Forest of Memory

I enjoyed this well enough. It's not my favorite thing I've read from Tor.com, but it's certainly a solid novella with very interesting worldbuilding.

I knew I was going to like it beecause I adore Mary Robinette Kowal. I love the questions left lingering after the story is over and the mystery of the deer and the man in the forest. Fantastic!

I have loved Kowal's work in the past, especially her short story Midnight Hour, but this one didn't quite work for me. The things we learned about the future world were interesting, as well as how memory was discussed, but the story keeps plot-related things so open-ended and mysterious that in the end I wasn't left with much.

Very excellent story line ! It left itself open to more ,sure hope the author decides to elaborate on it! Will look forward to more of her work.

A short, thoughtful volume that balances amazing worldbuilding, characterization, and plotting. Ms. Kowal is an excellent writing instructor, and you could easily use this as a textbook. SPOILER: The use of typos is intentional, and may offend more sensitive readers.

A short story set in a science fiction setting of a future world where everything is attached to a network. The main character is a kidnapping victim who collects antiques and authentic things and resells them, she was taken for 3 days, or off the network for 3 days. She’s typing out her experience on an old typewriter for a client and trying to explain the disappearance of deer in the area. It was odd, I don’t know the end game but I enjoyed it.

The narrator lives in a future world in which people rely heavily on personal computers to do their remembering for them. In this future world copies of objects are easy to manufacture but there is a market for old goods made in the old fashioned way. She had bought a manual typewriter expecting to sell it to a wealthy person but encounters an enigmatic hunter who disables her memory device. She eventually escapes and tells her story on the typewriter she had purchased. Readers who are annoyed by typo's might complain about this book because it is supposedly an exact transcript of what she wrote on the typewriter, errors and all. The narrator is well portrayed and the ending is certainly surprising. But there is enough there. I never got to know the woman or the hunter very well. It is only a one hour read so it isn't very cost effective. It was somewhat interesting to view her world and the dilemma she faced but it was all a bit thin.

Interesting commentary on what makes memory real and how social media documentation as affected this. Not overly exciting but pretty well written and a good short read.

Liked the concept not sure about the story. Interesting mediation of the idea of if it wasn't recorded did it happen, and the nature of memory. But the actual what happened when the camera goes of was a bit unsatisfying. However the writing is good and solid, and the spelling mistakes and crossing out do help give the impression that it's someone trying to get their thoughts down.

A lovely short novella, but it ended a bit too abruptly for my tastes.

A quirky story in a very quickly set up world. A narrator who is unreliable, but not because she isn't truthful. Masterful short story writing going on here. I will be searching out the author's novels. These tor.com stories and novellas have turned me on to so many interesting writers!

Excellent story, loved the concept, will read more by this author :)

This is advertised as a novella. And it was cheap. ish. (1.99 UKP) But really it's'a short story. And it has no finish. I'll try again but next time I want a complete story. Avoid her short stories...