“You could be as untouchable as a corporation, a Wylla who had always been Wylla; you could escape the heavy burden of your history, extricate some pure kernel of the person you were always meant to be.”
Volatile Memory is the first novella in the Volatile Memory Duology, a gritty cyberpunk adventure set in the far future, where corporations on terraformed planets and isolated space stations control humanity. Told in the second person, where you, the reader, are in the pilot’s seat, we’re introduced to Wylla Sotain, a scavenger who travels to Pholan’s World in search of a rogue signal, only to be confronted with a frozen wasteland crawling with criminals after the same reward. There, she encounters HAWK, a mask that may contain the consciousness of the dead woman it’s attached to. Drawn together by obsession and rage, Wylla and HAWK seek revenge and fall in love as they try to piece together who shot HAWK and why she’s trapped in a machine.
“A consciousness spinning through metal and circuits, a bodiless mind, spun to life in the HAWK’s temporary storage. I crystallized and realized: I was alive.”
The best word to describe this book is relentless, with familiar themes of rebels, cults, and hackers, reminiscent of Ghost in the Shell by Masamune Shirow. It tackles anonymity in a repressive society where many live behind masks for their survival and horrific themes of body snatching. While some of the dialogue surrounding consent felt forced, given the life-or-death stakes of the plot, the romance and murder-mystery aspect kept me engaged until the last sentence. Emily Gibbons Bouchard’s narration elevated the experience and was perfectly suited for the audiobook edition. I highly recommend this novella and can’t wait for the sequel!
5/5 Stars!
Recommended for Readers who Love:
— transhumanist sci-fi,
— cyberpunk set in space,
— and, a high-octane sapphic adventure fueled by feminine rage
Thank you, Tordotcom and Macmillan Audio, for sending me a digital and audiobook advance reader copy via NetGalley. You can find more of my reviews on social media at @crownebooks or ww.crownebooks.com.
