One afternoon at an outdoor market in India, a man’s shadow disappears—an occurrence science cannot explain. He is only the first. The phenomenon spreads like a plague, and while those afflicted gain a strange new power, it comes at a horrible price: the loss of all their memories.

Ory and his wife Max have escaped the Forgetting so far by hiding in an abandoned hotel deep in the woods. Their new life feels almost normal, until one day Max’s shadow disappears too.

Knowing that the more she forgets, the more dangerous she will become to Ory, Max runs away. But Ory refuses to give up the time they have left together. Desperate to find Max before her memory disappears completely, he follows her trail across a perilous, unrecognizable world, braving the threat of roaming bandits, the call to a new war being waged on the ruins of the capital, and the rise of a sinister cult that worships the shadowless.

As they journey, each searches for answers: for Ory, about love, about survival, about hope; and for Max, about a new force growing in the south that may hold the cure.

When I first came across The Book of M I was instantly drawn in by the synopsis and I knew right there and then that I had to read this book. What intrigued me even more about was that upon doing some research I discovered that this book draws upon an event that already occurs once a year called Zero Shadow Day. If you want to read anymore on this you can do so on Peng Shepherds website using the link below:

Zero Shadow Day

As I mentioned above the synopsis alone was enough to draw me in so upon reading the book itself I instantly found myself drawn into the world and its story. The concept and story behind this book is something truly awe inspiring as not only does it draw upon a real world event but it extends that idea and twists it to create something somewhat horrifying. By horrifying I don’t mean that this book is somewhat of a horror novel but more so that the idea of what losing our shadow can do and how the impact of those effects could change the world. This is only strengthened by Peng Sheperd showing us how humanity would react to a situation of this magnitude and the extent to which some people will go to survive a near apocalyptic event.

This is all shown through the eyes of multiple characters who striving to survive in the harsh world that has been created. One of the most interesting aspects of this is reading the perspective of a character that is reliving the events and memories through a tape recorder and I think is a great idea because this is something that could get left behind in a dystopian world. Seeing each character trying to live in such a harsh world where you are always on edge makes for a gripping read, this is due not knowing what I is round the next corner or if someone will hurt you.

The characters themselves are one of the books strongest aspects as I found myself being emotionally drawn to them. However there was one character that I found had a slightly duller point of view but at the same time I was still interested enough to see their story play out. The Book of M certainly doesn’t pull any punches and this was incredible to read as it truly showed the depths to which humanity can fall and what it will do to one another to survive.

All in all I thoroughly enjoyed reading The Book of M, Peng Sheperd has created a grim but very realistic world with a fantastic story to back up it up and I look forward to see what has planned for her next book.