Volatile Memory

Quotes

A Most Anticipated Book of 2025: GoodReads | Words & Brush Strokes | SheReads | BookTrib | We Are Bookish

"Propulsive, inventive, and delicious, Volatile Memory is a cyberpunk romance with a sweet and vengeful heart."—Alix E. Harrow, New York Times bestselling author of Starling House

"Murderbot meets Firefly in a Thelma & Louise–style, high-tech, thrill-a-minute hunt for freedom, justice, and revenge."—Library Journal

"Haddon combines sapphic romance, fast-paced mystery, and fascinating worldbuilding in his thrilling first sci-fi novel... Packed with combat, intrigue, and budding love, this is an exciting new direction."—Publishers Weekly

"In Volatile Memory, Seth Haddon has given us something remarkable: a cyber-fabulous zoomorphic tale of breathtaking romance and adventure that is also a heartfelt—and sometimes heartbreaking—quest to trust, to love, and to seize one’s own authentic life."—Ryka Aoki, author of Light From Uncommon Stars

"Compassionately written and juggling elements of intimacy and sweeping action, Volatile Memory is a surprisingly tender domestic tale dressed up as the best kind of pulp sci-fi.... It is a condemnation of the tyrannical past, a refutation to stasis. Joyfully, it picks apart the contradictions inherent to living, dying, and changing in a body, human or otherwise."—Hiron Ennes, author of Leech

"A dark but tender story about love, vengeance, the masks we wear for ourselves and others, and the never-ending quest for a more perfect sense of self. It’s a beautifully intimate story set in the sprawl of space, especially recommended for fans of This is How You Lose the Time War."—Yume Kitasei, author of The Deep Sky

"A sci-fi adventure wrapped in a future-tense queer love story, [Volatile Memory] follows the fate of tech hunter Wylla, whose latest acquisition is nothing but trouble. Good trouble, maybe. Haddon’s story blends high technology with compelling observations about personhood, identity, artificial intelligence, and the masks we wear. Especially the masks part."—GoodReads

"A story of identity, physicality, action, and revenge: Volatile Memory is Seth Haddon's first science fiction novel, and I hope it won't be his last."—Locus

"Puts an interesting spin on the question of what it really means to inhabit a body, and many readers will enjoy Sable's righteous female rage."—Booklist

"It can be difficult to find new science fiction that imagines unique and fascinating technology with real human stakes—Volatile Memory wins that prize. Add in a beautiful transhuman love story and a seething revenge plot, and you've got a sharp, tight narrative that had me dying to know what's next."—Bethany Jacobs, author of These Burning Stars

"Volatile Memory is a thrilling sci-fi revenge story filled with complex questions surrounding identity, gender, capitalism, and queerness. I loved how Haddon captured the haunting, sapphic romance between two profoundly different women. This is perfect for fans of This is How You Lose the Time War and Arkady Martine."—Meredith Mooring, author of Redsight

"Propulsive and remarkable—biotech exploration at its finest and most intimate, pressing the seams of form and self and life in a world of suffocating regulation, especially on its women. I was instantly sucked in by Wylla and this unlikely love, with all of its wounds and deliciously righteous rage. This is sapphic revenge with a sharp, raw heart."—Wen-yi Lee, author of The Dark We Know

Awards

• Aurealis Awards
• Lambda Literary Award - Nominee