Title: The Memory Shades

Author: David Watkins

Release date: February 17th, 2026

*Huge thanks to David for sending me a digital ARC of this one!*

I’ve read a bit of David’s – definitely not enough – and so far, everything I’ve read has been wonderful. When I saw ‘The Memory Shades’ announced, I was super intrigued. I had the same feeling when his novella ‘Rhitta Gawr’ was announced and I think about that story all the time. The difference this time was the sci-fi/horror blending, which I’m a huge, huge fan of. Knowing what Watkins did with werewolves and folklore, I couldn’t wait to dive into this one and see what he’d created this time.

What I liked: Set in the future, we arrive on a distant planet where those being woken from cryo-sleep are about to learn their new reality. Here, on this planet, those who left the remnants of Earth, will be the ones to terraform this new place so humanity can continue on. Jon is one such person coming out of a deep sleep, and that’s where he discovers the trade off he made back on Earth. To avoid prison – for a horrible crime he can’t remember – he (and the other workers) will work off his sentence. And when the watch he wears finally ticks down to zero and his sentence has been completed, his memories will be restored.

It’s with that basis that Watkins sets up the day-to-day aspect of the ‘why.’ They’re there to plant the seeds, build the walls, dig the trenches, do the dirty work to get the place up and running. But things soon begin to rumble off the tracks.

There are reports of larger ‘worm’-like creatures that live below the surface, though they seem to stay farther away, closer to the coast. A few of the guys in charge are ruthless, making them work non-stop and punish them when they slack off or take an un-authorized break. And things really begin to shift when Jon – and some of the other ex-cons – begin to see ghost-like figures. In Jon’s case, it’s a bloody and brutalized woman who follows him everywhere. He thinks it might be the victim of whatever crime he committed on Earth, but he can’t be certain, his memories locked away in the vault within his implanted chip.

From here, Watkins begins to dissect the internal workings of those seeing these figures, but also throws us into a survival thriller. Jon and a few other’s head out on a scouting/retrieval mission. Another ship sent a message and then lost contact with the base. It’s while on this job that they discover the ‘worm’ creatures have grown in considerable size and threaten to destroy the base.

Watkins uses this section to humanize the characters. Up to this point, they’ve all remained fairly surface-level in terms of depth, but this is where we really see who they are and the ends they’ll go to help each other and ultimately try and defend the base. We also learn more about the implanted chips, the odd figures only some folks are seeing and also find out why some people are remembering bits and pieces from their time on Earth.

The ending is a cinematic blast. Watkins gives us an all-guns-blazing send off, with all hands on deck and tons of splattery insanity.

What I didn’t like: There was really two things that stuck out for me here. The first was that these figures some are seeing, dubbed ‘memory shades’ (hey, that’s the title!), kind of fade away from importance as the book goes on. I was hoping to learn more about the reason each one was seeing earlier on and in a bit more depth, but instead they get pushed aside to a degree during the mission and mentioned sporadically after.

The second, and this is just me being persnickety, is how the ground/soil/dirt etc. on this distant planet constantly is called earth. The ground sloughs away and it says they get covered in earth etc. etc. It drove me batty, because they’re not on Earth. Yes, lower casing ‘earth’ is frequently interchanged with dirt/soil, but when on another planet, it would be called regolith, which differentiates from earth as it won’t have the same elements as earth. And yes, I’m sounding super nerdy, but my son and I have been reading a bunch about this stuff for his current Science section about outer space and Mars, so it’s stuck in my head! And double yes, I’m being totally persnickety, lolol!

Why you should buy this: If you’re looking for a absolutely bonkers sci-fi/horror mashup where people try to survive each other and crazy creatures on another planet, look no further. Watkins has delivered perhaps his current magnum opus – a novel layered with emotions, action and deeper themes that break through the foreign planets soil when you least expect it.

From start to finish, I was hooked and throughout the entirety of reading this I was trying to picture who would play each character when this becomes a major motion picture – and it absolutely should.

Watkins has delivered an outstanding novel, one that shows his attention to detail and ability to create page-turning books.