The description for this book really caught my attention. What if we could create a place for our consciousness to go when we die? This idea puts me in mind of something like Black Mirror, the dystopian not-so-distant future that, surely, we've all wondered about at some point. Isobel is a Heaven Architect, someone who creates your Heaven, your place to go when your body dies.

I have to admit, there was a point in this book where I was thinking, 'what, no, please don't make this all about a woman who can't live without a man'. I didn't want a romance story - boy meets girl, boy dies, girl can't live without him. But, happily, I was wrong. I did not see where it was going. I read the last quarter with my hand over my mouth, shocked, sickened, but, sadly, not surprised. Jarek isn't what he seems, and in order to prove her own innocence, Isobel must be a witness for what he has done by entering his ghost memories.

While this may be a speculative, sci-fi, dystopian fiction, it's also a very relevant, human tale about ethics, relationships, and male violence. In Cave's dystopian future, men are still sexually and physically abusing women. And with the help of big corporations and government lobbying, they may be able to keep abusing them in their own Heaven, without the consent of the other party. Cave brings up some very important questions about doing what's right, and knowing when ethics should stand in the way of progress (or what is deemed as progress).

I've seen some reviewers comment about how they couldn't connect with Isobel, and I have to disagree. She's flawed, and that's the beauty of it. She's distant, troubled, yet confident. She takes every decision in hand and sees it through. She's pragmatic, honest. I liked her. I liked how she dealt with everything. She reminded me a bit of myself, holds a mirror up to our deepest, darkest selves, and maybe that's what some reviewers don't like about her.

The synopsis of this book sounded fascinating, and indeed the concept is great and had so many possibilities. Unfortunately the author also gave us one of the most annoying main characters too. Isobel is supposed to be a strong, independent, intelligent woman - one of the best Architects, if not THE best. Knowing this, I couldn't fathom how this woman could just act so unprofessionally and make such idiotic decisions for someone she just met and didn't really know outside of their professional meetings. I started to feel annoyed with her because she was acting more like a petulant teenager with a crush than an adult. It was a real shame because more focus on the other side of the plot could have made this a really great book.

When the premise of the book -- and the concept of artificial Heavens -- was intriguing, this book was a let-down in terms of plot and writing. Despite wanting to know what happened <spoiler>that is, if Jarek did murder his wife</spoiler>, I was unable to finish it. My biggest unanswered question was: why would a sensible, successful young woman who was so good at her job, throw away everything she had over a man she barely even knew? It seemed to me that Isobel fell in lust with a man -- the writing didn't convince me that it was anything else, certainly not love -- and destroyed her relationships, her career and her life. (A different question: Isobel's mother was of Bengali origin; why, then, had she referred to her as "beti", which is not a Bengali word?) I wish I could have finished the book, but it started to meander, and I felt no empathy with the protagonist.

(Review copy from NetGalley)

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

I was intrigued by the synopsis of this story. It sounded so fabulously imaginative and futuristic. I was in love with the idea of a heaven and designing your own personal heaven. I was more interested in the descriptions and sadly, the book fell flat for me as soon as we entered the plot. At that point, I became bored.

In theory, this could have been an amazing story but was poorly executed in terms of holding the reader's attention.

The main ideas in this story sounded interesting. The thought of designing your own heaven and the possibilities made me want to read the book. However I found the book really hard to finish. It was long and boring and was totally different from what I thought it would be. If I had not been given it to review I do not think that I would have finished it.

I loved the concept for this novel. Set in a futuristic world where you can create a heaven using your memories, and I found the ethical issues the novel raises fascinating. However for me the problem that I had with this novel was that while the world it creates is fascinating and very detailed I personally felt like the story suffered and it took a very long time for the plot to actually start. Overall it was lacking in tension and suspense and failed to grip me.
It's a good concept and the world-building is impressive, but the story for me personally fell flat.

Interesting idea, thought provokingly put forward. A bit too thought provoking - the actual story suffers for the philosophical discussion and I am always driven by the narrative not the theory. Nonetheless, a good read

I went into The Memory Chamber (so to speak!) blind and came out the other side very pleased that I had done so as I’m not sure I would have read it otherwise. The concept is an original one and although it did take a while for me to get my thoughts around what was actually taking place, once I did I was hooked and was awake until the very small hours of the morning reading it from cover to cover!

Isobel is a “heaven architect” who meets with clients to plan their own personal heavens. She discusses the memories and moments in their lives that they want to have surrounding them in a timeless loop once they are dead. And Isobel performs that job with a determination and tunnel vision that only comes from a total belief in what she advocates. In fact, she is so totally devoted to her job that her world revolves around her passion for making her clients heaven a perfect representation of their lives happiest times. So it became an intriguing dilemma for her when she meets Jarek and she becomes personally involved with him. Jarek is dying so their time together becomes more important to her than her vocation but is Jarek hiding something from Isobel and how will it affect the perfect heaven she is determined to create for him?

There is a slowly measured build up to the mystery surrounding the death of Jarek’s wife and that twist was when the book became much more of a thriller for me. The world that they live in opened up to me more then, providing a wider picture of how that world was being challenged by a global war that affected their everyday lives. Watching the soldiers contemplating their deaths before they headed off to fight and they planned a heaven they knew may be impossible to provide due to the logistics of their deployment. And it was little touches like that which gave an unexpected and thoughtful poignancy to the narrative. The mechanics of how both theirs and others personalised heavens were achieved are so intrinsically relayed to the reader that the concept didn’t feel as futuristic as I had first expected. The dark and scary world imagined by Holly Cave was backed up by her cleverly crafted storyline where she used her scientific knowledge to great effect setting up this highly original plotline.

I can see this book dividing opinions and it won’t be to everyone’s taste but I was fascinated by the gripping and believable storyline that felt totally feasible to my own scientific brain! I am finding it very difficult to shoehorn it into any genre though. Part sci-fi and part thriller with a twist of romance and a squeeze of suspense it’s a futuristic delight to unravel. If you enjoy books like “Yesterday” by Felicia Yap then I would give The Memory Chamber a go. It’s a book that gave me plenty to think about with a future I’m not quite sure I’m ready to accept and thankfully won’t be around for if it does become a reality!! Trapped in any time or place for an infinitely sounds more like hell than heaven to me!!

Isobel's profession is a heaven architect. She sits with her dying clients, teasing out their memories, to create a virtual heaven for their consciousness to enter after the death of their body. She loves her job. She is good at her job. But when the moralistic and political ramifications of what she is producing begin to interfere with her professionalism and the quiet order of her days, she must dig inside of herself to see where her true feelings on what she is creating truly lays.

This is one of those novels that is less about the exact story-line and more about the philosophical discussions of what the concept is proposing. The scientific and religious aspects of this technological advancement are fully explored from all angles. Through Isobel the reader gets to view a near-future world where the soon-to-be-deceased can grant themselves some measure of peace by becoming the architect of their next life. However, protesters show us that this may be a less philanthropic venture, when even our own memories can be corrupted and where even our death becomes a commodity the consumer market has seen a way to cash in on. Further political complications muddy the already dense waters and create interesting discussion points for both Isobel and the reader to decipher where exactly their stance on the topic lays.

Whilst I found this a fascinating concept to explore I found nothing else was delivered. There were turns in the narrative that I found unprecedented but they just did not impact me deeply, the way the initial concept of the book had. I found once this was fully explored my interest dwindled and the characters alone could not hold what captivation this once held for me. I liked the theory of the novel and thought it delivered some powerful arguments, but I also felt a little disenchanted with the whole thing as it wore on.

Absolutely loved this book. I couldn’t put it down. I saw SOME other reviewers being negative. I think they must have been reading something else! I love the main character and if you feel like that you know the author has hit gold. RECOMMEND

An intriguing and original premise for a book that really drew me in. In a future where a heaven can be created, the huge corporations that run this operation have become all powerful. It is a scary look into a future where everything is controlled and nothing ever ends.

Isobel is an interesting character, I never felt able to get close to her, but she intrigued me. She is a perfectionist, and yet goes against her work ethic and moral code to start an affair with a dying married man. When he dies his wife is found murdered, and Isobel is not only a suspect, but it also perfectly placed to be used by the Valhalla corporation to further their political and corporate ambitions. As she slowly unravels, dealing with the loss of the man she loved and the loss of her career, she starts to question everything she took for granted.

This is not a fast paced thriller, but is thrilling none the less. Whilst there were a few parts that were a little confusing, this is a book I would recommend.

Thanks go to net galley and the publishers for the advanced copy in return for an honest review.

The Memory Chamber by Holly Cave is a story set in the future where you can have your memories stored to use after you die. Isobel collects the clients best memories and makes a heaven for them to experience after death. Isobel falls for a handsome client and when his wife is found dead, Isobel has to find out if the client had anything to do with the death of his wife as criminals are not allowed to have a heaven made for them. I found it quite had to like Isobel but I did enjoy the story. I would like to thank NetGalley and Quercus Books for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

Wow a well written thriller, keeps you guessing throughout. Definitely worth a read!!

I wanted to be drawn in by this book from the very beginning, but there was a lot of talk of hands in the first chapter and I found it more weird than enticing. It kind of left me confused as to what to expect with the rest of the story. The actual idea behind the story is really clever and the characters are compelling, but I feel that maybe I didn't fully let myself enjoy it due to not being gripped straight from the beginning. I won't give away the deaths in this book, but I didn't cry with either which is strange for me. I'm not actually sure why though because the author wrote them in both perfectly. My actual favourite parts are the short snippets with the young girl on the beach selling jewellery and would have quite liked her to have a bigger part in the story. The guilty character was also a bit too obvious for me so perhaps there could have been more evidence to point at others.

Every so often I enjoy reading something out of my comfort zone, this book gave me just that. The plot was thought provoking and kept me glued right till the very end. The main characters is likeable and her job very imaginative, heaven's top architect, all the rich want an appointment with her. The memory chamber helps the rich create their own heaven after death which is a good well written and unique story.

Set in the not-so-distant future, The Memory Chamber describes a world with life after death can be decided. Isobel is a Heaven Architect – she designs artificial heavens for her rich clients based on their memories in life. When a charming and handsome client walks in, she begins an affair with a man she knows is dying. Then when his expected death comes, there is something unexpected – he is a suspect in a murder that happened just before his death. And Isobel might be the only one who can solve it through an ethically questionable quest into his heaven.
I really enjoyed this book. I love near-future stories, especially when the new technology in it is something that’s explained so well that it’s believable. I was really enthralled in the story and it’s kept me thinking about the morality of it all and memories.

The Memory Chamber is an inventive and engaging novel set sometime in the near future. Scientific progress has allowed people to develop their own personal heavens to experience after they’ve died. Isobel is a ‘Heaven Architect’, employed generally be wealthy people their develop their Heavens.
When Isobel meets Jarek, a man with a terminal illness, the attraction is immediate. It’s an encounter that will disrupt Isobel’s well ordered life and lead her into the sinister underbelly of the Heaven business.
I liked this book and found it easy to read. However it was a little frustrating that the depth of some of the emotions being experienced by the main character weren’t conveyed particularly effectively and so I had difficulty empathising with her. That said, the minor criticisms I have wouldn’t put me off reading another book by this author.

I really liked the concept for The Memory Chamber. It’s a really intriguing notion that you could create your own heaven by meeting with a Heaven Architect. Not what I was expecting, but I found myself drawn into the plot quite quickly. I enjoyed this one. It kept me reading, and it definitely made me think. Whilst I figured some stuff out, I still enjoyed the journey to the reveal!

Intense, emotive and full of the unexpected. Very well written, and one worth reading for fans of dystopian, crime and suspense novels.