The Forgetting - Sharon Cameron

Publisher Summary:

"Nadia lives in the city of Canaan, where life is safe and structured, hemmed in by white stone walls and no memory of what came before. But every twelve years the city descends into the bloody chaos of the Forgetting, a day of no remorse, when each person's memories – of parents, children, love, life, and self – are lost. Unless they have been written. In Canaan, your book is your truth and your identity, and Nadia knows exactly who hasn't written the truth. Because Nadia is the only person in Canaan who has never forgotten. But when Nadia begins to use her memories to solve the mysteries of Canaan, she discovers truths about herself and Gray, the handsome glassblower, that will change her world forever. As the anarchy of the Forgetting approaches, Nadia and Gray must stop an unseen enemy that threatens both their city and their own existence – before the people can forget the truth. And before Gray can forget her."

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My Review:

Rating: 9/10

Let me just start off by saying The Forgetting was so good! Despite the page count being around 400, it did not feel that long at all. In fact, I was so invested that I read the whole book in one sitting. When I first read the summary of the book I thought it was a typical "chosen one" plot, and originally put it back down, expecting a cliché main character, especially when I saw the love interest. Despite this, I'm so glad I gave it a chance, because it was anything but cliché!

The set-up of the book itself is very novel. The book is set in a city called Canaan, where every twelve years, the whole city goes through a day of Forgetting, which causes everyone forgets the past twelve years. As you can tell, this provides for some very interesting pathways that people can take, and I think Cameron takes full advantage of this. I did think about different ways people could try and remember, but soon realized that the people of the society just followed the rules, as so many do, and accepted the Forgetting.

Nadia is our main character, and being someone who can remember despite the Forgetting, is already in danger. On top of this, she has started going outside of the wall that surrounds Canaan to find food for her broken family, which is illegal. As you can see, it seems quite predictable that Nadia will have to save the town from the Forgetting, which is what the book is about, but there is so much more to the plot than that. So many other people are involved in the history of Canaan and why the town even needs saving. The book is less about Nadia's story, but more about her discovery of the stories of those who came before and who will be affected.

One thing I specifically loved about the book was that Cameron explained why the Forgetting happened, and why Nadia was "special", so it wasn't an open ending. Not only that, but Nadia's "specialness" wasn't even the main reason as to why she was able to save the town, only the reason why the problem withing the town was brought to light. Adding on to that, I think Cameron did a great job creating an underlying, horrifying problem in the society of Canaan. I have found that some books lack a real reason to change their societies, but this book definitely did a good job of creating a problem.

Another thing I found interesting was that this book is actually a dystopian book, which I didn't expect at first. You would think that a periodic removal of memory would be due to some type of unexplainable magic, but there is a reason behind these events.

Another thing I loved about the series was that Nadia did not do everything by herself, and no, it wasn't only her love interest that helped her. While I didn't see much hope for Gray, Nadia's love interest, I felt like their romance didn't take up much of the book anyway. Back to the point though, Nadia wasn't portrayed as some all-powerful being, which I have seen done in other books. Nadia took help from Gray, from her sisters, from her friends, from things passed down by her ancestors, and from the huge amount of information she had available to her as an archivist (someone who worked in the archives where the whole city's old books were stored). This was what set apart The Forgetting for me, because Nadia wasn't an invincible main character with tons of plot armor.

The book was a little slow in the beginning, but I think that was necessary because Cameron had to go through the process of world-building (which, again, she was able to do in only ~400 pages). The ending was amazing, and I loved how everything played out, especially with the explanation for the creation of Canaan and the reasoning behind the antagonist's actions. The only points I can criticize are how Nadia was so easily able to get over the wall and how Nadia was saved when she needed saving, but after I accepted the former, and because the latter took up too small of a portion to be important, I was still able to enjoy the book. Nadia's sister's extreme personality difference also was a little awkward for me, but this was only at the very end of the book, so it didn't matter much to me either.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this book! This was a true page-turner for me, and I think the plot and Nadia's unassuming character was what did it for me! This one is a book that I would definitely, recommend.