The Memory Theater

November 30, 2020
Tidbeck straddles fantasy, coming-of-age drama, and horror with an exciting, sometimes wrenching tale of friendship and time travel. The parallel world of the Gardens was conceived by its founders to be “perfect, innocent, unravaged by the passage of time, like the Arcadia of myth,” says a librarian who helped with the project. Except, of course, it’s not that innocent. Members of a ruling class called the Masters live only for pleasure; those who serve them have their real names withheld and are constantly tortured with body art carved into them with teeth and nails; and when teenagers grow up they are killed. Dora and Thistle are best friends who manage to escape the Gardens and embark on a journey through the outside world. As Dora and Thistle look for their names and a way back home, they travel through a variety of worlds in which the meaning of humanity changes often and the duo learn to trade favors on their way to freedom. Expansive and wildly imaginative, the narrative mixes fantasy elements with enough violence to satisfy horror fiction lovers (“Thank you for your service. Your death will be slow,” says a Master before stabbing a boy with a knife). This fast-paced fantasy will please fans of quest stories who don’t mind a bit of darkness.

January 1, 2021
Two children who are growing up set out on a journey to find escape, home, and revenge. When Augusta stole Thistle's name, she trapped him in the Gardens, forcing him to work as a servant until he grows up, though even that will bring no freedom: Unwanted servants become fodder for the hunt. The servants' masters, however, never grow old, because the Gardens exist out of time, allowing the lords and ladies to endlessly relive their revels. Thistle's other task is protecting his friend Dora, daughter of the earth, who is neither a servant nor a master. Then, when Thistle's mistress, Augusta Prima--first seen in Tidbeck's short story of the same name in Weird Tales (2011)--asks him to explain time, things in the Gardens begin to change. The appearance of a mysterious trader and traveler of the multiverse allows Thistle and Dora to escape, but Thistle is still without his name, and so they must search for Augusta, who holds the key to his past. Along the way, they encounter the Memory Theater, whose plays tell the story of all the worlds, as well as other creatures of myth and folklore. Augusta, meanwhile, has done some exploring of her own, leaving destruction in her wake. Tidbeck pieces together multiple worlds against a background of Swedish folktales and history. The fairy-tale quality of the prose adds to the folkloric themes of the novel but creates distance from the characters, who never develop true depth. Nevertheless, the strange and unique cast and the twists of the plot between weird and recognizable landscapes make for a satisfying read. A dark fairy tale that snakes through the multiverse while maintaining the familiar tropes of legend.

COPYRIGHT(2021) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Starred review from December 1, 2020
Tidbeck's latest builds off of stories from her 2012 collection Jagannath, specifically those relating to ""the Gardens,"" an otherworldly plane where ageless, fairy-like lords and ladies experience the same eternal day of revelry and perform ""beautiful"" cruelties on the abducted children who serve them. Among those under the thumb of these decadent aristocrats are Thistle, a boy close to puberty and therefore his ritual hunting and dismemberment by the masters, and his closest friend Dora, the disowned homunculus child of the lord Walpurgis. Thistle and Dora manage to escape, but this only begins their journey as they try to find the exiled lady Augusta, who holds Thistle's name and his memories. Their search across dimensions will lead them to encounter a troupe of shapeshifting actors, the crossroads at the center of the multiverse, and Sweden in the midst of WWII. Tidbeck easily expands themes from her shorter fiction into a cohesive, effective whole, creating a world where love, cruelty, and wonder all exist side by side. Highly recommended for fans of Tanith Lee, Michael Moorcock, or Mervyn Peake as well as any fantasy reader who prefers their writing sharp and glittering and their fairy worlds full of menace and thorns.

COPYRIGHT(2020) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.