While this book may appeal to many YA readers, I was pretty disappointed. It started fast, and accelerated, but the dizzying action was not enough to hide too many twists and turns and what, at its heart (pun intended) is a teen romance novel. The basic plot is that a scientist has created two pairs of teenagers with the psychic ability to induce fear on a mass scale and who are trained as super soldiers. The big question in the book is why and for whom? However, with the possible exception of Miranda North, there was insufficient character development. I agree with one reviewer who suggested that maybe the author intentionally chose "to make them shallow to show the nature of the 'experiment.'" And, the ending was pretty lame, mostly staging for the next two books in the trilogy.
( )

False Memory is the first of a series by Dan Krokos. It’s a bit sci-fi, a bit mystery and reads a little like a younger Bourne Identity. Miranda wakes up in the middle of the city, the only thing she remembers is her name.

I enjoyed this story for the most part. It’s action-packed, there are a lot of really well executed twists and Miranda, Noah, Peter and Olive were all likable characters with interesting pasts. What I didn’t enjoy as much was the fact that everyone wanted to stop, in the middle of the action, to talk about their feelings. I found it distracting, and even though it felt like it was building up to something, it puttered out by the end of the story and overall, I didn’t think the tangled romantic subplot did anything to the overall story other than drag it out a bit.

If the story focused more on the conflict and less on the love quadrangle, I think it would have been a better read. The story itself is one of kids with special powers, being raised as weapons and that is engaging enough to keep a reader hooked without - what I felt was - unnecessary drama.

The ending gives the reader a little bit of insight on what to expect next, though I wouldn’t necessarily call it a cliff-hanger, it does make me want to find out what will happen in the upcoming books. However, I’m less inclined to read the other books because of the romantic subplot and (trying not to reveal the ending) the future drama that I think could have been easily avoided.

False Memory could have been a great story, it has a great plot, however, it falls victim to the bad romantic sub-plot trend that I’ve noticed in a lot of new novels and this spoiled the reading experience for me.

[review of arc from BEA]
( )

What a wild ride! From the very beginning you are thrust into Miranda's life without a clue as to what is going on. But even as parts of her memory returns and things get explained to her, more questions and twists arise.

False Memory is pact with action, suspense and mystery. Honestly, it has a little bit of everything. There is a not a slow moment in the book. Even the non-action scenes keep your mind reeling and the pages turning trying to figure out what is happening- what is the purpose behind Miranda's and her friends' upbringing.

There is a bit of love triangle, but surprisingly, I found it worked and enhanced more than hindered the plot. It wasn't your typical girl mooning over two (opposite) guys; instead, I found it added to the dynamics of Miranda's memory loss- her old self vs. her "new" self. As a added bonus, Miranda stays the strong heroine she needs to be and refuses to let a couple of boys and conflicting emotions engulf her every thought. The romance did not take over the story for which I am grateful, as the premise and execution of it makes for quite a thrill ride.

False Memory ends on a calm note, no cliffhanger, but with a premonition that things are not over for Miranda and her friends. And I, for one, am excited to see what happens next. ( )

Not feeling this one right now. I won't call it an official DNF, yet, but it's officially put down for now.

Miranda wakes up one day on a park bench with no memory of her getting there. She walks into a mall and releases a lot of energy that causes trouble. One of her friends named Peter helps her calm down and get back to safety, their home which is hidden in the woods so no one can find them. Peter and Miranda are instructed to find Noah and Olive who have gone off on a runaway to hide from their enemy. The four teenagers last name are the same as the compass rose directions. The teenagers must fight their clones that have been made by their enemy in different cities. The also need to find a guy named Rhys whom is to help them accomplish their mission.

I really enjoyed this book because of all of the action and suspense. I recommend it to those who like these teen books and like to read about how teen romance can be inflicted by just a little spark of intensive movement. I don't really know if there really is a possible way for anyone to lose their memory completely. I think it would be really cool if we had clones of ourselves. I think that someone could like this book as much as me. Its really cool the way the author describes the plot and people. It may sound like a psychotic book with mind reading and things like that but its more likely people losing their memory if they don't take this special medicine. ( )