies heavily on twists, which means that the less you know going into it, the more fun it's going to be for you. I would actually recommend not reading the blurb first. I didn't know anything when I started except that she survived a plane crash, and that was about ideal. The other thing that makes this tricky is that, while Unremembered is a fun read, I don't have all that much praise to give it, so it's going to come across more negative than perhaps intended.

What makes Unremembered a fun read and one that I don't regret taking the time to sift through is that it's full of action and mystery. Brody keeps the story moving along at a quick pace, and you can't help wanting to find out what her explanation for everything is. Brody successfully snagged my interest, and I sped through the book. Unremembered might be a good title for more reluctant readers, though I would recommend the somewhat similar Mila 2.0, which I'm reading right now to readers not threatened by the addition of 200 more pages.

On the downside, though, Brody's explanation, as it unfolds, really does not make any sense, and there are some definite plot holes. There are so many strange things where I just could not suspend disbelief. For example, when Violet, a name given to her for her purple eyes (*rolls eyes*), is pulled from the wreckage, doctors run tests on her and determine that she is definitely sixteen. This is a small thing and really doesn't matter much, but how? Kids develop at different rates, and it's not like humans have rings you can count to determine age like trees do. Maybe this is possible, but I really don't think it would be that easy to figure out if she's precisely 16. That might be their best guess, but how could they really know?

The only other oddness I can mention without spoiling anything for you is that the reader never actually finds out how Violet ends up in the plane crash. This is such a huge gaping error. You learn some things that are supposed to make that make sense, but it's actually not settled. This is a huge plot hole that I really can't ignore. Many of the other explanations have a lot of issues too, but I can't get into them now.

Then there's Violet, the main character, who has a perfect memory for language and a largely perfect vocabulary, but holes for a number of terms. Some things make sense for her not to know, but there are plenty of words she finds confusing that there is absolutely no reason for her not to be familiar with. Her personality is very similar to the main character in Rachel Cohn's Beta or to the dolls on Joss Whedon's show Dollhouse. For those who are familiar with those, you know that it's not a particularly engaging personality, involving a lot of head-tilting and wide-eyed innocence. I also found that her ability to react to situations with human emotions was incredibly inconsistent, because she shows a lot of anger and passion in the first couple of chapters, but then proceeds to act like a robot for all of the middle of the book.

If you're looking for a quick, fast-paced read and aren't the type of reader to get hung up on logic, then Unremembered is a good choice for you. For me, though, I suspect Unremembered will ultimately live up to its title.

Rating: 2.5/5

Favorite Quote: "'What can I say? I was curious. You put a giant concrete wall in front of a guy, he's gonna try to find out what's on the other side.'"