Christelle Dabos – The Memory of Babel

Title: The Memory of Babel
Author: Christelle Dabos
Series: The Mirror Visitor (Book 3 of 4)
Year: 2017
Goodreads page: Link

DISCLAIMER! This is the review of the 3rd book of the series, so it could contain spoiler of the previous ones even in the synopsis. Read at your discretion.

SYNOPSIS
After two years and seven months biding her time on Anima, her home ark, it is finally time to act, to put what she has discovered in the Book of Faruk to good use. Under an assumed identity she travels to Babel, a cosmopolitan and thoroughly modern ark that is the jewel of the universe, and where automata have taken over the most humble jobs from humans. But under the surface of this pacific and orderly ark social unrest stirs, fed by the memories of a fateful purge long ago, and the inhabitants’ growing fear of being replaced altogether. Will Ophelia’s talent as a reader suffice to avoid her being lured into a deadly trap by her ever more fearful adversaries? Will she ever see Thorn, her betrothed, again?
(from Goodreads)

We have a few years’ time skip between the second and third book but then we are back with the adventure of our Ophelia, this time traveling to Babel, looking for hints about “God” and hoping to see Thorn again.

The mood will be totally different from the previous two books and it could totally seem a completely different story if it wasn’t for the few details they have in common.
Ophelia reverted to a more insecure version of her and seemed to have lost the character progress she made during the second book… and I found this quite a bummer.

The first half of the book didn’t get me much as it basically was only an introduction to Babel, plus a really hasty school story: it seemed like the author wanted to add a part dedicated to an academy, theme that I personally like and that I find quite popular in young adults book, but giving it too few space to make it a meaningful experience. It feels only as a rushed part put there to make Ophelia able to establish some important connections that will become more important later.
I think it would have been much better if more space was invested on this part or if those connections were built with an alternative series of events.

The second half seems to slowly be back to the rhythms and the themes of the first two books but still it seemed quite subdued if compared with the previous chapters of this saga.
There is also the addition of some romance parts that did seem forced into the story and didn’t leave me with a good impression.

I really liked how the theory, of the universe of “The Mirror Visitor” being like a future version of our after a catastrophe, gets reinforced by the references to our legends, folklore and beliefs (like there is a reinterpretation of the Eden).

The book was nice… but quite deluding after the first two. I didn’t get enough into it and the finale didn’t answer too much and actually raised even more questions.
Sure there is still a lot to talk about and I have a slight fear that, after reading some rushed parts here, only a single book to finish the saga won’t be enough. So I’m scared that things will be rushed or trumped up to be able to have the end in the fourth book.
I guess we will have to read it to discover if it is like this!

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