Ghost In The Shell - Stand Alone Complex Volume 1: The Lost Memory (v. 1) [Paperback]

Junichi Fujisaku (Author), Camellia Nieh (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 6, 2006 | Series: Stand Alone Complex (Book 1)

Since being formed as a shadow peacekeeping organization, Section 9 has faced almost countless adversaries both in the real world and in cyberspace, but none like "The Awakened," a group of terrorists who seem to have the ability to take over the minds and bodies of almost anyone and use them to commit crimes against the state, leaving their pawns unaware of who was controlling them. When Major Motoko Kusanagi is able to capture one of the boys used as a pawn she hacks into his cyberbrain to find out who the ringleader is, but what she discovers will take her and the operatives of Section 9 on a journey deep into the heart of cyberspace, and the answers she finds will shake Section 9 to its core.

Product Details

• Paperback: 213 pages
• Publisher: Dark Horse; 1st DH Press Ed edition (June 6, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1595820728
• ISBN-13: 978-1595820723
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 5.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #659,898 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Better than the average series tie-in novel., July 18, 2006

By 

Amber Hoppenworth (Joliet, IL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ghost In The Shell - Stand Alone Complex Volume 1: The Lost Memory (v. 1) (Paperback)

When I originally started watching Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex on Adult Swim, I was rather pleasantly surprised to find a tightly-plotted political drama. GitS:SAC is very much not the average anime, so I was pleased to find out that the tie-ins marketed around it were a bit left of center as well.

Taking up the tradition started by Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence: After The Long Goodbye, The Lost Memory is a prose novel that takes the reader a little bit deeper into the GitS world. This novel focuses on suicide bomber teenagers and their possible threat to a world peace leader. (The theme of teenagers as a group being such a cause of alarm to the greater populace seems to be paralleled from the film Battle Royal. Being from a Western country, it is interesting to take note of the small but telling and important differences in philosophy and social tension.)

Unlike After The Long Goodbye, The Lost Memory is sheer adventure fun. It is set during the series' first season and generally does a great job of building on the show's established universe. The characters are spot-on (helped, I'm sure, but the author being one of the series writers), and the prose is above average for other media tie-ins that I've encountered. Basically, it's worth the $9 to revisit the GitS:SAC universe.

I very much plan on buying the other books and hope there are quite a few of them. The series is addictive and intense, and if the rest of the books are on par or better than this one, I shall be a happy, happy girl.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A novel set in SAC!, June 4, 2006

By 

Michael Valdivielso (Alexandria, VA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

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This review is from: Ghost In The Shell - Stand Alone Complex Volume 1: The Lost Memory (v. 1) (Paperback)

Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex - The Lost Memory by Junichi Fujisaku is a novel set in the SAC universe series. Good Morning Terrorists, young adults who keep committing crimes every few years, seem to be linked to the Red Sands. The Red Sands are drug traffickers who have been put out of business by the peace that broke out in the Middle East and their target is the man who brought it around - Osmal Najif. But why would Japanese teenagers, who don't remember anything afterwards, become terrorists and WHY are they linked to a drug ring from the Middle East?
The story expands on the SAC universe and, being written by one of the writers of the series, really has the feel of one of the episodes. Great cover and a smooth translation.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great compliment to the animated series, January 11, 2007

By 

Andre E. R. Soares (Rio, Brazil) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Ghost In The Shell - Stand Alone Complex Volume 1: The Lost Memory (v. 1) (Paperback)

It's like reading another chapter of the Stand Alone series. If you like it, you will probably enjoy the reading, if you're waiting for some mind bending phylosophy story, you will be disappointed. It could be a little longer too, and the ending is a little predictable, but the book is very fun to read and I recommend it.