Young history professor Dr. Maxine Factor does more than just teach about the past. She gets to relive it.
Three can keep a secret if two of them are dead.
-- Benjamin Franklin, 1735
After an accident, Maxine discovers that she is an imprint, one of the gifted few who can see the memories of their ancestors as clearly as their own. These unwanted memories begin to arrive more and more often, and Maxine feels herself being drawn involuntarily into the past, possibly at the cost of her own sanity.
The existence of the imprints quickly becomes known among humanity’s shadier elements. Before long, international intelligence organizations, various unethical religious groups, and evildoers of many kinds all realize the threat that the imprints pose to their own power. What if an imprint happens to remember something from the life of one of their ancestors that exposes a crime or contradicts the accepted course of human history? Exactly how much of what we know as “history” is actually based on lies? What would it mean for those lies to be revealed?
And just how far are humans with something to lose willing to go in order to ensure that the truth remains hidden forever?
The Last Imprint, written by Ace Collins, is a thriller novel with a science fiction twist that is set in the present day. It is the first book in its series.
From the very first chapter, the action in this book never stops. The antagonists have a great deal at stake, which makes for an intense, fast-paced read that is difficult to put down. The short chapters also help to keep the events moving quickly. The plot is intricate and the characters are numerous, which some readers might find difficult to follow; for me, it gave the story dimension and detail that I greatly enjoyed.
I also loved the amount of thought that the author put into the actual premise of the novel. Collins fully explores the implications of what it would mean to be an imprint and what effects having a head full of other people’s memories might create. As a result of this, the fantastical premise actually seems believable.
Unfortunately, the book is still in need of some finishing touches. In addition to many errors in grammar and spelling throughout the text, there were also inconsistencies, such as the names of some of the characters changing from paragraph to paragraph. These mistakes were distracting to me and made the book overall feel unfinished.
Several religious groups play roles in the plot, but I felt that they were all treated respectfully and without bias; a potential reader should not pass by this book on religious grounds. There is no profanity, which pleasantly surprised me. There is a reasonable amount of violence for the genre, so I would not recommend the book for children or young teens.
The Last Imprint earns a score of 4 out of 5 for its gripping action and wild adventure. It loses one star for its errors, but it would regain this lost star following thorough editing. The book would most appeal to older teenage and adult fans of spy thrillers and science fiction.
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The Last Imprint
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