The Memory of Lost Dreams is an ambitious tale about a
speculative world where we can enter and live in the dream. It explores the
good and bad and how it can be used for the wrong purpose. It also brings
readers to the world beyond imagination that exists far into the future.
The story is everywhere in the book's first half, and I had
to recheck some parts to ensure I didn't miss anything. However, it's easy
enough to pick up once readers understand the main idea of REQUIEM, the
contraption to dream and mind control. It helps to follow one main character,
although the story occasionally shifts to another area or perspective, but
never in confusing moments, which I appreciate.
Imho, the book can be compacted because there are many
mundane tasks and explanatory sentences that can be trimmed down. The dialogues
are also clunky at times. While I'm not against using adverbs at all, there are
too many of them everywhere. There are also some outdated references to what is
supposed to be the future world, like manila folder, keychain, etc. I would
imagine all these will cease to exist even in our current time soon enough.
Having said that, I applaud the original idea of the book
and the way it's presented. Although it seems complicated, as mentioned, once
readers understand the concept of the story, it becomes intriguing to see how
it works back and forth between timing, the real and dream, past and present.
It does get confusing at times, especially when characters have the same name,
appear in the past and present, or when new characters are introduced late in
the story, but one character driving the plot helps to keep it grounded. I also
appreciate the story doesn't stray from the intended purpose, and the ending is
satisfying to conclude everything.
4 out of 5 stars
