Memory Hunter

The Facetakers #1

by Frank Morin

Sarah is more than just the top model who brought down a billion dollar industry and stumbled upon the truth behind body renting technology.  She's also earned the hatred of Mai Luan, the terrifying woman whose soul powers can do far worse things than simply kill.

Now Mai Luan has targeted the nearly immortal facetakers, those rare individuals with the power to extract souls by removing faces. Mai Luan seeks to travel their memories to siphon power from pivotal moments in history.  With that power she can reshape the future and exact revenge upon Sarah.

With history now the battlefield, Sarah plunges into the shadowy world of soul powers, facetakers, and enhanced assassins. Amid the chaos of 1945 Berlin, Sarah must face an enemy she cannot hope to defeat, with the fate of every living soul hanging in the balance.

Genres: Fantasy

370 pages, Hardcover

First published July 24, 2015

About the author

Frank Morin loves great stories, great food, and great humor. He is an outdoor enthusiast, and loves to travel for inspiration.

Frank is the author of fast-paced adventures with quirky humor including:
• The Petralist - epic teen fantasy series, full of magic, adventure, and humor.
• The Facetakers - fast-action urban fantasy
• Bacon Master of the Apocalypse – humorous epic fantasy

He and his wife are often found hiking, camping, Scuba diving, or traveling to research new books. Find out more about his novels and his shorter fiction, or join his readers group at:
https://bio.to/authorfrankmorin

Reviews

[Heather · Rating 2 out of 5]

When I read a book labeled as “book one” in a series, I expect to be starting at the beginning of the series! As it turns out, there’s a “book zero”. Do not read this one first–while you can get through it, it doesn’t stand alone well. Speaking of not standing alone well–the council of facetakers. Because we never get to see them at their supposed “normal”, the fact that they’re all supposedly acting terribly out of character has no real weight to it.

The facetakers and their enemies seem to be responsible for everything. Each chapter starts off with a quote from either a facetaker or a famous figure, all of whom seem to be well aware of the existence of heka, facetakers, and so on. This leads to one of my major problems with the book. An enchanter apparently convinced Hitler to kill the Jews in order to also kill a bunch of hunters (also, Hitler was crazy because of too many soul transfers). The hunters, of course, were “far too clever to get caught and sent off to the concentration camps…” Hoo boy. Let me count the ways in which this was a bad idea. First, there’s the implication that Hitler and the Nazis were tricked into killing the Jews, rather than placing the blame squarely where it belongs: on racist humans. Second, there’s the statement that hunters escaped the camps because they were clever. In other words, apparently if the Jews had just been more clever, they could have escaped the camps too. I can’t even… Wow. Just, if you’re going to write about Nazis, maybe have some people very carefully read over your words to be sure you aren’t accidentally offensive. (To make sure it wasn’t just me, I ran these various issues past some friends who are closer to these issues than I am. Yeah, they weren’t impressed either.)

Oh wait, speaking of offensive: "The slender Chinese-American had inherited the best of both cultures. She wore her silky, black hair long, tied back to accentuate her delicate features. Her face looked more American than Chinese…"

Okay. First, the author seems to have confused genetic inheritance with cultural. He speaks of Mai Luan as having the best of both cultures, then goes into physical details, which are genetic. Second, “American” isn’t an ethnic group, so it wouldn’t contribute genetic features. Third, following up “the best of both” with “Her face looked more American than Chinese” implies that American faces are better than Chinese. Whoops.

I’m pretty sure the author wanted me to like Sarah, but it was difficult. She’s fairly shallow. Then there’s this: "She grew accustomed to his new form very quickly, and wondered how she’d never realized he didn’t belong in Carl’s mediocre body." So… a badass operative is not believable unless he’s also ruggedly handsome? There’s no such thing as a nondescript badass? Ugh. The ultimate case of body-shaming.

One of the characters, Alter, a hunter, starts off with a very erratic personality, and lots of ridiculous mugging and posing. His personality somewhat settles down later on, but it’s too much at first.

Mai Luan is the stereotypically stupid villain, even though she must have needed some smarts to totally bamboozle the council the way she has. She has an untold number of opportunities to kill, maim, and turn in the good guys, yet she just keeps letting them go. I wish I’d thought to count the number of times she lets them go. She’s exponentially more powerful than anybody else in the book, meaning the author had to make her crazy and stupid in order to keep her from winning. It’s ridiculous.

There’s an extensive semi-dream-sequence battle that’s actually quite gripping, and is the one part of the book I really enjoyed. However, if the characters are able to think guns into being while in that reality, then they ought to be able to think a rope or ladder into being when trying to climb out of a pit.

Ultimately, I can’t recommend this book. It’s frustrating, it’s annoying, and it’s problematic.


Consider my rating a 1.5
Original review posted on my blog: http://www.errantdreams.com/2018/12/r...

[Jennifer Disario · Rating 5 out of 5]

**No Spoilers** First off, this book is AMAZING! I am thrilled that this is book one and can't wait until the next! The story has a bit for everyone... it's set in the fictional world of the Facetakers, near-immortal beings that can shift between bodies at will, who are unknown to the mortals around them except for Sarah and now her life is in peril. The book is a fast paced thrill that even involves a budding love story amid all the intrigue and battles. This read had me hooked from the first chapter! I received this book from Goodreads First Reads.

[Ursula Visser · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intrigerend verhaal! Sarah, een schoonheid die haar lichaam verhuurd, komt per ongeluk in een wereld van Facetakers terecht. Je moet je gedachten erbij houden, want je wordt eigenlijk met Sarah meegenomen in dit avontuur. Dat betekent dat je soms verward, boos en ongeduldig bent. De informatie stapelt zich op, totdat duidelijk wordt wie nu wat is en wat er aan de hand is. Het is een ware ontdekkingstocht! Geniaal bedacht door Frank Morin!

Rune Warrior is het vervolg, daar ben ik al in begonnen!

[nicki t AKA knickers · Rating 3 out of 5]

The concept was good, really, really good. Great even. But the execution was lacking. I loved all the ideas, but somehow, I didn’t really connect to any of the characters. There was too much complicated myth and lore to keep straight, and the whole Asian-esque rune groups and cultures were sort of contrived. There were too many of the same fight scenes, with minor details changed. The almost romance was distracting. It could have been better. I like this author and I’ll see how the next book starts in the series and maybe it’ll change how I see this one. Could be my mood.

[M · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm hooked to another one of Frank Morin's series. Another fun read.

[Sara Monk · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is creative, unique, and interesting! It took me about a chapter or two to get used of the alternate world of facetakers, but once I did, the book captured my attention all the way through to the end. This book is filled with twists and turns, and keeps you wondering what will happen. I could not have predicted the ending. The author did an amazing job on the characters. They felt very realistic to me; it was really easy to imagine them. I have mixed feelings about the quotes at the beginning of each chapter. In one way, they do a good job in further describing the facetakers world and the historical figures that have been part of that world. But in another way, I found them distracting and most often just wanted to jump right into the chapter. I recommend reading this book! It is a great book. I give it four stars -- which for me means that it is a great book, that I'd recommend to everyone, and I may read it again. I am really looking forward to the rest of the trilogy! Also, I wanted to mention that this book is great quality; I love it when the ink is shiny on the page.

Note: I received this book for free as part of the Goodreads first-reads giveaway. This is my honest and true review of the book.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is fantastic! Familiar characters like Sarah and Tomas move seamlessly to face the new world of the facetakers. To save the future of the world, they explore a fascinating alternate history. This novel masterfully weaves together my favorite aspects of fantasy, action, historical fiction, sci fi, romance, horror, thriller- it has everything I could wish for!