The Last Witness by K.J. Parker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
What if someone had the ability to erase your unwanted memories? The collateral would be that that person would take on your memories as his own, absorbing them in such a way as to make them indistinguishable from his own past.
What kind of person would you have to be in order to agree to do such a thing? What kind of person would the agglomeration of these memories make you?
If you answered, “not a very nice person,” you would most likely be correct, says K.J. Parker.
The marketing of this novella makes it look like a traditional fantasy story, but it’s actually a much more ambitious, philosophical work – part thought experiment, part character study. I thought it was quite successful – if not necessarily very pleasant.
I think it would be enjoyed by people who liked Patrick Rothfuss’ ‘The Slow Regard of Silent Things,’ but I thought that this novella was actually more interesting.
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