Review: There is No Antimemetics Division
Dec. 27th, 2022 04:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
andrewduckerI don't remember who recommended "There is No Antimemetics Division", but it's my favourite novel of the last few years, and it made me very happy.
It's a spin-off from the SCP wiki - a collection of fictional anomalous objects. And, indeed, the introduction is the entry foritem 55, an item with the principal property that it cannot be remembered or recorded. Well, that might be its principal property, if it has other ones nobody remembers what they are.
The book deals with the Antimemetics Division, which is remembered by very few people outside of itself, due to the kinds of anomalies it deals with, and the effects they have on anyone around them. And the threats it has to deal with.
It starts as a collection of short stories. And then slowly a pattern emerges. Or, at least, it would if anyone could remember their history.
I thoroughly enjoyed the ride, and the use of memory to unveil the plot out of order, and to reveal things to both us and the characters in surprising ways. And the feeling of dread and despair it produced when dealing with the effects of the more inhuman anomalies was very well done.
I wasn't sure they were going to pull off the ending, and actually struggled to get back to sleep last night after Sophia woke me because I was worried that they were heading for an unsatisfying one. Thankfully, I needn't have worried, as it all came together well.
Overall, if you like the same kind of sci-fi tinged with inhuman horror that I do then I highly recommend this. I'll be looking for more works by the author.
It's a spin-off from the SCP wiki - a collection of fictional anomalous objects. And, indeed, the introduction is the entry foritem 55, an item with the principal property that it cannot be remembered or recorded. Well, that might be its principal property, if it has other ones nobody remembers what they are.
The book deals with the Antimemetics Division, which is remembered by very few people outside of itself, due to the kinds of anomalies it deals with, and the effects they have on anyone around them. And the threats it has to deal with.
It starts as a collection of short stories. And then slowly a pattern emerges. Or, at least, it would if anyone could remember their history.
I thoroughly enjoyed the ride, and the use of memory to unveil the plot out of order, and to reveal things to both us and the characters in surprising ways. And the feeling of dread and despair it produced when dealing with the effects of the more inhuman anomalies was very well done.
I wasn't sure they were going to pull off the ending, and actually struggled to get back to sleep last night after Sophia woke me because I was worried that they were heading for an unsatisfying one. Thankfully, I needn't have worried, as it all came together well.
Overall, if you like the same kind of sci-fi tinged with inhuman horror that I do then I highly recommend this. I'll be looking for more works by the author.
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Date: 2022-12-27 04:54 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2022-12-28 09:08 am (UTC)What were we talking about again?
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Date: 2022-12-28 12:34 pm (UTC)So long as you do not recognise the bodies in the water of course.