FOREST OF MEMORY by Mary Robinette Kowal

FOREST OF MEMORY (edition 2016)

by Mary Robinette Kowal (Author)

Series: METAtropolis (3.6)

Members	Reviews	Popularity	Average rating	Mentions
218	17	125,271	(3.58)	9
Katya deals in Authenticities and Captures, trading on nostalgia for a past long gone. Her clients are rich and they demand items and experiences with only the finest verifiable provenance. Other people's lives have value, after all. But when her A.I. suddenly stops whispering in her ear she finds herself cut off from the grid and loses communication with the rest of the world. The man who stepped out of the trees while hunting deer cut her off from the cloud, took her A.I. and made her his unwilling guest. There are no Authenticities or Captures to prove Katya's story of what happened in the forest. You'll just have to believe her.… (more)

▾Book information

Member:	Dhorsalina
Title:	FOREST OF MEMORY
Authors:	Mary Robinette Kowal (Author)
Info:	Tor.com (2016), Edition: Revised, 90 pages
Collections:	Finished, Your library
Rating:
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Work Information

Forest of Memory by Mary Robinette Kowal

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SFF standalone novellas with female protagonists (62)

2017 Hugo Eligible Novellas (14)

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▾Member reviews

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Showing 1-5 of 17 (next | show all)

Paints a compelling futuristic setting with just enough detail to make it feel plausible. I love how the main character is competent in all areas of her life that she finds important, so when she gets dragged into a situation completely out of her depth with an adversary who has every advantage against her I really feel her shock and fear. (

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AdioRadley | Jan 21, 2024 |

The thing that astonishes me about Kowal (and Okorafor, for that matter), is that they are both extraordinarily good at establishing a detailed, imaginative, wildly different from our world and time scene. They do it quickly, too. A couple of pages in and near-future or far, you have the bones of the setting, the beginnings of cultural values established, and a character that is compelling in their tale telling. This novella is consistent in that tradition, and an interesting read. (

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jennybeast | Apr 14, 2022 |

I thought the world set up in this story was pretty interesting, but the story was not tight enough for me at all. I'd be interested to read this as an expanded story that took its time and was more clear on the message the author was trying to convey. The focus on some details (main character's job dealing in Authenticities, the prevalence of technology and social media in this 20-minutes-in-the-future world) was really enjoyable, but those were definitely more thought out than the actual story itself. (

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torygy | Mar 31, 2022 |

This little novella was lovely. The first-person narrator, complete with misspellings and typos was really interesting to read. I am intrigued by the larger world that we only glimpse in this story, and would gladly read more.

The ending was ambiguous -- deliciously so. (

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wisemetis | Dec 7, 2020 |

A tense, compelling little thriller. I wonder, though, if the typos are intentional and meant to help establish the character in the narrative. (

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DrFuriosa | Dec 4, 2020 |

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Author name	Role	Type of author	Work?	Status
Kowal, Mary Robinette	—	primary author	all editions	confirmed
Johnson, Allyson	Narrator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Ngai, Victo	Cover artist	secondary author	some editions	confirmed

▾Series and work relationships

Belongs to Series

METAtropolis (3.6)

Is contained in

The Long List Anthology Volume 3: More Stories From the Hugo Award Nomination List by David Steffen

▾Awards and Honors

Awards

Chesley Award (Nominee – Cover Illustration: Paperback or Ebook – 2017)

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Canonical title

Original title

Alternative titles

Original publication date

2016-03

People/Characters

Katya Gould

Johnny [Forest of Memory]

Important places

Important events

Related movies

Epigraph

Dedication

For Jay Lake and Ken Scholes
Who asked me to tell them a story

First words

My name is Katya Gould.

Quotations

If you haven't spent the night in the woods, just know that little birdsa re damn noisy. I mean...holy shit. They are so loud. And deeply, hatefully, cheerful.

Despite that, the birds woke me again at dawn. I lay in the tent, glaring at the roof. If I could have killed them with my mind, I would have. Alas, the cheerful little bastards lived on.

Last words

(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)

Disambiguation notice

Publisher's editors

Blurbers

Original language

English

Canonical DDC/MDS

Canonical LCC

▾References

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English

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▾Book descriptions

Katya deals in Authenticities and Captures, trading on nostalgia for a past long gone. Her clients are rich and they demand items and experiences with only the finest verifiable provenance. Other people's lives have value, after all. But when her A.I. suddenly stops whispering in her ear she finds herself cut off from the grid and loses communication with the rest of the world. The man who stepped out of the trees while hunting deer cut her off from the cloud, took her A.I. and made her his unwilling guest. There are no Authenticities or Captures to prove Katya's story of what happened in the forest. You'll just have to believe her.

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