“You are not alone. Whether you are suffering or feeling powerless, you stand with countless others throughout history who faced oppression and fought to hold onto the love and beauty in their lives.”This is a story of state control, intergenerational trauma, and the quiet horrors of memory manipulation. A chrysanthemum virus epidemic spreads. So do “mind banks”, technology that digitizes human memories and allows others to experience them. But this also means these memories can be censored, era...

5 stars!"When I was a boy, my mother used to tell me stories of a world before memories could be shared between strangers. Some of the Memory Epics from which she drew her stories must have been censored already by the Party. Any loyal patriot would have deleted these memories."...What a delightful surprise *Stolen Memories* by Yiming Ma was! It felt so reminiscent of Ken Liu’s short stories in the best way. It really makes you think about the ethical implications of technology while also weavin...

Extraordinary from start to finish, Stolen Memories is a speculative fiction masterpiece! Written with the free will of the reader in mind, it breaks conventional fiction rules in all the best ways! Yiming Ma has crafted a truly unforgettable story. If you're looking for a great book review, look no further!

I can't believe we're less than a month away from the release of *Stolen Memories*. For so long, it was my secret alone – this Cloud Atlas-esque novel of banned memories set in a world where memories are bought and sold, and a renamed China has taken over.I began writing this book in earnest in 2019, although the first Memory Epic (Swimmer of Yangtze) was published the year before, when it won the Guardian 4th Estate Short Story Prize.Thank you from the bottom of my heart to everyone who has rea...

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperAudio for this advanced listening copy of "Stolen Memories - A Constellation Novel" by Yiming Ma. I appreciate the opportunity to share my thoughts on this story. Right off the bat, this had strong 'cyberpunk' vibes with the collision of technology, corporations, and the government, but it quickly became much more 'realistic' than what that genre usually goes for. The adoption of technology as a tool of control (by company or government) is relatable because it's...

I first heard about Yiming Ma's debut novel, *Stolen Memories*, at an AWP 2025 panel called "Novels in Stories, Fragments, and Constellations." I was completely captivated when I heard Ma reading aloud from this constellation novel, so I was thrilled to get an early copy from NetGalley. The sprawling storylines revolve around the rise of the fascist Qin dictatorship and the system of "Memory Capitalism," where citizens can transfer memories via mindbank. In each story, Ma explores the interconne...

I was eager to dive into *Stolen Memories*, the debut novel by Chinese-Canadian author Yiming Ma, after hearing the premise: a futuristic world where China (renamed Qin) is the global superpower, and memories are transferable and commodified. If you, like me, enjoy dystopian worlds but are finding our own world a little too dystopian right now to necessarily feel up to reading this genre, I can reassure you: this book is as much about connection, relationships, and humanity as it is about the wo...

Cool cover, so-so content. I asked for a review copy of "Stolen Memories" by Yiming Ma when it was pitched to me because it sounded seriously badass. A future where China wins a war against America, and people have devices in their heads to store and share memories. A future where the government hires Censors to review your memories for forbidden stuff, and if you're caught with banned memories, you could be sent for re-education or worse—your memories and your family's wiped completely. Sounds ...

Is "Stolen Memories" going to be one of my favorite books of the year? Probably. I'm really going to have to sit with this one and maybe reread it a couple times to fully wrap my head around everything, but I will enjoy every second of it. This book consists of several short stories, which can be read in almost any order. In a future where memories are shared just as easily as we share reels and TikToks today, our narrator inherits several memories from his mother, only to discover that they ar...

One of the best dystopian/sci-fi novels I've read in ages."When I was a boy, my mother used to tell me stories of a world before memories could be shared between strangers..."In this book, we're plunged into a tech-driven future where memories aren’t just personal—they’re currency. The Qin Empire rules with an iron grip, using Mindbanks, devices implanted into citizens’ brains, to record and even sell experiences. Enter Memory Capitalism, a system where the rich can live someone else’s life and ...