Persistence of Memory by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes
Persistence of Memory, the tenth novel by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes, takes us away from the fantasy world of The Kiesha’ra Series, and back to the modern vampire world created in her first four books. Our main character, Erin, is a teenage girl who g 
rew up believing that she was schizophrenic. She is prone to “episodes” where she seems to be taken over by another personality, a violent woman name Shevaun. At the beginning of the book, the heavily medicated Erin has not had an episode in a while. Her therapist is hopeful that she will be able to re-enter the public school system and function as a normal teenager. The only problem? Erin isn’t schizophrenic. Shevaun is not an alternate personality, but a deadly vampire, centuries old, who shares a psychic link with young Erin. Until this link is severed, Erin will never be able to live the normal life she desperately wants.
I was very excited about reading Persistence of Memory. I found the concept behind it fascinating. I can only imagine the struggle of someone who had grown up thinking that she was crazy only to discover that everything she thought was a hallucination was real. Also, as someone who has read all of Amelia’s books, one of the things I found frustrating about her older vampire books was I often felt as if she was drawing a little too much from LJ Smith’s Night World Series. Fortunately, Persistence of Memory seems completely original to me. It was great to get a story that was purely Amelia, with no outside influences.
Unfortunately, the execution these great ideas are rather uneven. At times, the writing is absolutely fine. The scene where Erin first wakes up inside Shevaun’s body is particularly riveting. Other time, the writer falls into the mistake of “showing, not telling,” which is not something I’d expect from an experienced writer with ten years in the field. As a result, the characters, besides Erin herself, often come off as feeling underdeveloped. I felt as if I was struggling to make emotional connections with them, but was constantly coming up against a glass wall. Side characters, like Marissa, are never truly fleshed out. I found I couldn’t even care about a twist that involved her character, even though it was important to the plot. Most frustrating was the character of Shevaun. Despite scenes of painting, and tidbits about her past, I put down this book feeling as if knew very little about here, and she’s one of the most important character of the book!
The book did have its satisfying moments. I liked the character of Sassy, and there was a cameo from a character from In the Forests of the Night that was unexpected and very welcome! Still, I could not help but feel as if there should have been more to this book. I was excited about the idea of reading a young adult vampire novel that was less about the romance, and more about a character’s personal journey. Instead, I got story that should have been interesting, and characters that should have resonated with me, but in the end, just fell flat.
Rating: two and a half out of five stars.
Similar Books: Demon in my view by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes (also has a human character with a unique connection to the vampire world- I prefer this book)
Other books I've read by this author: In the Forests of the Night, Demon in my View, Shattered Mirror, Midnight Predator, Hawksong, Snakecharm, Falcondance, Wolfcry, Wyvernhail
xposted to bookish and temporaryworlds
rew up believing that she was schizophrenic. She is prone to “episodes” where she seems to be taken over by another personality, a violent woman name Shevaun. At the beginning of the book, the heavily medicated Erin has not had an episode in a while. Her therapist is hopeful that she will be able to re-enter the public school system and function as a normal teenager. The only problem? Erin isn’t schizophrenic. Shevaun is not an alternate personality, but a deadly vampire, centuries old, who shares a psychic link with young Erin. Until this link is severed, Erin will never be able to live the normal life she desperately wants.
I was very excited about reading Persistence of Memory. I found the concept behind it fascinating. I can only imagine the struggle of someone who had grown up thinking that she was crazy only to discover that everything she thought was a hallucination was real. Also, as someone who has read all of Amelia’s books, one of the things I found frustrating about her older vampire books was I often felt as if she was drawing a little too much from LJ Smith’s Night World Series. Fortunately, Persistence of Memory seems completely original to me. It was great to get a story that was purely Amelia, with no outside influences.
Unfortunately, the execution these great ideas are rather uneven. At times, the writing is absolutely fine. The scene where Erin first wakes up inside Shevaun’s body is particularly riveting. Other time, the writer falls into the mistake of “showing, not telling,” which is not something I’d expect from an experienced writer with ten years in the field. As a result, the characters, besides Erin herself, often come off as feeling underdeveloped. I felt as if I was struggling to make emotional connections with them, but was constantly coming up against a glass wall. Side characters, like Marissa, are never truly fleshed out. I found I couldn’t even care about a twist that involved her character, even though it was important to the plot. Most frustrating was the character of Shevaun. Despite scenes of painting, and tidbits about her past, I put down this book feeling as if knew very little about here, and she’s one of the most important character of the book!
The book did have its satisfying moments. I liked the character of Sassy, and there was a cameo from a character from In the Forests of the Night that was unexpected and very welcome! Still, I could not help but feel as if there should have been more to this book. I was excited about the idea of reading a young adult vampire novel that was less about the romance, and more about a character’s personal journey. Instead, I got story that should have been interesting, and characters that should have resonated with me, but in the end, just fell flat.
Rating: two and a half out of five stars.
Similar Books: Demon in my view by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes (also has a human character with a unique connection to the vampire world- I prefer this book)
Other books I've read by this author: In the Forests of the Night, Demon in my View, Shattered Mirror, Midnight Predator, Hawksong, Snakecharm, Falcondance, Wolfcry, Wyvernhail
xposted to bookish and temporaryworlds