The Sudden Appearance of Hope by Claire North
Of the three Claire North sci-fi fantasy books I've read thus far, this one is the most melancholic and tragic.
The main character, Hope, has a condition that makes everyone she encounters to forget her after she departs from sight and sound. Kind of an inverse Memento where everyone is like Guy Pierce when they interact with her.
This includes her parents when she was a teenager. The scenes depicting this were both subtle and heartbreaking.
Hope becomes a thief because much of any legitimate career requires other people to remember her. To build trust. In the absence of trust, she's able to steal valuables with impunity.
Jewels in particular.
And following a theft royal jewelry at a posh party, this brings her into the crosshairs of the host organization, a company behind a dystopian app called Perfection that encourages people to become more "perfect". A company that will go to great lengths to silence those who don't agree with their shallow definition of the term.
Including a thief no one can remember.
Compelling stuff.
Arcadian Atlas
I do love me a good tactics video game.
And this one pushes many of my buttons.
It's a pretty standard JRPG style game where there's political intrigue that soon gets side tracked by magical forces that are unleashed by short-sighted warring factions. The main characters get caught up in the middle of it, and find that no side can be trusted.
I'll admit that the user interface could have used a few more layers of paint. The inability to rotate the screen to click on a character that's clumped up with a bunch of other characters is vexing.
However, the Final Fantasy Tactics vibe with the character designs, the strangely chill jazz music, and Poncho the racoon make it fun for me.
All media is improved by the inclusion of a racoon. It is immutable fact.
And I also enjoy this game despite its UI flaws.
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