Review: Quantos Chronicles: The Scents of Memory by Alan Parkin

Review: Quantos Chronicles: The Scents of Memory by Alan Parkin 

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

It doesn’t take much to get me interested in a story if its premise is intriguing. While there are some tropes in science fiction that I’ve seen time and time again, I am not opposed to exploring somewhat familiar ideas if I think something different may be done with them. 

Alan Parkin’s Quantos Chronicles grabbed my attention for a few reasons, chief of which being I love the idea of exploring what could happen if we had the ability to alter memories. The premise of the story didn’t take long to grab me, and the rest of the narrative kept me on my toes all the way through. 

Before I go into any further detail, however, let’s talk about the story’s plot. 

Summary 

The story opens with a woman named Jenna Floyd being shown around a facility for an organization called Quantos. Jenna is struggling with a traumatic memory and yearns for relief from the pain it has caused her. When Quantos offers her the opportunity to take part in a trial for a drug that could alter this memory, she accepts. 

However, as the trial goes on, she learns that there may be more to her situation than she originally thought. As she continues to participate, she realizes that the scientists at the head of the project have more in mind for her than just altering her memory. 

Thoughts 

This story has a highly interesting setup. I love the idea of the main protagonist struggling with a traumatic memory and enlisting in the trial at the heart of the story to try and better her life. Seeing Jenna’s time at Quantos worked well to keep me invested, as I was always wondering what would come next. The idea behind the drug at the heart of the trial is intriguing, too, and seeing her mind react to it made me wonder what would happen as the experiment continued. 

Outside of that, seeing the Quantos facility was interesting as well. The implications of the facility made me want to know more about how it contributes to society outside the grounds. Topics like that are briefly touched upon, but I am curious about some of the implications brought up when the story discusses Quantos’ work.  

All in all, I’m very interested in what the story has presented here and think it works very to pull the reader in. Now that I’ve talked about those random thoughts, let’s move on to the story’s structure!

Structure 

I think the way this story is built is one of its strongest aspects. Keeping Jenna within the facility allows her to undergo the trial without interruption. This leads to an organized structure that is easy to follow, as the narrative only focuses on her. Each chapter builds upon previously established information and allows for tension to climb throughout the story. 

However, there is one aspect of the story that I think could have benefited from more buildup. One of the relationships in the story needed more setup to be entirely believable. Likewise, the narrative’s conclusion is also rather abrupt. I think fleshing out these two things more so they flow better within the context of the story could have helped the pacing. 

In the end, the structure had both positive and negative aspects. That said, I was still heavily invested in the ideas being presented. With all that covered, let’s move on to the writing. 

Writing

At first, the prose was somewhat off-putting because I wasn’t sure why it was so tense at first. That said, the writing shows more than just tension as time goes on, as the emotional moments of this story are clearly communicated with care. I like that the prose displays all emotional facets of this narrative, from the suspense regarding Jenna’s treatment to the tragic nature of her memories. The writing has flair that – despite Jenna’s unease regarding her treatment – conveys the reasons for her decisions while the mood and tone illustrate her resolve. 

I want to discuss dialogue as well. One thing that I like a lot about this story is how it gives hints as to what each character is like. For example, one of the first employees Jenna meets at Quantos has a gentle tone and demeanor when speaking. In a similar vein, a patient she meets also has a similar gentle tone when discussing serious topics, but expresses a joy as well, which conveys the character’s fun-loving personality and desire to experience new things. 

Overall, I really enjoyed how the writing balanced emotion, tension, and warmth to create an experience that was easy to get invested in. 

Well, I think that covers everything. Let’s wrap this up! 

Conclusion

I really like the premise this story plays with. While I did see some things in its execution that I didn’t love, I’m still very interested in this idea and where the narrative may (if there is a sequel) go next. I think the subjects and themes being discussed here are well worth looking into. 

For these reasons, I will be giving this story five stars.