Hello! I've just reread Arkady Martine's a Memory Called Empire and I had a question about a key plot thing:
>!When Mahit sees Yskandr's dead body she says that the imago machine in it 'is probably useless now. He's dead, and it's been recording brain decay for three months'. But it seems to work ok when she gets it installed later! Was she lying previously?!<
Looking forward to your thoughts :)
^(I'm going to try and keep this free of major spoilers, but reader beware.)
The first evidence that A Memory Called Empire is ~Different~ is its dedication:
>This book is dedicated to anyone who has ever fallen in love with a culture that was devouring their own.
This is not something that I've ever had to deal with. Its not something that, I suspect, most people reading this have had to deal with. If I really stretch my imaginative muscles I can probably identify times and places where this was an issue for people but personally this is not something I'd ever put any meaningful thought into before.
Martine then leads us on a beautiful introduction to Teixcalaan, a culture that, if we were to look at its flaws first, is a dictatorial surveillance-state prone to bloody changes of power and culturally dependent upon expansion and imperialism. However, to look at the other side of the coin, there is a culture that loves flowers, poetry, aesthetics, subtle turnings of phrase. I mean, imagine if all internal memos of your company were cyphered with the song that's currently at the top of the billboard 100(or the Haiku of the Week, if we were to more directly translate it).
However I think that the true brilliance of this book is that Martine basically invites us to make Teixcalaanli names for ourselves. First by making the Teixcalaanli Name™ have very distinct rules(number and inanimate object, usually natural) and second by bringing up the subject of making Teixcalaanli names for oneselves at least twice. I'm sure I'm not the only one who idly thought, while reading this book, "if I were immigrating to Teixcalaan, what Teixcalaanli name would I choose for myself"(Sixty-one Bauxite) and like that her trap is sprung.
We as readers are invited to make Teixcalaanli names. We're given very simple rules and told to look for(or make) subtlety in their interpretation in ways that knowing "Elizabeth comes from the Hebrew for 'My God is an Oath'" just doesn't really seem to fill. We see this culture, see it at its worst, and go, "yeah, but..." and we're just that little bit in love with it.
I remember talking to my friend about this book and hearing how they wanted to cosplay as an information ministry agent at sci-fi cons and hand out infofiche sticks to invite people to poetry salons and I'm just feel like I have to applaud Arkady for playing us so well.
Hi everyone! I'm Arkady Martine. My first novel, A Memory Called Empire, a space opera with a political thriller and a pretty obsessive look at assimilation and imperialism hidden inside it, came out in 2019 and won the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 2020, which is still a remarkable phrase to type. The sequel, A Desolation Called Peace, came out in March of this year. It has more aliens, more space combat, and more kissing, as well as just as much political intrigue and people arguing about poetic allusion. I also write many short stories -- I love short fiction as an art form. And I just finished a novella called ROSE/HOUSE, which will be out from Subterranean Press in 2022 (that's the locked-room mystery with AIs, Le Corbusier, dead men with rose petals in their mouths, and a truly egregious Shirley Jackson reference that I was working on last time I was here on r/Fantasy).
Next project is a novel called Prescribed Burn, which is about water wars, arson, drought, smart grids (REALLY smart grids, the kind that talk back), and a coverup of a murder. It's set in mid-future Los Angeles, which is utterly weird for me (the obsessive New Yorker), and also very challenging, because I've never done this-world SF at length before. It's heavily influenced by Tana French, Raymond Chandler, William Gibson, and Max Gladstone (especially his TWO SERPENTS RISE, which you all should read).
When I'm not writing, I work as a policy advisor for the Cabinet Secretary of Energy, Minerals, & Natural Resources of the State of New Mexico. I've been a Byzantinist (still am, have the PhD to prove it), and written a lot of academic articles & book chapters on Byzantine imperialism and medieval Armenia. My current job happened after I spent a while retraining as an urban planner and falling in love with energy policy and infrastructure.
I currently live in Santa Fe, with my wife Vivian Shaw (author of Strange Practice, Dreadful Company, and Grave Importance, though my favorite work of hers is her horror short stories). Viv and I are working on a book together, which is amazingly fun.
I'm super excited to be here! Please ask me anything including, of course, why I support the cause to end violence against women and girls.
Please consider supporting The Pixel Project (http://www.thepixelproject.net) and their upcoming Read for Pixels campaign ([https://www.thepixelproject.net/community-buzz/read-for-pixels/](https://www.thepix
... keep reading on reddit ➡I was reading https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/a37706311/lee-pace-foundation-coats/ and was overjoyed to read this:
> Lee Pace and I have formed a sci-fi book club. His idea. Without anyone intending it, dinner at a Japanese restaurant in Brooklyn has turned into our club’s unofficial first meeting. There’s The Lord of the Rings and Dune, of course, which the actor has read more times than he remembers. He also sings the praises of his favorite writer, Ursula K. Le Guin, and the universe-rattling Three-Body Problem, by Cixin Liu. He pulls out his Kindle to show me the Bobiverse series, which he’s currently reading, and to download a couple books I suggest (Ann Leckie’s Ancillary Justice and Arkady Martine’s A Memory Called Empire). I have no doubt he’ll read them immediately... Pace strikes me as not just a fan but a scholar of sci-fi.
There is perhaps no work more relevant to the adaptation of Foundation than A Memory Called Empire (Amazon link), which won the Hugo Award for Best Novel last year. And if you're a fan of the show and of written sci-fi, you should absolutely read it too.
Like Foundation, Memory revolves around the spacefaring history-steeped Teixcalaan empire that seems (but perhaps only seems?) infinite and indomitable, and revolves around that core question of empire: how can a leader project their influence and consciousness across future generations? And should a leader project their influence and consciousness across future generations?
Into this world comes a plucky Gaal-esque ambassador from a newly-annexed space-station culture, one that has developed a secret and groundbreaking technology (no spoilers, this is from the very first pages): a neurological implant that allows a person to see the memories of, and consult with, the predecessors for their job or role. No doubt this would be gamechanging in the context of Foundation's Empire, and in Memory the myriad consequences, intrigues, and culture shocks of the worldviews of these colliding civilizations are explored with vivid detail, massive worldbuilding, and incredibly empathic writing.
Of course, nothing is quite as it seems. What happens when the barrier between oneself and one's predecessors starts to break down? Is an individual truly an individual? It should go without saying that Lee Pace is perhaps the single best person to read a book like this in the entire world.
Foundation's adaptation is a bel
... keep reading on reddit ➡A Memory Called Empire is the first novel in a duology written by Arkady Martine. A badass lesbian historian with a Ph.D. in the Byzantine Empire. so cool right?!?! The book takes a lot of inspiration in its universe building from the Byzantine, Aztec, and the Mixtec people of Oaxaca. Anyone who is a fan of Byzantine History and/or listeners of Robin Pierson's The History of Byzantium podcast will recognize many Byzantine inspirations in the Teixcalaanli Empire.
The book follows Mahit Dzmare as she's about to begin her time as the new Ambassador to the Teixcalaanli Empire for her home, the Lsel Station. Throughout my time reading it I fell in love with the two main characters as they navigated the bureaucratic monstrosity that is the Teixcalaanli Empire. The book is full of tidbits and nods to a rich culture but the plot and pacing never felt weighed down by the details, flowing easily from page to page.
This book, and its sequel A Desolation Called Peace are wonderful works of art and creativity taking inspiration from ancient cultures and weaving them seamlessly into a futuristic galactic wide empire. These books ask questions of what defines self or a person, challenging not only the characters to come to terms with different possibilities as well as the readers.
This book and its sequel are ones I plan on revisiting for a re-read next year, I loved them that much. I can't wait to be reunited with Mahit and Three Seagrass again.
A Memory Called Empire gets a perfect 5/5 Scissors ✂✂✂✂✂
I recently decided to read more short fiction, and am working my way through some favorite authors. Since I've finished everything by Arkady Martine (Author of A Desolation Called Peace), I thought I'd share my favorites from them, and where they can be read free online!
- Arkady Martine (1985-)
- *Texicalaanli Duology (2019-2021)
- Short Stories
I’ve had a tough time of it recently finding good space space opera that blends character development, action, and political intrigue. I’m a Dune series fan to my core, and for me, Herbert is hard to match.
That being said, A Memory Called Empire and the sequel, A Desolation Called Peace have both been a delight. I’m just as wrapped up in the inner turmoil of her characters as I am with the turbulent politics and world building of her universe. If anyone else is looking for good sci fi in the tradition of Herbert, Gibson and Asimov, give her books a read.
“Released, I am a spear in the hands of the sun.”
So What’s It About?
Ambassador Mahit Dzmare arrives in the center of the multi-system Teixcalaanli Empire only to discover that her predecessor, the previous ambassador from their small but fiercely independent mining Station, has died. But no one will admit that his death wasn’t an accident—or that Mahit might be next to die, during a time of political instability in the highest echelons of the imperial court.
Now, Mahit must discover who is behind the murder, rescue herself, and save her Station from Teixcalaan’s unceasing expansion—all while navigating an alien culture that is all too seductive, engaging in intrigues of her own, and hiding a deadly technological secret—one that might spell the end of her Station and her way of life—or rescue it from annihilation.
What I Thought
I’m clawing my way out of the abyss to write more questionable reviews! I'd put my rating for this book at about a 3.5/5 or 4/5. I definitely couldn’t write a debut of such an impressive quality, but there were a few things that annoyed me about the book that I just couldn’t overlook throughout.
The portion of the book that is dedicated to political intrigue is thoroughly enjoyable. I loved piecing the story of Yskandr’s death together and it was really satisfying to understand how his story fits in with the troubles that plague Teixcalaan and Lsel Station. The book is also incredibly strong when it’s focusing on Mahit’s imposter syndrome and conflicted love for Teixcalaan. In some ways it reminds me of A Stranger in Olondria by Sofia Samatar with its excellent depiction of what it’s like to be drawn in by the allure of a powerful foreign empire, the desire to be part of something that is glorious and simultaneously bent on eating you whole – never quite belonging and yet wanting to so badly. It shows the often-inevitable >!(though, in this case, successfully-defied)!< encompassing reach of empire, the way that nothing touched by it stays the same. I will also say that I loved the ending >!with Mahit’s decision to return to Lsel.!< The book touches on themes of memory, identity and self-hood in different cultures – not to the extent that I came out of reading it with a lot of new ideas or concepts to chew on, but enough to keep me deeply engaged to be certain.
As for what didn’t work so well for me, one of my quibbles is that I think the book might be stronger if it spent a l
... keep reading on reddit ➡A Desolation Called Peace was easily one of my most anticipated reads of the year. I adored every page of A Memory Called Empire. Every word felt deliberate. Every bit of the book was saturated in the themes that Arkady Martine sought to emphasize, in ways both subtle and obvious. It seemed unbelievably well-polished for a debut novel, and I felt it was fully deserving of the Hugo it won. So it’s fair to say that I was eager to see how she would follow it up with A Desolation Called Peace.
Spectacularly, as it turned out.
Going forward there are some spoilers for A Memory Called Empire. I’ve tried to avoid them for the most part, but it’s impossible to discuss A Desolation Called Peace without mentioning some of them. So if you’ve yet to read A Memory Called Empire, well, go read it and then come back to this review. Also, from here on out I’ll refer to A Memory Called Empire simply as Memory and A Desolation Called Peace as Desolation.
The focus of this book shifts a bit, compared to Memory’s. Most of this story is not told amongst the flowers and poetry of the Teixcalaanli capitol. Instead the action centers on a battle group, a fleet of Teixcalaanli ships six legions strong engaging in battle against a new and mysterious race in the remote region of space that lies beyond Lsel Station. It provides us with another opportunity to see the ingrained dismissiveness that most of Teixcalaan has for anything not itself. Though in this case quite a bit of it is also directed towards aliens we barely understand, instead of all at POV character we come to know intimately.
Speaking of POV character, there are four of them in this novel. And Arkady Martine does a wonderful job of making them all distinct and well-realized. The first is Eight Antidote, the Imperial Heir. He is only eleven; young, brilliant, and sheltered. Though the failed coup attempt of the last book has opened his eyes to things he had not previously considered. He finds himself wondering where he fits into the Empire now, before he is of age to sit on the Sunspear Throne. As well as wondering what he wants his Teixcalaan to be, and how to achieve it.
Nine Hibiscus is the only POV character we hadn’t seen in the previous book. She’s been freshly promoted from Legion Commander to Yaotlek, placing her in charge of the six legions Teixcalaan has sent to deal with the alien forces at the edge of Teixcalaanli space. She’s a charismatic commander, commanding a great deal of loyalty from the so
... keep reading on reddit ➡Wow. I just finished this book a few hours ago, and it was quite frankly phenomenal. It was one of the best I’ve read in a long time, and I’m thrilled for the upcoming sequel!
Some books, when you read them, you can tell are smart. You can tell the author thought out not just every plot point, but every sentence, every word on the page. Martine’s prose is wonderfully clever, and every scene is so layered and juicy that I almost want to reread this book immediately to squeeze out every detail.
The protagonist is fantastic. I read a lot of fantasy, and it’s awesome to see characters who are badass and clever and capable and powerful that aren’t fighters or mages or things like that. Characters that have little physical power, but immense agency and narrative power nonetheless. I loved Mahit, how she felt so out of her depth and scared but rose to the occasion with cleverness and intellect anyway. The political elements of the book were done so well, and Mahit’s part in them was wonderful to see.
The romance in this book was so well done, and honestly I just wanted more. The interactions between all the characters were very well done but this particular relationship was the best in my opinion, and it was because there was so much to it. Thematic elements, politics, friendship, trust, companionship, and just a dash of romance was amazing to read. If there’s anything I want from the sequel, it’s more of these two! Also, some really nice LGBTQ rep if that interests you!
Looking forward to A Desolation Called Peace!
>An alien threat lurks on the edges of Teixcalaanli space. No one can communicate with it, no one can destroy it, and Fleet Captain Nine Hibiscus is supposed to win a war against it.
In a desperate attempt to find a diplomatic solution, the fleet captain has sent for an envoy to contact the mysterious invaders. Now Mahit Dzmare and Three Seagrass – both still reeling from the recent upheaval in the Empire – face an impossible task: they must attempt to negotiate with a hostile entity, without inadvertently triggering the destruction of themselves and the Empire.
Whether they succeed or fail could change the face of Teixcalaan forever.
Assume spoilers for A MEMORY CALLED EMPIRE!
A DESOLATION CALLED PEACE by Arkady Martine continues what made the first book so wonderful. It’s a jewel of a book that shines in many lights. I went into this completely blind, having only my memory of the first book. (um, possible pun unintended.) While this book doesn’t directly explain the former events, there were enough reminders that getting back into the rhythm of things was relatively easy.
This definitely isn’t a book to kick back and relax to. Well, it wasn’t for me anyway. I had to really pay attention to what I was reading. Similar to the first book, there’s a slight learning curve. This isn’t a knock on the book. It made me actually notice the little details. The interesting tattoo on Twelve Cicada, for instance. Or noticing the idiosyncrasies of the different POVS.
I appreciated how well fleshed out the characters were. The writing was done in such a way that there was never any confusion on who the focus was on. My personal favorite sections to read were Mahit’s because I liked seeing how she grappled with just being. She is Mahit, but she is also someone else. She is also an older version of that someone else. She is the personification of memory.
The worldbuilding and other intricacies are astounding. There’s almost a petty nature to all the secrets people are keeping in this book, even from the Emperor Herself. We don’t see it directly, but there are hints at another world. There are hints at another civilization in the interludes. I think the fact that we don’t get more information makes these hints and sections that much more intriguing.
I will say that I found Eight Antidote’s sections…not hit or miss exactly, because I genuinely enjoyed them. But it felt like we were constantly reminded that he was e
... keep reading on reddit ➡Initially I thought this book may have won the award on diversity points: female and LGBT author, female protagonist, predominately female and/or queer secondary characters. But I was wrong. It's a great fucking story. Clever, great scifi concepts and world building, believable characters, terrific dialogue. I'm a big fan and eager to read whatever Martine produces next. Well worth the read if you're looking for a new book.
#Jos' Quarantine edition mini reviews #3 featuring Arkady Martine, Django Wexler, Essa Hansen and R.F Kuang
Well, the past few weeks while we’re back in total lockdown, I decided to not spend my holiday reading books and playing video games for relaxation but instead reading books and playing video games at home for the Fatherland. I read a bunch of recent books. So I figured to do some mini-reviews again.
##Nophek Gloss by Essa Hansen
Here’s the blurb: > When a young man's planet is destroyed, he sets out on a single-minded quest for revenge across the galaxy in Nophek Gloss, the first book in this epic space opera trilogy by debut author Essa Hansen, for fans of Revenger and Children of Time. Caiden's planet is destroyed. His family gone. And, his only hope for survival is a crew of misfit aliens and a mysterious ship that seems to have a soul and a universe of its own. Together they will show him that the universe is much bigger, much more advanced, and much more mysterious than Caiden had ever imagined. But the universe hides dangers as well, and soon Caiden has his own plans.
>He vows to do anything it takes to get revenge on the slavers who murdered his people and took away his home. To destroy their regime, he must infiltrate and dismantle them from the inside, or die trying.
I’m a big fan of space opera adventures. What I look for is a punchy narrative, cool tech that does something interesting and aliens being aliens, and if a book has a spaceship crew hamming it up it’s a good recipe for me to fall in love.
Nophek Gloss has all of that. An unrelenting revenge story, an orphan finding a found family with a spaceship crew. Weird worlds (there’s a planet hidden inside a space-whale). Aging your body while uploading in knowledge, cool stuff like that.
I like the narrative pace, it doesn’t really slow down, it just moves along, it doesn’t spend time explaining things to you more than necessary; this is space-opera after all, we don’t need to understand how a giant planet holding spacewhale exists it just does. The plot isn’t surprising or does anything really new, and even if the start of the book is a bit clumsy in the opening chapters, it’s just a fun ride through the multiverse, and a Solid debut novel.
I loved the descriptions of the aliens and mutated and augmented humans, they painted a great picture. One of the sci-fi spins is that Nophek Gloss resolves not just about galactic travel, but about multiverse travel, yet I didn’
... keep reading on reddit ➡Was there ever a more perfect opportunity to call a book Five Stars novel?
>"To ravage, to slaughter, to usurp under false titles—this they name empire;
and where they make a desert, they call it peace.
—TACITUS (QUOTING CALGACUS), AGRICOLA 30
When the most (in)famous critique of Pax Romana serves as an inspiration for the title of the novel why should I be surprised Arkady Martine threw at me another book full of harsh truths, universal issues and historical events to draw parallels from. You know how A Memory Called Empire was described as a scifi murder mystery, but was actually about "falling in love with the culture that's devouring your own"? The Desolation is as equally byzantine, it’s more than just a First Contact story synopsis makes it appear. It's about communication and the failure of; it’s about love and affection, legacy and perspective, power and oppression. And it’s also a lot about cultural identity or to make it aligned with previous, "where do you belong once you fell in love with culture that's devouring your own.”
The story continues right where we left of: with new alien threat looming on the edges of huge Teixcalaan Empire. Nobody knows anything about them, who they are and what they want. We get to see what Teixcalaan authorities are doing about this through point of view of Nine Hibiscus, newly appointed yaotlek, chief general for this military campaign. She was given the position to make decisions by new Emperor, Her Brilliance Nineteen Adze. The challenges of ruling an Empire is, curiously, not being shown from her perspective, but from the point of view of Eight Antidote, ten years old clone of old emperor who is learning to be like him, or at least trying to fit the role intended for him. As for characters we are more closely familiar with and, undoubtedly, most interested in their fate, they are once again very important cogs in the whole thing.
When we start the novel, Mahit Dzmare is back on Lsel Station after the whole Teixcalaan fiasco, knowing one of Councillors gave her faulty imago and probably wants her dead. In the meantime, Three Seagrass, a new shining star of Information Ministry, is bored. So, in case you ask yourself how on earth will Martine bring this duo right back at the centre of this conflict, just start from there: Three Seagrass is bored. :) Nine Hibiscus, in her eternal wisdom, was thinking outside of (Teixcalaan) box and decided that perhaps be
... keep reading on reddit ➡It's been a fair few months since I honestly enjoyed a book so much I kept leaping back to reading, even when I needed to be doing other things.
A Memory Called Empire is the debut space opera by Martine, and it's a cracker. Set in the far future, the stars have been colonised by the Teixcalaanli Empire, an empire built on poetry, oration, culture, ritual sacrifice and colonisation. The empire, at it's heart has always expanded, and always devoured what it came in contact with, whether that be through diplomacy or war. But that's really just the backdrop. The story of Memory is that of one Mahit Dzmare, newly appointed ambassador of Lzel Station to the Empire. Whisked off at a moments notice, no time really to prepare (for all that her life has been leading to this), she finds herself mixed up in political intrigue, a murder mystery and the notion of being The Other right from the first moment she sets foot into the Empire.
I'll try to be a little cohesive with this review; there's simply so much to talk about, so much to go over, for all that the plot, when simplified, is fairly straightforward. There's a death, a behind the scenes investigation, political manoeuvring for the next heir to the throne, and then a coup. Err, simple.
Let's start with words. The Teixcalaanli, as a culture, are heavily based on poetry and oral traditions - everything is written down and makes its way into some kind of verse. For admission exams, the Lsel Stationers have to be aware of multiple styles of poetry to even have a chance of fitting in. For the Teixcalaanli, it takes such prominence that contests are held at court to see who is the finest orator. They're a mix of cultures and mores that we can draw parallels to from our world (Martine is a Byzantine scholar, which does show); you have a mix of the as aforementioned Byzantine in their city makeup. A whole dose of Mexica in their war like tendencies. Mongol steppe. America. Rome. According to Martine, the naming convention she uses for the Teixcalaanli come from the Mixtec people of Oaxaca. You can find a breakdown here.
I want to talk about the stationer's culture. Being a race that have finite space and finite resources, they had to develop other methods of surviving. For them, this meant the development of a technology which would share the experiences and memories of those who've passed away onto suitable candidates. This technology, the Im
... keep reading on reddit ➡https://io9.gizmodo.com/get-a-first-look-at-arkady-martines-sequel-to-acclaimed-1843714950
Even though it's sci-fi, it reminded me of a lot of a fantasy novel since the focus was more on world building in a strange culture rather than exploring futuristic themes. Anyways, just wanted to share!
Mahit Dzmare has been appointed as the new ambassador from Lsel Station to the homeworld of the vast Teixcalaanli Empire. The previous ambassador has gone silent under unusual circumstances and Mahit's job is to find out what happened to him and why he failed to return home for fifteen years prior and how he has maintained Lsel's independence. Mahit's mission is complicated by a malfunctioning implant containing the memories of her predecessor (fifteen years out of date) and by an internal web of politics within the Empire which threatens to undermine Lsel's position...whilst factions on Lsel itself are interfering with her work from afar.
A Memory Called Empire is the debut novel by Arkady Martine and the first part of a loosely-connected duology (a second book, A Desolation Called Peace, will be published in early 2021). It is a far-future, science fiction epic revolving around the Teixcalaanli, a civilisation that fuses cyberpunk technology (though with a proscription against brain implants) and Aztec and Mongol cultural influences.
As is always handy when introducing an alien new culture, our POV character is herself an outsider. Mahit hails from a much more practical, pragmatic society based inside a space station, a self-regulating habitat which is totally technology-dependent with no single points of failure. Every time someone dies, their memories and something of their personality are implanted in a successor, who gains access to their lifetime's knowledge and experience and can start building on it. As such every life is inherently important, as it contributes materially to the development of the culture and society as a whole. This is the inverse of Teixcalaanli, where brain implants are seen as anathema and the society is much more inherently conservative: with access to amazing technology which could be used to create entertainment, their primary cultural obsession remains poetry.
There's a lot of clever ideas floating around in A Memory Called Empire. The philosophical concept of identity and how it is built from memory and cultural influences is a key part of the text, but one this explored subtly and intelligently throughout. There is also a fair bit of worldbuilding of the Teixcalaanli and their homeworld, which is mostly achieved through plot developments and action. Infodumping is occasional but fortunately rare. Characterisation is strong, as Mahit expertly chooses which sides of herself (and her culture) to show to the Teixcalaanli,
... keep reading on reddit ➡Welcome to our Book Discussion!
October 2020 - A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine
This discussion will take place between October 24th - 31st. Post your thoughts on the book, the writing, or anything related to the book or the genre.
(I don't have any optional discussion questions this month, unfortunately-- ran out of time!)
Check back on from November 1st - 3rd to help us pick a book for December!
November's Book: Upright Women Wanted by Sarah Gailey
>"How goes this stupid rebellion, Nineteen Adze?" asked the Emperor.
>
>"Stupidly," Nineteen Adze said...
On the dedication page, Ms Martine expressed this sentiment,
>This book is dedicated to anyone who has ever fallen in love with a culture that was devouring their own.
That is a powerful statement, and it is one I wrestled with in my head for years. I am an ethnically Chinese person residing in Malaysia, and one thing any Malaysian kid learned growing up is the long succession of world powers and nations that have brought my country to heel throughout history: the Portuguese, the Dutch, the Brits, and for a brief and horrifying period, the Japanese as well. And thanks to the cultural dominance of the United States and the English-speaking world, we grew up soaking in American pop culture too. I consume predominantly media in the English language—be it books, films, or TV shows. I cannot read or write Chinese. I am not cognizant of most Malaysian screen or print media, and have never developed a taste for Malay works. You see that sometimes in the Western media, when they want to humanise people in the third world, they tell us how so-and-so brown person loves Michael Jackson or the Avengers. Without realising it, their measure for our level of civilisation is our love of theirs.
So thanks to that primer by the author, I was expecting a very introspective and socio-anthropological examination of the idea of cultural hegemony—but I felt like I was being misled. What I ultimately received in A Memory Called Empire is a potboiling political thriller wearing a space opera hat. The story follows Mahit, a rookie ambassador who was being sent to the heart of the imperialist and colonialist Teixcalaanli empire as a replacement of the previous ambassador who passed away under highly suspicious circumstances—so highly suspicious that the corpse might as well have "I was murdered lol" tattooed on its bum. The Teixcalaanli empire is nominally inspired by the Aztecs, but in truth, it is more a stand-in for contemporary USA with its sense of self-assured cultural superiority, its ignorance of the customs of other nations, and its smartphone addiction—but with a bit of blood sacrifice thrown in for seasoning like ketchup. And like ketchup, that's not a lot of flavour. Sure, we are told that the Teixcalaanli people are shorter and browner than the protagonist's people, and that they emote with their eyes rather than their faces, but these diff
... keep reading on reddit ➡Hiya, I'm working through various award winners lists and sprinkling these new reviews in with book I've adored multiple times. Again the premise is give a recomendation detailing what is particularily good (to me) about a book without spoiling the damn story.
I'm not sure if I would be allowed to link a video ( this is a bold claim once you see the "video") that I did to talk about this book ( mods please advise )). I wish I could just do a screen grab but this isn't a feature here, so forgive the bland list!
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Abysmal --> Poor --> Limited --> Decent --> Good --> Great --> Phenomenal
Characters - Great
Plot - Good
World Building - Phenomenal
Pace - Great
Coolness - Good
Pull Factor - Good
Emotion - Decent
Final Score: 5.4/7
Aboslutely read this book
Those of you that have read this, do these scores line up with yours? If anyone takes up this suggestion, please do let me know if you enjoyed it as much as I did!
Hi everyone! I'm Arkady Martine. My first novel, A Memory Called Empire, a space opera with a political thriller embedded in its core (my then-publicist called it 'House of Cards in space') came out in 2019, and is nominated for the Hugo and Nebula for Best Novel this year (eeee.) The sequel, A Desolation Called Peace, comes out early next year. I also write many short stories -- my most recent one was in Uncanny Magazine last week, over here: A Being Together Amongst Strangers. I like short fiction a lot, as an art form; it's like writing puzzleboxes. (You can find more short fiction on my website, which has links to most of it.)
Right now I'm working on a locked-room mystery novella about a desert, an AI-haunted house, and a dead man with rose petals shoved into his mouth when really there shouldn't have been anyone to do the shoving -- and a novel called Prescribed Burn, which is about water wars, arson, drought, smart grids (and what might happen if they kinda turned into little gods), and a coverup of a murder. It's kinda what happened to me when I stuck Tana French, William Gibson, and Raymond Chandler in a blender in my head, and thought a bunch about climate change at the same time. It's a procedural. Ish.
When I'm not writing, I work as a policy advisor for the Cabinet Secretary of Energy, Minerals, & Natural Resources of the State of New Mexico, so you can guess why I spend this much time thinking about electricity. I've been a Byzantinist (still am, have the PhD to prove it), and written a lot of academic articles & book chapters on Byzantine imperialism and medieval Armenia. My current job happened after I spent a while retraining as an urban planner and falling in love with energy policy and infrastructure.
I like systems. Essentially.
I'm a faintly obsessive New Yorker (born and raised), but I currently live in Santa Fe, with my wife Vivian Shaw (author of Strange Practice, Dreadful Company, and Grave Importance, though my favorite work of hers is her horror short stories, like this one: Black Matter). Viv and I are working on a book togethe
... keep reading on reddit ➡This is the sequel to A Memory Called Empire and it's everything we've wanted to see in a second book.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37794149-a-memory-called-empire
> Ambassador Mahit Dzmare arrives in the center of the multi-system Teixcalaanli Empire only to discover that her predecessor, the previous ambassador from their small but fiercely independent mining Station, has died. But no one will admit that his death wasn't an accident—or that Mahit might be next to die, during a time of political instability in the highest echelons of the imperial court.
> Now, Mahit must discover who is behind the murder, rescue herself, and save her Station from Teixcalaan's unceasing expansion—all while navigating an alien culture that is all too seductive, engaging in intrigues of her own, and hiding a deadly technological secret—one that might spell the end of her Station and her way of life—or rescue it from annihilation.
Participate by posting here, this discussion thread will be up all month. Spoilers must be hidden (changed after feedback).
The votes are in, and October's book club selection will be:
A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine
Ambassador Mahit Dzmare arrives in the center of the multi-system Teixcalaanli Empire only to discover that her predecessor, the previous ambassador from their small but fiercely independent mining Station, has died. But no one will admit that his death wasn't an accident—or that Mahit might be next to die, during a time of political instability in the highest echelons of the imperial court.
Now, Mahit must discover who is behind the murder, rescue herself, and save her Station from Teixcalaan's unceasing expansion—all while navigating an alien culture that is all too seductive, engaging in intrigues of her own, and hiding a deadly technological secret—one that might spell the end of her Station and her way of life—or rescue it from annihilation.
Queer rep: bi/pan characters, same sex romance, queer wlw author.
The discussion will take place October 24th-31st. Don't forget to participate in our September book club, from the 24th-30th, where we'll discuss The First Sister by Linden Lewis.
