Life Without Memory

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

I don't remember who I am. I forgot. I don't feel pain. I don't have feelings. This is what I must do to live. It is my way. That is until I killed a guard with my mind to save my cellmate, Nathan.

Alone in the cell she exists; day after day she lives on without thinking about a future. One day, she is given a new cellmate, Nathan, who challenges her with the idea that she has a past and a future. As he challenges her beliefs, she starts to realize she knows more than she remembers. She knows how to block off unwanted thoughts, feelings, and sensations. She knows the many little hands she sees can do her bidding and reach anywhere she can imagine. She knows how to use those hands to heal herself. And she knows that everyone who leaves their cells dies.

When the guards come to take Nathan to his death, she decides she doesn't want to live this life without memory anymore.

This story is posted on Wattpad, Inkitt, Moonquill, and Royal Road. There is an original old version from 2008 and a start to the rewrite from 2015 (this is the 2015 rewrite) available on FictionPress. If you are not reading on one of these location, you are reading a pirated version and you can read it for free on Royal Road.

Information

Status: Hiatus
Year: 2021
Author: Anehalia

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.8/ 5.0
Followers: 22
Views: 14,395

Chapters(38 total)

Reviews

No reviews yet. Be the first to share your thoughts!

Community Reviews(4)

Addicted_Reader720Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Good use of the "Psychological" tag. Unlike a lot of other stories that use the "lost memories" plot device this story fuses both the traumatic & fantastic elements of that genre to create something that, at least for me, is very new.
The pacing of the first few chapters is also well done, you get both character development & the passage of time with just the smallest hints of worldbuilding building up the second & third books.
No glaring flaws or really overused tropes of webfiction, would rec for someone looking for a new type of thing to read.
BullerRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Ah, damn. I was supposed to edit this into a actual review. Ah, dang, now I can't remember specifics.
... okay, from my notes, I apparently liked the general style, the sentence structure being a particular favourite of mine. There was some weird comment about on of the characters which I think was positive, so I guess that's good as well. Grammar is apparently decent.
That should work. Good stuff. Enjoyed it. 5/5
RD RenworthRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Overall (8/10)
This is a strong start, setting up a dystopian mystery with all the right hooks. You've got this eerie, claustrophobic cell that feels like its own character, and Hope's foggy memory just amps up the suspense. Her confusion is relatable, and the slow build-up has that "something big is coming" vibe. There's definitely enough here to keep readers hanging on for the next piece of the puzzle.
What I Like
The way you reveal the world through her limited perspective is clever, pulling readers right into her foggy reality. Her interactions with Nathan add a perfect layer of tension, with his desperation to remember and her stubborn drive to forget.
What I Didn’t Like
Some moments felt a tad repetitive, like Hope’s inner monologue getting a little stuck on the same thoughts. Tightening those up would keep the pace moving. But honestly I'm guilty of doing this all the time too
Style
Your style sets the mood—Hope’s voice has that detached, hazy quality that matches her whole memory issue. Sometimes, though, it shifts between dreamlike and literal. I don't know if this is intentional or not? THis might be revealed as I read on
Story
You've got a solid story unfolding here. The mystery around Hope’s memory, the whole Xatron horror show, and the hints of a big, bad world outside—all great stuff. Every chapter gives us something to chew on.
Grammar
The writing’s super clean, but here and there, some sentences could be trimmed to make it snappier... again something I'm also very guilty of doing so it's a bit hypocritical of me to be calling out but there ya go :D
Character
Hope is a fascinating character, the psycological tag is certainly used appropriately here—a mix of tough and weirdly innocent (childlike even?), and her struggle with her memory adds great depth. Her dynamic with Nathan is a strong point; he’s clinging to every scrap of memory, while she’s trying to toss hers out. Watching her gradually rely on him more is oddly touching, and it feels like you’r
SR FauthRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This was a sweet read, and by sweet I mean a marginalized woman imprisoned for a long, long time is brought out into he world in the most odd and unforeseen ways. Aristocrats wont know what to make of her.
Style Score 5/5: The world is dark, gritty, and split into a class system that borders on the savage. Step across class lines? Get a bullet to the face from, public execution for the amusement of, or torture for the pleasure of the Aristocrat class. The wording, verbiage, and feel for the style of writing brings the story to life.
Story 5/5: A brutal world divided in ways not even those who live in it can understand. The story centered about a single woman who breaks those divides and forces others to take notice, whether they want to or not. Take heed world. She has a name and a memory that are not her own, but that are now who she is.
Grammar 4.5/5: Very, very small grammar mistakes and punctuation here and there that were out of place. Overall it is very well polished. Close to final draft status for sure.
Character 5/5: The character development is as brutal as it is direct. The thing happens, the character reacts, the ripples spread in ways that you simply cannot foresee causing reactions and further development that rapidly spire out of control in the most fantastic of ways.
Overall 5/5: This story is dark, gritty, and a tale of survivorship and brutality in a world that sees weakness as an executable offense. Throw in a divided class system that makes London's industrial revolution look like a kindergarten playground in comparison and you have a world burgeoning with possibilities. Not all of them good.