Yet another compelling read from Faith Gardner, What January Remembers is the third installment in the Jolvix Episodes, a loosely connected series of a near-futuristic society where technology has both improved everyday life and complicated it. Like its predecessors, Amen Maxine and Violet is Nowhere, What January Remembers is a fast-paced, layered novel that is both entertaining and thought provoking.

Gardner’s characters are three dimensional and relatable, each with their own voice and perspectives. Though they live in a futuristic world, their problems aren’t so different from our own, so it’s easy to feel sympathy for them, whether they are a “protagonist” or an “antagonist.” I put the terms in quotes, because there’s never a clear-cut good guy or bad guy. Like people, the characters aren’t black and white, but rather, shades of gray.

The Jagger family is struggling with two traumatic events: The death of the matriarch, and the attempted “murder” of her robotic replacement years later. Like its predecessors, What January Remembers explores the ramifications of advances in technology and poses impossible questions that make you wonder how you would (re)act in a similar situation. This installment focuses on memory: Whether you’re human or computer, whether a memory is new or old, is what you remember reliable?

Memory is really just a story you tell yourself. And it makes my heart skip a beat to wonder if I can trust myself and what I remember.

Are certain memories more reliable than others? How do time and other people’s perspectives alter our memories? And why do we remember certain things and block out others?

How come all the memories worth keeping seem to fade the fastest, and the ones I wish would leave me alone and stop haunting me seem to stay as vivid as ever?

And underneath it all is the complicated repercussions of AI technology. As January learns and becomes more human, it begs the question: What does it mean to be human? Is it organic—flesh and bones and blood? Or is it something more nebulous—the capability of learning, of growing, of feeling?

Although What January Remembers was perhaps my least favorite of the three Jolvix Episodes, it is still an outstanding book with depth and complexity that will stick with you long after the last page. Gardner has become one of the few authors whose books I will pick up without even reading the blurb, and as always, I eagerly look forward to her next release!

What January Remembers will be released Nov. 1, 2022. Click below to pre-order on Amazon.