Review:
The Antimemetics Division is responsible for the research, containment, and, in rare cases, destruction of antimemes, ideas, objects, and beings that somehow have the ability to prevent themselves from being perceived or remembered, and which can often directly attack memories. Employees in the Antimemetics Division have to regularly take special drugs just to be able to remember their own work and what they do.
Initially, this book looked like it might be composed of a series of short stories that all have the Antimemetics Division in common. The first chapter, which I realized I'd previously seen in the form of a short live action film, gives readers a taste of what antimemes are capable of and how the employees in the Antimemetics Division function. Then we leave those characters behind and move on to someone who's apparently a new recruit in the Antimemetics Division, desperately trying to survive an encounter with an antimeme that will eat their memories into nothingness over the course of 15 minutes to two hours.
Eventually, though, a broader story takes shape. The Antimemetics Division is fighting a war, but it's a war they're unaware of. The more they learn, the more they're forced to forget, and the more ground they lose. At the same time, it's somehow a war they think they can win.
This was a fascinating puzzle of a read, even if it was occasionally a little hard to follow, and even if I occasionally had trouble believing that everything could come together just the way it did. I mean, yes, you can be very good at what you do and come up with backup plans for your backup plans, but eventually it comes down to a lot of luck.
The author lost me a bit at the very end. I couldn't fully wrap my brain around whatever it was that was supposed to keep the whole cycle from happening all over again. Still, it was an interesting enough read overall.
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