I had high hopes for this “dark, twisty modern fairytale,” but they unfortunately were not fulfilled. On paper this worked perfectly for me, but the execution was lacking. I honestly almost dnfed at the 25% mark but pushed through for the badge. Though I can’t tell I didn’t like it because of the audiobook narrator or because it was genuinely bad. In this case I think it’s a combination of both, but I’d defiantly recommend reading with your eyeballs for this one. What I liked The cover is gorges. Beyond that, the concept was really doing a lot of heavy lifting here. Three siblings disappeared and came back different from before, botanical horror and doors that led to nowhere, sign me up. The ending was the best written part, and I particularly liked the conclusion regarding Grey and the ambiguity of it. What I didn’t like I was not clicking with the writing style, and perhaps because of that the characters weren’t working for me. This is a book that is reliant on carrying about what happens to the characters, I quite frankly did not. So even though interesting things were happening, it was a slog to get through. Which wasn’t helped by the pacing, I felt like nothing happened in first half, and then suddenly things started happening very quickly. And well it didn’t go anywhere, there was a relationship that was absolutely horrid, for a number of reasons, including age gap, sibling stuff, and having just met. Would I recommend? In short, no. I don’t think it’s worth your time, and it’s also not particularly original. You can find better “dark, twisty modern fairytales,” elsewhere. However, my opinion seems to be the odd one out, so if you are going for the Botanical Horror badge or just want to, you might feel differently than I did. But defiantly try to get your hands on a physical or ebook copy if you do end up reading it. Overview Where House of Hollow could have been an amazing and atmospheric exploration of sisterhood and whimsical yet dark story of lost children, the poor quality and characters as well as some pacing issues really worked against it and left me feeling like I had wasted my time.

The Memory Police is set in a haunting dystopia where nothing can be taken for granted and anything can disappear at a moment’s notice. While the initial concept was intriguing, things started falling apart around the 75% mark, and I wished we got more of our main characters’ thoughts and feelings. Overall, an excellent premise with some stumbles but still great. What I liked From the very first page Ogawa pulls the story along, quickly establishing the world and the dangers of disappearances. Ogawa’s prose is elegant and somewhat detached, which lends the story a down-to-earth, somber feeling, perfectly suiting the story and making you want to keep reading. Unlike many dystopian, these disappearances aren’t really “enforced,” by an oppressive regime. The Memory Police exist, and they play an important role, but the people are the ones doing the forgetting. This shows a unique kind of horror- when a society no longer wants to remember, resist, or even just care about what’s going on around them. Yet this is an increasing danger in our modern world. In the context of the book’s publication, Ogawa wrote this after the 50th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki-as @birdboy said in their review 🔗here. They point out how the book reflects Japan forgetting about the horrible things which happened and they did during WWII. This context really made me appreciate the entire story so much more. What I didn’t like At probably around 75% something happens which I found completely unnecessary. It didn’t add anything to the story, and it didn’t feel fully explained or realized, seeming to betray what we had learned about the characters beforehand. This in itself was not a huge problem, but it highlighted a bigger one. We never really get a sense of the main character’s thoughts or emotions. There was such an excellent opportunity here to dive deeper into the thoughts of someone who lives where things are disappearing, and I never felt like that was fully realized. I understand that part of the point is that they’ve normalized these disappearances, but the mc tries to engage further, leaving me wanting more of her thought process. However, it’s never fully fleshed out. Overview The Memory Police has an amazing concept and for the most part a skilled execution, but by the end I found myself somewhat detached/uninterested as we never fully got into the head of our main character. This is a book which raises brilliant and often undiscussed points, but I never felt it reached its full potential. Would I recommended? As a slower-paced more literary look at public memory and the perils of forgetting/complacency yes. This is introspective, meant to be a reflection on the aforementioned concepts, not falling in the same camp as more mainstream dystopias. If you are here for the concept and discussion, you’ll love this, but the actual story beats and character moments are not necessarily 100%.