Title: Unforgotten Series: Unremembered #2
Author: Jessica Brody
Published: February 25, 2014
Genre(s): Science Fiction
Page Count: 416
Rating:
Summary from Goodreads:After a daring escape from the scientists at Diotech who created her, Seraphina believes she is finally safe from the horrors of her past. But new threats await Sera and her boyfriend, Zen, at every turn as Zen falls prey to a mysterious illness and Sera’s extraordinary abilities make it more and more difficult to stay hidden. Meanwhile, Diotech has developed a dangerous new weapon designed to apprehend her. A weapon that even Sera will be powerless to stop. Her only hope of saving Zen’s life and defeating the company that made her is a secret buried deep within her mind. A secret that Diotech will kill to protect. And it won’t stay forgotten for long.
Packed with mystery, suspense, and romance, this riveting second installment of Jessica Brody’s Unremembered trilogy delivers more heart-pounding action as loyalties are tested, love becomes a weapon, and no one’s memories are safe.
There is something indefinably readable about Jessica Brody’s writing, something that enables me to look past so-so storylines and characterization and enjoy what I read. Unforgotten is certainly not the best book I’ve ever read, but it was entertaining, easy to read, and completely absorbing. I enjoyed the entire reading experience, regardless of some dubious qualities.
The book starts off in the year 1609, where Sera and Zen have decided to hide themselves from the evil clutches of Diotech. Unfortunately, their idyllic Renaissance jaunt can’t last too long; Zen gets mysteriously ill and Sera gets accused of witchcraft. So it’s back to the future, where Sera and a new friend go on a treasure hunt, guided by clues imprinted in her brain.
Unforgotten gets full marks for interesting happenings. Brody’s vision of the future and the capabilities of technology is certainly inventive. I’m not sure if it’s possible, but that doesn’t matter so much. The book is fast-paced enough that the reader never has time to question things, and the technology is internally consistent as well.
There is, dun dun dun, a love triangle that emerges in Unforgotten. Le sigh. I mean, on the one hand, Sera’s pseudo-instalove from Unremembered was fairly offputting. Now there’s another case, which has instigated an instalove-triangle? Blech. On the other hand, Brody does seem to keep the romance aspects fairly low-key for the most part. They’re always present, but rarely the sole focus. I appreciate that, though I could really do without the love triangle at all.
The plot moved really, really fast for me. I liked that because sometimes it’s nice to breeze through a book. However, some of the action maybe could have used some more fleshing out. A lot of the revelations about Sera’s situation seemed to be chucked at the reader one after the other. The information was interesting, but the delivery was a little violent.
Unforgotten was a quick-moving, absorbing sci-fi sequel. Jessica Brody has a lot of talent in telling a story, and that obvious skill makes up for a lot. Sera’s adventures are neither unique nor spellbinding, but they’re told in a way that grasps my attention as if they were. And that gains respect.
