YA Book Review: The Forgetting Curve by Angie Smibert

Release Date: 15 May 2012

Publisher: Marshall Cavendish
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher via NetGalley

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Goodreads description:

Aiden Nomura likes to open doors—especially using his skills as a hacker—to see what’s hidden inside. He keeps pulling until one cracks open. Aiden exposes the flaw, and the universe—or someone else—will fix it. It’s like a game.

Until it isn’t.

When a TFC opens in Bern, Switzerland, where Aiden is attending boarding school, he knows things are changing. Shortly after, bombs go off within quiet, safe Bern. Then Aiden learns that his cousin Winter, back in the States, has had a mental breakdown. He returns to the US immediately. But back home in Hamilton, Winter’s mental state isn’t the only thing that’s different. The city is becoming even stricter, and an underground movement is growing. Aiden slowly cracks open doors in this new world. But behind those doors are things Aiden doesn’t want to see—things about his society, his city, even his own family. And this time Aiden may be the only one who can fix things... before someone else gets hurt.

My Thoughts...

The Forgetting Curve picks up right where Momento Nora left off, transporting us across the ocean to Winter's cousin, Aiden, living in Switzerland.  Winter sent him the "Memento" comic book that we were introduced to previously.  Aiden distributes the comic in Switzerland right before taking off for the US to spend the summer interning with the Nomura company.

Diving back into this world is a real trip.  The sights and sounds are all familiar enough that the reader realizes this is a very near-future type of dystopia--the kind of thing that could happen if we really let out big electronics companies climb in bed with our governments. The world-building is once again well-done as we explore slightly different parts of the world and see it through different eyes.

The POVs that we get in The Forgetting Curve are markedly different that those from Momento Nora, and I mean that it a good way! I especially enjoyed Aiden's narration because he had such different experiences and insights.  From the moment that he starts working for the Normura company, he begins to suspect that there's a lot going on that isn't out in the public eye and a lot that isn't "good" and people wouldn't want.  The idea of forgetting the bad stuff might be appealing but how would people feel if they realized they were on the path to having their thoughts controlled and manipulated?

If you haven't taken the time to read Momento Nora, then I highly recommend that you purchase these two books together.  They are quick, fascinating reads that pull you in to a highly manipulative technological future that, who knows, maybe we'll have to deal with someday. AND thankfully, there will be a third and final wrap-up to this thrilling series coming in Spring 2013!