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The Book of M

Peng Shepherd (Goodreads Author)

3.69 · Rating details · 13,436 ratings · 2,480 reviews

Set in a dangerous near future world, The Book of M tells the captivating story of a group of ordinary people caught in an extraordinary catastrophe who risk everything to save the ones they love. It is a sweeping debut that illuminates the power that memories have not only on the heart, but on the world itself.

One afternoon at an outdoor market in India, a man’s shadow di ...more

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Hardcover, 485 pages

Published June 5th 2018 by William Morrow

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Jun 24, 2018 Will Byrnes rated it it was amazing

Shelves: brain-candy, science-fiction, fantasy

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me… --- Psalm 23

But what if you were walking through the valley of the death of shadows? Who or what might be with you then? If, as Macbeth proclaims, life’s but a walking shadow, what becomes of the poor player when even the shadow has walked?

description

Peng Shepherd - from her site - Photo by Rachel Crittenden

There have been two major periods in my life when I kept a journal. The first was when I was fi ...more

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Mar 16, 2018 Adam Dalva rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shepherd has crafted a gripping, multi-faceted debut here, a dystopic future novel that goes well past the expectations of the genre. I admired the textual experimentation of this measured book, as various symbols, fonts, and perspectives try to get across the lives of the characters, who mix emotional heft with sudden, rapid action. The leads, Ory and Max, are wonderfully drawn and make for an excellent emotional core.

In this world, if someone's shadow disappears, they will soon be consigned to Shepherd has crafted a gripping, multi-faceted debut here, a dystopic future novel that goes well past the expectations of the genre. I admired the textual experimentation of this measured book, as various symbols, fonts, and perspectives try to get across the lives of the characters, who mix emotional heft with sudden, rapid action. The leads, Ory and Max, are wonderfully drawn and make for an excellent emotional core.

In this world, if someone's shadow disappears, they will soon be consigned to forgetting all that they knew, turning into mysterious, frightening figures. The book opens with Max losing her shadow after two years of hiding with her partner Ory, and Ory desperately trying to enact a system of rules to protect her. This Robinson Crusoe section is wonderful, but after the two are, inevitably, separated, they each wind their way through a strange America that seems totally understood by Shepherd. This is an iceberg book whose logic and world-building are apparent at all times. There are many supporting characters who play into the action and exposition, and I admired the ambition of this book for jumping into so many different voices and perspectives until everything collapses together at the finale.

In its control and logic, it reminded me of Auster's "In The Country of Last Things," and St John Mandel's "Station Eleven." Most of all, unlike some books of this ilk, the author's talent on the line-level invested its characters with real urgency and feeling. More than the global span or the unusual premise, the prose will stick with me:

"I’m not ready. I’m not ready, I’m not ready, I’m not ready. I refuse to forget. It took all of me, but I refuse to let it have the last thing,which is you. Ory. I remember you. I remember your name. I remember I touched your face, on your eyebrow above your scar; I remember a football; I remember night and a mountain; I remember you gave me this speaking machine, but I don’t know why; I remember a darkroom, and writing numbered rules by candlelight, and you cried—why did you cry?" ...more

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Jul 23, 2018 Elyse Walters rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Library- ebook - overdrive

I seldom read dystopian novels, but in the past few years - having read a few other wonders: “Station Eleven”,
“California”, etc.,
I had a hunch this book might be ‘one-of-the-special-one’s’.....”It was”!!!!

For starters, the first chapter was one of the best first chapters of ‘any’ book I’ve read in a long time!
The first sentence immediately grabbed my attention....holding it tightly until the last line. I felt punched in the gut with the last sentence in chapter 1 .. ...more

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Dec 30, 2018 jessica rated it really liked it · review of another edition

goodness me. its safe to say that now i will never be able to hear the phrase ‘blue, fifty-two’ without getting all kinds of emotional. if you know, you know. sigh.

this story gave me massive ‘station eleven’ vibes. it poses similar questions about the meaning of humanity in the face of the unknown, if hope can be the key for survival, and most importantly, how far one will go for those they love. i absolutely adored reading about ory and max - their relationship, separation, continued connection ...more

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Jul 02, 2018 Emma rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: netgalley

Just like Peter Pan, the people in Peng Shepherd’s novel, The Book of M, are having trouble with their shadows. For reasons that never become known, shadows are disappearing, sometimes from an individual, sometimes whole cities at once. Told by four linked characters, with a multitude of diverse experiences threaded through their stories, this book follows their course through a world fundamentally changed by destructive magic.

If you’d asked me any time during the first half of this book what t Just like Peter Pan, the people in Peng Shepherd’s novel, The Book of M, are having trouble with their shadows. For reasons that never become known, shadows are disappearing, sometimes from an individual, sometimes whole cities at once. Told by four linked characters, with a multitude of diverse experiences threaded through their stories, this book follows their course through a world fundamentally changed by destructive magic.

If you’d asked me any time during the first half of this book what the final star rating would be, I would have said 5. Easily. There is an intriguing introduction to our main narrators, their distorted normality revealing that in the ‘now’ of their world something is very wrong. Flashbacks within each tale take the reader to the start of it all, when shadows were first lost. Initially, people are stunned, but excited- it’s a whole new phenomenon, something inexplicable and even wondrous. One shadow gone, then a group here, and another there. It’s newsworthy and everyone’s talking about it. Scientists are baffled. Religion is called into play. Anyone who’s anyone has an opinion and wants to know more. At this point, so did I. The situation is perfectly pitched, so realistic in the way each new piece of information is passed around the world, from person to person, with video clips uploaded and scrutinised, all kinds of rumours whispered. When things start to go wrong, when people without their shadows begin to forget, the tentative panic and fear is equally genuine. Just like an outbreak of some unknown virus, people are quarantined and studied. Then the overriding question, ‘why is this happening’ shifts to ‘how can we stop it’ as the violence and terror overwhelms everything.

What becomes clear is that The Forgetting is more than just memory loss, the inability to remember what was or what is allows the shadowless to create their own reality. And it is chilling. If a shadowless doesn’t remember a whole marketplace? Well then, it’s gone. What happens when you can’t remember how to use your front door? Eventually it disappears and you remain, stuck until you waste away in a box of your own creation. And if you forget to breathe? Death. The picture of a world destroyed builds with each horrifying possibility, many of which stopped me in my tracks because I’d never considered it could go like that… This new place is a twisted, nightmare reality of clashing memories and monstrous creations. Of course, the author plays fast and loose with any notion of rules. What about all the people that remembered the market? If you can forget a place or person and it disappear, why would not remembering you need to breathe kill you, since not breathing would be the new reality? Anyway, who cares, this bit was brilliant. Especially as all the usual pathways of societal disintegration in dystopian fiction is exacerbated to a ridiculous and wildly fun degree by this one hook.

Then at the halfway point it loses its cohesion. All of a sudden, it felt slow and I had to force myself to pick it up again. Each narrator’s story descended into a surreal dreamscape, with only tenuous links to their original goals, and their sense of urgency to do whatever the hell it is they wanted to do lost its power. In fact, the whole book from this point was convoluted and bloated with unnecessary sidelines that read like creative writing exercises, shoehorned in to fulfil the requirements of the final battle for New Orleans. Yes, an actual magical battle. The book morphs from dystopia to fantasy, from humanity facing a crisis to a city ruled by a blind man with an elephant shadow. Seriously. And that doesn’t even cover the kick in the teeth by the way it all ends for the ‘M’ from the title. The sheer randomness feeds into the mounting feeling of pointlessness and disappointment.

More than most dystopian fiction, this aims for literary adroitness, and for the most part, achieves it. Parts are exquisitely written, with focused attention to the tiniest details of character and place. But just because you’ve allowed magic into your world, doesn’t mean you can go crazy with it. The author lost sight of both the characters and the plot in her desire to play tricks. Any time you wonder at the logic or likelihood of path taken, the answer is MAGIC. But the essential problem with disconnecting people from themselves, each other, and the world around them is that you remove the emotion that goes alongside. By the end, even by halfway, there was none left. Ultimately, this is a book about forgetting that will be easily forgotten.

ARC via Netgalley ...more

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Jul 27, 2020 karen rated it it was amazing

Shelves: the-end, thanks-for-prezzies

fulfilling my 2020 goal to read (at least) one book each month that was given to me as a present that i haven't yet gotten around to reading because i am an ungrateful dick.

i’m an even bigger and more ungrateful dick than usual, neglecting this gifted book for as long as i did. A) it was phenomenal, so i was doing myself a disservice, but more importantly, B) this was a gift from my GR secret santa back in 2018(!), and when i finally picked it up, i found this stuck between its pages and it brok ...more

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Jun 06, 2018 Emer (A Little Haze) rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: adult-fiction, scifi-dystopian, read2018, netgalley, 5stars, literary-fiction, all-the-pretty-covers, reviewed, books-owned-all-formats

Bumping this book up to a five star read because I can't stop thinking about the fantastic story in the months since I've read it. And I've also treated myself to a hardback copy of it too...IT LOOKS GORGEOUS!!! Definitely among my fav reads of 2018.

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Happy UK Publication Day to this brilliant dystopian!

Wow.
This book was a revelation. From the start I did not know what was happening, how the story would develop or where it would end... BUT I WAS 100% HOOKED!!!! From page one I was thorough Bumping this book up to a five star read because I can't stop thinking about the fantastic story in the months since I've read it. And I've also treated myself to a hardback copy of it too...IT LOOKS GORGEOUS!!! Definitely among my fav reads of 2018.

-------

Happy UK Publication Day to this brilliant dystopian!

Wow.
This book was a revelation. From the start I did not know what was happening, how the story would develop or where it would end... BUT I WAS 100% HOOKED!!!! From page one I was thoroughly ensnared and did not want to put this down for a second. The premise for the book I think is genius; one day in the near future a man's shadow suddenly disappears in the middle of a market in India. It's initially treated as a holy event but after a few days it's realised that the man has begun to forget everything about himself and the link between a person's shadow and the storage of their memories is made. The phenomenon isn't just an isolated incident and soon this forgetting plague spreads worldwide causing complete destruction of life as we know it. Flash forward a few years and shadowed survivors Ory and Max are trying to eek out a living for themselves in an abandoned resort in the American wilderness until Max loses her shadow and runs away. The book follows their separate paths and their stories interlink with other characters to create a tale of love, hope and survival of all that is human but also interweaves this humanity with an unknowing darkness and magic. And a cult. A reeeeeeally messed up cult that were so freaky and bonkers and... Just a brilliant piece of storytelling really.

Honestly, the first half of this book creeped me out. It did such a brilliant job of describing how it must feel to be losing your memories and how once you give in to that loss you can use this forgetting power to unlock a sort of magic that the power of mind can have... I really can't explain this well at all because *spoilers* but just.... GAHHHHH. IT WAS FABULOUS AND I WAS INTRIGUED AND TERRIFIED AND ENTHRALLED AND TERRIFIED AGAIN!!! I loved the characters in this book. They were fantastic. I really rooted for them all to succeed in their journeys and to hopefully figure out for once and for all what was happening. They were so brilliantly human. And I loved how these groups of strangers came together to really show what the human spirit is all about.

BUT THIS FORGETTING THING!!!!
Woah.
It was utterly terrifying. I simply won't divulge anything more about it because going into this book and discovering all for yourself is an utter joy and I really don't want to rob anyone of that experience. But top notch writing for sure.

One of the things I love about science fiction writing which I suppose this is... Could possibly class it as dystopian too?? Anyway, one of the things I loved about this book is that it could almost happen. Obviously some crazy stuff has to occur but the characters, the world they are inhabiting initially... It's our world. The world building in this is initially our version of events (it obviously evolves as more chaos and destruction occurs but still.. Starting point is us.) And that to me adds this wonderfully terrifying and grounding dynamic to the storyline. This could almost be true. We could all wake up tomorrow to the news that someone had lost their shadow and this could become our truth. And a book that makes you think like that even for the briefest of moments... A quality book!

Okay, as the story developed into the second half and I begin to understand more about what was going on some of that feeling of terrified wonderment wore off but I was ultimately treated to a very satisfying story filled with myth and legend made real. And an ending that... Less I say the better but *nods head approvingly*. Loved it.

Highly recommended, very strong four star read.

*An e-copy of this book was kindly provided to me by the publisher, Harper Collins UK, via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.* ...more

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Sep 09, 2018 Zoeytron rated it really liked it

Shelves: public-library

New York City lies in ruins, Chattanooga is burning, Washington DC is a war zone. Power grids are down. People are losing their shadows, and with them, their memories. New Orleans beckons. A one-eyed amnesiac, the power of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, lakes that come and go as they please. There is magic out there, as evidenced by singing trees, conversant tattoos and wolves. As your shadow tethers you to earth, the value of memories has never been higher.

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Jul 03, 2018 j e w e l s rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: books-bejeweled, audio

THREE STARS

Audio production: Outstanding!
Story: hmmmm. Loved the first half, major Bird Box vibes mixed with a good dose of Station Eleven.

Around the 50% mark, I realized I wasn't even connected to the characters and I was forcing myself to keep reading/listening. I think dystopian/post-apocalyptic stories actually only work for me if they avoid the way-out fantasy realm. This book strays into mystical realism/supernatural stuff and that's not a good fit for me. I have a hard time with sci-fi/f ...more

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Jun 08, 2018 Hannah rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: arc

I love books that are not easily classifiable – and this is just that. It is speculative fiction but also incorporates a feeling of magical realism, it is a romance (and it is really not), it is just absolutely lovely. I adore the premise above all else: at some point in the not so distant future people start losing their shadows and with them, slowly but inexorably, their memories. First the small things but then bigger and bigger things until they forget to breath. With the loss of memories co I love books that are not easily classifiable – and this is just that. It is speculative fiction but also incorporates a feeling of magical realism, it is a romance (and it is really not), it is just absolutely lovely. I adore the premise above all else: at some point in the not so distant future people start losing their shadows and with them, slowly but inexorably, their memories. First the small things but then bigger and bigger things until they forget to breath. With the loss of memories come weird powers: if a person without a shadow remembers something wrong, that thing becomes just so. Peng Shepherd uses this to create achingly beautiful scenes that edge on unsettling.

The book is told from four perspectives:

- Orlando Zhang (Ory), whose wife has just lost her shadow and left him behind, is single-minded in his pursuit of his wife,
- Max, his wife, is losing her memories and keeps recording herself speaking to her husband to make sure she does not remember him wrong,
- Mahnaz Ahmadi, an Iranian archer, is stuck in Boston, far away from her family and most importantly her younger sister.
- The Amnesiac has lost his memory in an accident and as such has a unique understanding of memory loss and its effects on sense of self.

My favourite parts by far were those concerned with Max – her journey into forgetting is mesmerizing and her resilience is wonderful. Spending time in her head made what was happening on a grander scale much more personal and affecting. I also loved spending time with Ahmadi – I love sibling relationships anyways and hers just made me weepy. The Amnesiac’s story at points had a feeling of fairy tale, which obviously I adored. My problem lay with Ory (and his perspective encompasses the bulk of this book) – he did not feel like a fully formed person to me. For most of the book he is single-minded in his pursuit of Max, never pausing, never considering her as a person in her own right, to be honest. I have some spoilery thoughts that might explain this but even so, I never really got along with his point of view – even though some of the most stunning scenes were from his perspective.

Overall, I adore the way Peng Shepherd structured her book – I am often a huge fan of multiple perspectives and here they are handled expertly and with a brilliant sense of timing. I thought her language flowed beautifully and her imagination is just breathtaking, many scenes unfolding cinematically in the best possible way. Her use of imagery and colour really added to this already wonderfully layered story.

I received an arc of this book courtesy of NetGalley and HarperCollins in exchange for an honest review.

You can find this review and other thoughts on books on my blog. ...more

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Mar 02, 2019 Beverly rated it liked it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jun 18, 2018 Krista rated it it was ok

Shelves: 2018

Where did the shadows go? Ory wondered. He didn't even care about the why any more. Only the where. The why was inexplicable. Ory didn't believe in magic, but he knew in his heart that what had happened was nothing that could be understood by humans. It was no natural disaster, no disease, no biological weapon. The best name he'd ever heard for it was curse. Because in the end it didn't matter who you were. No one escaped – either because they were someone who lost their shadow, or because they

...more

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Jun 17, 2018 Karen’s Library rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, signed, post-apocalyptic, apocalyptic

This book deserves ALL the stars!! ALL!! It’s brilliant, beautifully written, and one of the most hopeful post-apocalyptic books I’ve ever read. The Book of M is by far my favorite read so far of 2018. Whenever I think of my favorite all time epic books in this genre (The Stand, The Passage, and Swan Song) The Book of M will now and forever more be in my list.

I’m not sure how to even tell anyone what this book is about. It’s a story about how most people lose their shadow and with it, little by ...more

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May 29, 2018 Kaitlin rated it liked it

The first half of this book was a solid 5 stars for me. The plot was so gripping I couldn't put the book down. But then....it took a turn. The latter half of the story just didn't do it for me. It was all over the place and confusing. The phenomenon of shadows disappearing was never fully explained and the whole part with "The One Who Gathers" was a jumbled mess of loose ideas.

The culmination of everything really fell flat for me which is so disheartening because the first half of the book is s ...more

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Jun 16, 2018 Lou rated it really liked it

I am really into apocalyptic novels of late and this is an innovative and extraordinary one. It is a truly outstanding debut for an author that I will be putting on my "ones to watch" list. Peng Shepherd, I salute you!

After reading the synopsis, I got unbelievably excited about the prospect of diving into this, having that amount of pure anticipation is a rarity for me. I'm usually cool, calm, and collected. I knew then that it was going to either - live up to my uber-high expectations and blow I am really into apocalyptic novels of late and this is an innovative and extraordinary one. It is a truly outstanding debut for an author that I will be putting on my "ones to watch" list. Peng Shepherd, I salute you!

After reading the synopsis, I got unbelievably excited about the prospect of diving into this, having that amount of pure anticipation is a rarity for me. I'm usually cool, calm, and collected. I knew then that it was going to either - live up to my uber-high expectations and blow me away, or disappoint me beyond belief. There are such a lot of writers who create a highly original concept, but fail miserably in their execution, meaning that the unique premise is wasted. Luckily, that was far from the case here.

"The Book of M" is set in the not-too-distant future and tells the story of a mysterious natural disaster that causes people's shadows to disappear, shortly followed by their memories. This phenomenon gives the individual the use of a strange type of magic, but it comes at a high price - each time they use it they will be robbed of a memory. Many try to resist the urge to use this magic power, but for most the temptation is too great. As the victims forget more and more of who they are, reality begins to bend to reflect their fractured recollections, plunging the world into a terrifying, ever-shifting alternate landscape.

This is a surreal and rather creepy read that I enjoyed immensely, although I did find that the pace in the middle section of the book was a little slower than I would've ideally liked. The language flowed beautifully and naturally and I appreciated the multiple points of view. The way Shepherd has structured the novel around these varying perspectives gives you a look at what each character is thinking/feeling at the time. There are some stunning twists involved in the plot too, which caught me off guard! For a debut author the worldbuilding is exquisite and I appreciated that the characters were drawn from diverse backgrounds and were developed well. All in all, this is a superb dystopian thrill ride following the characters as they fight for survival, a haunting and thought-provoking read!

Many thanks to HarperCollins for an ARC. I was not required to post a review and all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own. ...more

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Jun 15, 2019 Tucker (TuckerTheReader) added it

Recommended to Tucker by: William Morrow

Shelves: thriller, science-fiction, finished-copies-physical, dystopian, unrated

Many thanks to Andrew at William Morrow for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review

"Blue. Fifty-two."

I know that I previously said that both a review and a rating was to come. Well, the review is here but not the rating. This book is one of the first books that I will be opting out of rating. I literally spent an entire day trying to decide what to rate this but I came up blank. It just doesn't fit any of the star ratings. Not one of two because I didn't hate/dislike it. ...more

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Jan 18, 2019 Jenna rated it really liked it

Shelves: post-apocalyptic

Love You Shadow GIF - LoveYou Shadow Disappear GIFs

"A thing does not have to be said to be real. It just has to be remembered."

Who would you be without your memories? Would you still be you? How much do your memories define who you are?

A Goodreads friend recently dubbed a new genre of books -- "quiet books". These, they said, are "slow action adventures, based more in the mind of its protagonists than in the adventure and action they are slowly experiencing or, often, remembering". That is the perfect description for this book. It's post-apocalyptic, yet not what most people usually think of when they think of that genre. The Book of M, whilst there is action, is more introspection, an exploration of the emotions and thoughts of those who are trying to survive when civilization collapses.

At some point in the near future, a mysterious.... "illness"? (not really sure what to call it) spreads. People begin to lose their shadows, and with them, their memories. As civilization collapses and memories fade, people struggle to survive. The book is written from the point of view of several characters, detailing their current experiences and challenges, and attempting to hold on to their memories once their shadows have disappeared. Sound strange? It is! It seems like something Stephen King could have thought up. It is a gripping story, one that makes it difficult to put the book down. However, I think the book could have been about 100-150 pages shorter because it starts to seem repetitive part way through, then picks up again for the last 100 pages. I love these "quiet books", though I don't think many authors could pull them off, nor are they books for everyone. Peng Shepherd is one of those writers who can pull off a book like this, and pull it off well. Even though this "illness" is unbelievable, the characters responses, their thoughts and feelings, are. I've knocked off one star because of the occasional repetitiveness; otherwise, this would have been a 5 star book. I highly recommend it, especially if you like novels that make you think. It is a story of love, a story of survival, and a story that will have you wondering just what it takes to be you. ...more

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Jan 06, 2019 Emily B rated it really liked it

3.5 rounded up. I greatly admire the imagination of the writer. The whole concept of the book is wildly creative and full of fascinating little details.
I enjoyed the style of writing, I love it when each chapter or part are told from a different character’s perspective.

While I loved the idea and story I just found it a bit too long. I felt it could have been spread over more than one book as so much happened in it.

I also felt that while the concept of losing shadows and memories was great, it ...more

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Mar 13, 2019 Renee Godding rated it it was amazing

Shelves: renée-recommends

5/5 stars

”If only we were elephants. Then we could help each other…”

Fantasy/Sci Fi- apocalyptic novels have always done their best to terrify us with wild concepts of rising dead, killer robots and monstrous mutants walking the earth. Yet it’s often the simplest and most realistic of concepts that manage to get under my skin the most.
Have you ever realized how wonderfully valuable our ability to remember is? Or how fragile and fallible it could be? What would happen if the entire population, an ...more

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Jul 23, 2018 Dianne rated it really liked it

Shelves: best-of-2018

“The Book of M” is a dystopian apocalyptic novel that is, at its essence, a love story about Ory (a man) and Max (a woman).

Peng Shepherd has based her debut novel on a real life event called “Zero Shadow Day,” which occurs annually in India. On this one or two days, at noon, the sun is directly overhead and, unless you jump, you cannot see your shadow. In Sheperd’s story, starting in India and then spreading over the globe, people begin losing their shadows permanently. When a person loses their “The Book of M” is a dystopian apocalyptic novel that is, at its essence, a love story about Ory (a man) and Max (a woman).

Peng Shepherd has based her debut novel on a real life event called “Zero Shadow Day,” which occurs annually in India. On this one or two days, at noon, the sun is directly overhead and, unless you jump, you cannot see your shadow. In Sheperd’s story, starting in India and then spreading over the globe, people begin losing their shadows permanently. When a person loses their shadow, they begin to lose their memories. The more memory is lost, the greater the pull to “forget.” As the shadowless lose their memories, they acquire a strange new power – they can alter the physical environment so that it fits their altered or half-forgotten memories. Deer sprout wings on their foreheads instead of antlers, guns shoot thunder and lightning, and kites in the sky become sharp instruments of death.

Ory and Max have taken shelter in an abandoned resort in Great Falls National Park in Virginia. Originally, a wedding party stayed on at the resort in hiding after the shadow disappearance epidemic hit the U.S. Over the past two years, the other wedding guest have left the resort leaving Ory and Max to their own devices. Ory periodically heads into Arlington to scrounge for food – game is hard to come by and although it’s dangerous to enter the now lawless cities, they need supplies. They are down to their last jar of spaghetti sauce when Max loses her shadow. Ory is terrified to leave Max alone while he looks for food in the city. What if she forgets everything and leaves or starts to alter their reality? Eventually, driven by necessity, he leaves Max with a small tape recorder around her neck where she can record her thoughts and memories to help her remember. He puts signs up around their shelter to remind her of the rules – Max cannot leave the shelter without Ory. Max can never answer the door. Max cannot touch the gun.

Ory leaves on his quest. He encounters a group of twelve people, both shadowed and shadowless, who are leaving for New Orleans. Rumors of “The One Who Gathers” or “The One With A Middle But No Beginning” have been whispered and the twelve believe they need to be in New Orleans. They offer Ory the items they are leaving behind – bikes, curtains, and other odds and ends. No food, other than a jar of vinegar. Ory heads back to the resort with his scavenged items. On the way, he is mugged for his windfall. When he comes to and straggles back to the resort, Max is gone without a trace.

The bulk of the story follows Ory’s desperate search for Max from the east coast (the Statue of Liberty is up to no good) to New Orleans. Max shares her side of the story via her tape recorded diary entries. Other major characters are introduced and play key roles:

* Hemu Joshi – shadowless “patient zero”
* Mahnaz Ahmadi – an Iranian woman archer training for the Olympics in the US when the shadowless plague arrives
* The Amnesiac – never given a name, this man was in a car accident which left him without any memories, much like the shadowless. He still has his shadow.
* Dr. Zadeh and Dr. Avanthikar – doctors working to find a cure for the shadowless, working with Hemu Joshi and The Amnesiac

The plot is complicated and quite interesting. Indian legends and mythology play a significant part. Eventually, all of the story and character threads come together in a surprise twist with a perfect bittersweet ending. It did remind me in parts of “Station Eleven” and “The Passage” (minus vampires) but it occupies its own original space within this genre of literature.

A very promising debut for Shepherd. Oh, and one more thing – this novel gets bonus points from me for its reverence for books. Books are ALWAYS the solution. Always. ...more

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Nov 13, 2018 Marialyce (absltmom, yaya) rated it really liked it

Shelves: library

It's the day of the festival of Lost Shadows and a young man loses his shadow in an Indian market. And then others do as well as this phenomena travels the world. And then the horrendous happens, for in losing one's shadow, one loses their memory. It is frightening and eerie signifying the death of a world we all live in. How does one survive without a memory, without knowing who or what you are, without being able to read, without knowing a loved one, a friend, a foe, or even yourself? Combini It's the day of the festival of Lost Shadows and a young man loses his shadow in an Indian market. And then others do as well as this phenomena travels the world. And then the horrendous happens, for in losing one's shadow, one loses their memory. It is frightening and eerie signifying the death of a world we all live in. How does one survive without a memory, without knowing who or what you are, without being able to read, without knowing a loved one, a friend, a foe, or even yourself? Combining mysticism, folklore, and originality Ms Shepard has created a harrowing look at what could be if we lost our awareness.

In this book, we met Ory and his wife Max. They and others have escaped shadow loss by hiding out for years in a remote area in the woods but one by one people start to drift away until one day, Max disappears for she as well lost her shadow. Max knows that she too, will be one of the lost, memory less, forgetting the man she loves so she leaves rather than subject Ory to her decline. However, Ory will not let her go, tracking her, following her into a world of desperation, cruelty, death and mayhem. Along the way desperately seeking Max, he encounters others, those who still have their shadow while others are now shadowless as he heads to New Orleans where the "one who gathers" has made a place for all.

There are some extremely strange and abysmal happenings in a world turned into chaos from those who roam about bent on destroying others to a cult that worships the shadowless. This is the land of nightmares, of memory loss, of a time where there are no rules other than survival, and yet amidst all this, there is hope and love as Ory will not forsake Max even though he knows she will probably not remember him if he finds her.

I have to say this book had me from the get go. To comprehend and conceive of a world where the ones I love and I lose our memory was a horrifying experience. This book gave me a new found understanding of what it must be like for people who experience Alzheimers or any type of memory loss. To be cast adrift in a world where you know nothing, something as simple as brushing your teeth or washing your hair is gone from your recognition. It is a black hole from which there is no escape. What a totally fearsome concept to conceive! I do recommend this book for making one come to the realization that it is our memories that makes us who we are. Once we lose them, we become diminished, losing in a way our humanity, becoming adrift in a sea of bewilderment, anxiety, and ambivalence.

But what if someday all memories faded away?
My reviews can also be seen here: https://wordpress.com/post/yayareadsl... ...more

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Aug 13, 2018 Kate rated it it was amazing

Shelves: read-in-2018, favorite-standalones

5/5stars

okay its been a few hours and I think I'm ready to write a real review.

So, this book was seriously incredible. I was so SHOOK after finishing it i literally got on the wrong bus NICE and I'm legit like BLOWN AWAY by the ending even a few hours later so. it was fucking awesome.

The book on the surface, I would describe as "Bird box" meets "Station Eleven" meets "The Oracle Year" - if BB and SE were actually good lol. This book was what I wanted when I was reading those books and TOY just h 5/5stars

okay its been a few hours and I think I'm ready to write a real review.

So, this book was seriously incredible. I was so SHOOK after finishing it i literally got on the wrong bus NICE and I'm legit like BLOWN AWAY by the ending even a few hours later so. it was fucking awesome.

The book on the surface, I would describe as "Bird box" meets "Station Eleven" meets "The Oracle Year" - if BB and SE were actually good lol. This book was what I wanted when I was reading those books and TOY just had a very similar feeling to this book? The plots are definitely not similar but the FEELS are definitely a like.

The book follows the world when a phenomena begins where people all around the world are losing their shadows - and with them, their memories. And so begins the apocalyptic world that this book mostly takes place during. We mostly follow Orlando "Ory" Zhang (side note: THE NARRATOR OF THE AUDIOBOOK LEGIT NEEDS TO BE FIRED SIMPLY FOR HOW HORRIBLY HE PRONOUNCED "ZHANG" I LITERALLY THOUGHT HE WAS SAYING "JOHN" THE ENTIRE TIME WHAT THE FUCK) and Max who are a married couple - and Max loses her shadow while Ory keeps his.

Just, wow, this book seriously blew me away. Everything from the characters (the whole Paul thing like wow maybe just stab me in the heart next time???) to the plot to the world to the mystery to the science to the ENDING WOW THE ENDING JUST WOW

I have to highly HIGHLY suggest this book because its seriously incredible - anyone who likes scifi, post apocalyptic, etc. you GOTTA get this on your radar!

Now I'm going to quickly talk about the ending because I have a LOT to say about it so dont read if you dont want spoilers.
(view spoiler)[
I want to talk about the Ory not accepting Max in Ursula's body thing because WOW I HAVE A LOT OF FEELINGS ABOUT IT.
Never in my life have I gone from so solidly loving a character to 100% hating them.
And no that didnt affect my love of the book - I enjoy when books make me feel a lot of emotions, including anger in a good way sometimes? yeah.
Basically, this whole thing at the end reminded me of a hypothetical situation my friend and I sometimes bring up with people. We've asked MULTIPLE groups of people over several YEARS and that is;
"if you were married to someone - you were 100% totally head over heels in love with them, you've dated for years and have now been married for years and you still totally love them, and they tell you that they had discovered that they actually identify as Transgender and want to transition, would you still love them?"
i'm disgusted to report that every single person we've ever asked this question has answered "no." while my friend and I always say "that would never be something that could ever change my LOVE for someone."
This ending with Ory and Max reminded me of this question we would ask people.
Would you love someone if their brain, their memories, their personality and their life was extracted and put into a different body?
The answer should still be "yes" but much like how our friends always answered "no" to the transgender transitioning question, Ory also answered "no."
This got UNDER MY SKIN SO MUCH LIKE WOW I honestly couldn't believe we had gone through this ENTIRE book with him searching for Max, and he finds her, and because she doesnt look how he was expecting, he doesn't believe its her.
Can you imagine if Max had gone through severe injuries? what if she had been a burn victim? or lost a limb? or something else? Would Ory have still not loved her?
this ending made Ory go from this amazing, family-oriented, loving man who cares only about his wife and making sure shes safe to a fucking douche bag who I wanted to smash his face on concrete.
Which, this might have been on purpose, maybe not, who knows?
but thats my two cents.

(hide spoiler)] ...more

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Jan 26, 2021 Imogen Kathleen rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 5-star, cry-worthy, 2021

Oh my God why did I ignore this beautiful book for so long? THAT ENDING!
I actually cannot even handle what I just read. That was incredible and painful and beautiful and fun and harrowing. I thought that I had had enough of the dystopian/apocalyptic genre... but I was so wrong.
If this is her debut novel, I cannot WAIT to see what else Peng Shepherd puts out.

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Jun 07, 2018 Janelle Janson rated it really liked it

Shelves: from-publisher-or-author, science-fiction-dystopia, 2018

Review to come...

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Feb 01, 2021 Bradley rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2021-shelf, fantasy, dystopia-yes-pls

The first half of this novel successfully gripped me hard and never let go.

It's part Walking Dead dystopian survival, part mysterious fantasy surrounding the loss of so many people's shadows (with their memories), and part massively grounded lit-SF.

And it worked, too, making my mind revolve around and around the malady, the consequences of so many people suddenly losing their shadows, and what it would mean to come across rumors of two far off communities... one in DC and the other in New Orlea ...more

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Jul 14, 2018 Anna rated it really liked it

Shelves: read-in-2018, 2018-booklist, fantastique, speculative-dystopia

Best debut I've read in a long, loooong time!

-

153 pages in - “Did you know that the word that means a group of elephants together is memory?” he asked. “A memory of elephants.”
I am so loving this book!

85 pages in and - for someone who researches identity and memory - this is pretty darn fascinating. I’m a bit creeped out, if I’m being honest. I hope that the explanation for losing one’s shadow and consequently all knowledge and memories will be fabulous. It has to be! ...more

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Mar 29, 2019 ♛ may rated it liked it

Shelves: library, asian-authors, decent, 400-pgs, fantasy, sci-fi, standalones

okay that ending??? fricken solid
the rest of the book??? kinda unnecessarily long/dense but also really well written

my main issue is that pretty much all of my questions remained unanswered and i just reaalllyyy want my answers :c

rtc i guess

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Oct 07, 2018 lark benobi rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2018

The Book of M reads like a very long game of exquisite corpse where more and more stuff happens in a never-ending logorrheal discharge of events; and that may sound like I didn't like it, but this game of exquisite corpse actually made for an entertaining book, the kind of 'entertaining' where from one sentence to the next you will say "whaaa?" and finding yourself agog with the notion that someone exists in the world, a writer named Peng Shepherd, whose connection with logic is loose enough to ...more

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Aug 03, 2018 Tori (InToriLex) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi

Content Warning: Graphic Violence

The Book of M was weird, memorable and engaging. The story will break your heart and shock you in ways your not expecting. In this world people begin to lose their shadows and then gradually lose all of their memories after. Ory and Max set out to find answers and ways to survive a constantly changing landscape. The authors does a great job of balancing multiple point of views while keeping the voices distinct and the plot moving. Ory and Max are characters you will happily cheer for along with the other characters they encounter while the world slips into chaos. Shadows randomly disappearing is bad enough but the shadow less are able to change their environments and threaten those who still have shadows.

“No one escaped—either because they were someone who lost their shadow, or because they were someone who loved someone who lost their shadow.”

The book has a very strong start but towards the later half of the book the world building became too robust. I wanted to learn more about the characters we knew but some of that took a backseat to describing the threats and ways that people have adapted in this new world. The world building itself was great but their could have been less of it. The concept was weird but never in a way that required you to hold back disbelief. The audio book narrators were male and female, they did a great job conveying the feelings and emotion of characters through the dialogue. Ory and Max embark on a journey for answers, the hardships and bad times kept me in suspense about what their fate will be.

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There is a lot of technical and anecdotal information about how memory works. But this served the story well as everyone was trying to figure out why people lost their shadows and how to stop it. Despite clunky pacing at times I still wanted to follow these characters and keep listening. There are a number of diverse characters in terms of race and sexual orientation because the story spans continents and states. I was impressed with the representation. The ending surprised me but was in line with how the book balanced realism with the fantasy of this imagined world. Readers will findemotional depth and a story to remember.

Recommended for Readers who
- enjoy adult science fiction where every characters in jeopardy
- aren't thrown by multiple points of view
- can stomach graphic violence and traumatic physical and emotional pain ...more

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Jul 17, 2018 Emily rated it really liked it

I really enjoyed this.

The Book of M is set in a world similar to our own, until suddenly certain people's shadows start disappearing. With the disappearance of a person's shadow comes the slow deterioration of their memory. And with this memory loss comes magic.

If someone forgets that cars require gas to run, their car suddenly no longer requires gas to run. If someone forgets that deer have antlers, not butterfly wings attached to their heads--boom, butterfly wings. If someone forgets that gun ...more

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About Peng Shepherd

Peng Shepherd

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Peng was born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona, where she rode horses and trained in classical ballet, and has lived in Beijing, Kuala Lumpur, London, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and New York. Her first novel, THE BOOK OF M, won the 2019 Neukom Institute for Literary Arts Award for Debut Speculative Fiction, and was chosen as a best book of the year by Amazon, Elle, Refinery29, and The Verge, as ...more

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“there’s a difference between when the mind forgets and the heart does.” — 12 likes

“Then I saw it tilt its head ever so slightly to the side, all by itself. There was a moment of coldness, like the entire room had dropped twenty degrees. I tried to take a breath, but I couldn’t move. Then it was gone.” — 3 likes

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