Architects of Memory

Architects of Memory is solid scifi with awesome character development, deep worldbuilding, and moral complexity. It's escapism that also makes you think.

Ash is an indenture with a big goal: gaining citizenship, and maybe proper medical treatment, before her terminal illness does her in. She already almost died in an attack by mysterious aliens that did kill her fiance. Now, she's working to salvage tech off of space debris caused by those same aliens, the Vai. When she has an odd reaction to some strange tech, she finds herself caught in a vicious tug-of-war between the corporations who run and ruin the worlds.

The dialogue is witty, the action intense. I found this to be an incredibly quick read. It was great to read about a character show more whose bisexuality is presented and accepted without question. All of the characters are great, though, portrayed with genuine human nuance. The aliens are unique, too. Really, everything about the book takes old tropes and gives them a deft turn. Normally I can predict a lot of upcoming action, but this novel surprised me all the way through. show less

Okay, I get why this has so many positive reviews. Whew. It's definitely above average.

We get a few other points of view, but Ash is our MC, and she's been poisoned by what she used to mine, the material that makes the spaceships go, and she's hiding the effects--this is in the opening scene. From there, it gets a LOT more complicated with bad and worse choices in a universe of corporations using indentured humans vs. an alien enemy no one understands. The tactile nature of the prose is great. The underlying hatred of corporations appealed to me. I adored what the author did with the aliens, that part is a solid five stars, omg.

Where it lacks for me is in one or two Earth-based similes the MC can't know, and in some of the more show more extremely over-the-top descriptions later on. I mean, what's happening called for it, but it wasn't as coherent as I prefer, so that was distracting for me, at critical points. I'm not sure I'll read the rest of the series, but it could happen. Where this one ends, is... Oof. But oddly satisfying. show less

For the last year or so I've been taking this novel out of assorted local public libraries and taking it back, even though it was well-regarded as a first novel. This mostly related to how the whole issue of "evil corporations in space" (spoken in a portentous tone) has become something of a cliche to me. However, with the second book in the trilogy coming out, I figured it was time to get on with the matter in question. So, on one hand, I feel a little sheepish for not reading this book sooner, as I like the pacing, I like Osborne's concept for her aliens, and this just generally feels well executed enough that I look forward to reading the second book sooner, rather than later. There is actually rather little that I'd knock this book show more down for, though the way it finishes makes me wonder how much story there can really be going forward. The reviewers who are also critical of whether the backstory of some of the characters hangs together probably do have a point, though the plot is propulsive enough that I didn't let it bother me too much. show less

I wanted to like this book a lot. I had read Karen Osborne's Big Idea post on John Scalzi's blog in which she talked about how the idea came to her as the result of a medical issue that she experienced. She lives in the USA and her pre-existing condition meant that she would not be able to get health insurance unless she was part of an employer's health care coverage. So she imagined a world in which people who are not full citizens and have to pay for their health care would never be able to accumulate enough credits to become citizens if they had a serious injury or condition. As a Canadian I am often appalled at the judgment calls people in the USA have to make about their health care because they don't have and can't afford show more insurance. So I was all disposed to like this book, until I read it that is.

Ash is an indentured employee with Aurora Corporation working on a salvage team of five. She was rescued from a mining world after an attack by the aliens called Vai and Aurora thought she would make a good pilot and salvage expert. But Ash is ill and her symptoms are getting worse. The substance she was mining, celestium, has infiltrated her body and unless she can become a citizen and get the expensive treatment for her illness she will die. The ship the salvage crew is dismantling has a Vai weapon on board. When Ash opens it up she experiences a blackout and memory loss.Aurora Corporation wants to retrieve the weapon and figure out how it works. The problem is so do all the other corporations and soon there is corporate warfare. Ash is swept up in it because she not only has celestium in her blood but also Vai nanobots that allow her to turn the Vai weapons on. Some other members of the salvage crew have sold out to competing interests but the pilot, Kate Keller, is true to Aurora. That loyalty is tested though when she realizes what Aurora has planned for Ash because the two are lovers. Can the two of them find a way to stay safe and keep the Vai weapons from the corporations? That is a question not completely resolved at the end of the book which leaves the door open to a follow-up.

I had big problems with the way the author constructed her universe. There were holes which were not sufficiently explained and the characters were not very well introduced. Ash's involvement with the pilot seemed unbelievable given that (a) she had been engaged to a man when she was a miner and (b) that she was a lowly indenture while the pilot was a citizen. There was never any explanation as to what made Ash fancy a woman after being sexually involved and in love with a man. As well, the aliens appear to have a collective mind and to accept Ash as a new member but then when the two Vai captured by the corporations died it seemed like Ash was no longer linked to them. I did not understand that disconnect. So for these reasons and more I don't think I'll be reading any more in this series if the writer has more published. show less

Osborne, Karen. Architects of Memory. Memory War No. 1. Tor, 2020.
Let me confess that I am a sucker for stories about folks trying to make a living in outer space. Karen Osborne’s debut novel, Architects of Memory, checks that box for me. We have a crew on a small ship looking for salvageable stuff in the wreckage of an orbital battle in a distant star system. They are especially looking for unexploded alien weapons, for which they hope to receive large bonuses. Then the pirates arrive, and the plot thickens with spooky aliens and corporate skullduggery. I have seen it all done before by James S. A. Corey, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, C. J. Cherryh, Nathan Lowell, and Orson Scott Card. I would prefer more details of space salvage and fewer show more spooky alien tropes and Simon Legree villains. Osborne is careful to check all the PC diversity boxes. I like the unlikely idea that the indentured pilot and the citizen captain feel free to carry on a romance. There is enough to build on here that I will no doubt pick up the sequel when it is published. show less

Architects of Memory
(The Memory War #1)
by Karen Osborne
I had the audio version from Chirp and it was awesome!!

When I get a science fiction book it better be good or I can't get far into it. This book was hard, fast, stunning in the descriptions, excellent in the world building, characters were rich with life, true corporate greed, and even though they were searching for alien artifacts, it felt real!
Ash is an indentured servant, every one starts that way unless you are born to a citizen. You have to work hard to buy your way into citizenship. Ash works aboard a ship that does dangerous missions to seek out crash sites to find things, hopefully alien artifacts from the war with the aliens the Via.
They do find an artifact and everyone show more wants it and tries to take it. Ash has many secrets that gets exposed along the way. One she didn't even know herself! It's full of action, emotion, twists, hope, disappointment, and it is so awesome! The suspense, fights, world, missions are incredibly! I really loved this book! I want to read the next book as soon as the price comes down! Lol! show less

At times confusing, but very well written and imagined. I loved how alien the aliens were and how wrong the humans were about what was going on, simply because they didn't understand anything.

Characters, the main ones at any rate, were well drawn. Plot was twisty and surprising.

Looking forward to book 2