Imprint Legacy by Dorian Keys is a science fiction short story. Detective Robert Miers and his partner Steven Enry are part of New City’s Interstate Operations Unit, working with the FBI to solve unusual cases. While investigating a missing persons case, a tip leads Robert and Steven to a house in Ohio. But nothing there is as they expected. Ten days later, Robert is missing chunks of his memories and his actions are under investigation by the New City Police Department because Steven disappeared that night. Will Robert be able to find his missing partner? And even if he does, will anything ever be the same for him again once he learns that reality is far different from what he’s always believed?

This book has an intriguing premise with a unique world parallel to reality, and I enjoyed reading this story. The ten day time jump between Chapter One and Chapter Two left me a bit confused, but I knew exactly how Robert was feeling because he had no idea what was going on either. The entire story was told from his point of view, so I only knew what he knew, which allowed me to feel his emotions as he tried to figure out what had happened to him during the gap in his memories.

I liked the addition of ‘aliens’ who were actually humans. There were many elements of this world that were unique from other science fiction stories I’ve read. A lot happens in the story given the short length, and I would have liked the book to be a bit longer because I wanted to know more. Some things could have been explained or described in more detail, like the technology used by the Caretakers and the imprinting of Caretakers. And I felt that the story ended a bit abruptly. I wanted to see Robert reunite with his family, and I was left to wonder if he would accept his fate as a Caretaker or continue to try to fight against it.

But all this is to say that this was a fantastic story that I wanted more of. This really could have been a longer novel because Dorian Keys has done a fantastic job of setting compelling characters along a provocative plot against an intriguing background.

Pages: 76 | ASIN: B07NSNMSGF