A Memory Called Empire

With reservations.

What do you mean, what do I mean? There's something about it--as good, as inclusive, as remarkable as it is--that just fails to miss me. Possibly it's the empire-building genre. At any rate, this is probably what Alastair Reynolds was going for in The Prefect, only this was so much more tightly plotted, with better characterization, that it was far more satisfying. Perhaps my reservations are due to lingering disaffection, because Martine does exactly what I expected from Reynolds: she takes a very personal mystery--the death of a predecessor--and links it to empire-shaping events.

Martine does beautifully at giving the sense of two different cultures, the behemoth of the Empire, and the small space-station, Lsel, that show more Mahit represents. Characterization is also done well, with both main and side characters proving very interesting, naturally developing as Mahit gets to know them and as external events force different interactions. World-building is complex, but not-overly obsessed with extraneous details (cough, cough, you know who I mean). Writing is phenomenal. My hesitation would be the ending of course, I wanted a more clear HAE, somewhat troublesome ethics, Mahit giving the broken imagio away and the technology the imagio seemed a bit ansible, and why didn't the Empire already have it?

It's not gripping, in the on-the-edge-of-your-seat kind of thriller, but it is gripping in the sense of I-really-don't-want-to-put-this-down. That alone deserves a lot of credit, but to integrate an intriguing female lead, cultural conflict, a mystery, political machinations, and even a touch of romance is incredible. Very impressive, and I'll be looking forward to the next. Will I add it to the library? We'll see.

Update: I did add it to the physical library. High potential for re-readability and great sale on the hardcover version. show less

It's always hard, or at least I always find it hard, to say something about real excellence, but this is as good a genre science fiction novel that I've read in the past few years and deserves all the nominations it's received. If I was going to mark this novel down for anything it's that one initially seems to be dealing with a fairly conventional "fish out of water" scenario, exacerbated by the plot device through which the author leaves Ambassador Mahit Dzmare high and dry and totally dependent on only her wits and those contacts in the imperial city she's made. That these plot choices don't turn out to be trite reflects really well on Martine. Perhaps more professional historians should try their hand at writing fantasy and science show more fiction, as many of the authors that have impressed me of late (S.A. Chakraborty, P. Jeli Clark, R.F. Kuang) have solid academic history credentials. Also, I don't remember where, but comparisons to Asimov have been made [it was the Hugo Book Club Blog]; however, this is Asimov stripped down to the frame and rebuilt with modern components. show less

I absolutely loved this book! Mahit's complicated feelings about the empire and her role are well done. All the characters are great (but Mahit, Three Seagrass, and Nineteen Adze are my favorites). Palace intrigue isn't usually my thing, but this story made it compelling via both personal and society-level stakes for the protagonist. And the world-building is amazing, with the contrast between Empire and Station life. I'm excited to read the next one in the series right away!

Incredibly strong debut about an ambassodor from a tiny independant mining station sent to the heart of a great empire where she discovers that her predecessor was murdered, there is a potential conflict of succession and calls for a war of expansion. She has to struggle with her own affinity for the culture of the empire and the danger it represents as an all-devouring beast. I can't imagine why the fraught and tangled idea of falling in love with the culture of an evil empire would be so appealing in this day and age, particularly from the point of view of a post-colonial country whpse native language has been relegated to fringe status in daily life and whose native culture has mingled with imperial cultur to create something show more distinct and not altogether untroubled. If you enjoyed Ann Leckie's thoughtful and exciting explorations of the ideas of empire and colonialism, you'll very much like this. show less

"That was the problem. Empire was empire – the part that seduced and the part that clamped down, jaws like a vise, and shook a planet until its neck was broken and it died."

A Memory Called Empire follows Mahit Dzmare – a young Ambassador from an independent mining Station – arrives in the Teixcalaanli Empire to find that her predecessor has died, and she is left alone to navigate the changing political culture of the heart of the Empire. Not only must she figure out how her predecessor has died (not accidentally, as some would have her believe), but she must also tread carefully to avoid the same fate. When the political unrest hints at expansion of the Empire, she must also figure out how to avoid annexation of her Station she show more calls home.

This book was so much better than I thought it would be. Although it was a little hard to get into toward the beginning – there is so much detailed world-building that it was initially hard to follow – it was worth sticking it through for the journey.

Arkady Martine’s world-building was breathtaking – it was so layered and complex. Although it was a little overwhelming in the beginning – as it should be, when introducing a whole fantastical world – it was done in a way that wasn’t overly heavy-handed. World-building is a crucial element to any story of this breadth, and in A Memory Called Empire, these elements are so intricately woven into the story that it blends more-or-less seamlessly into the narrative.

The plot, also, was interesting and nuanced. I enjoyed watching as Mahit peeled back the layers of political intrigue and learned more about Teixcalaanli culture. She together with her “cultural liaison” Three Seagrass, had to navigate an increasingly tumultuous political landscape that quite literally put them into serious danger more than once.

All-in-all, this was an exciting and intricately detailed space opera, and I wish I didn’t have to wait an entire year for the next book in the series…

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Books for a copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review. show less

This is a top-notch political thriller, all the more remarkable for being a first novel.

When a small mining station receives an urgent request from the Teixcalaanli Empire to send a new ambassador, they send Mahit Dzmare. Mahit is less well prepared for the job than she should be. It's been fifteen years since her predecessor updated his imago -- a brain implant containing his consciousness -- and she hasn't been given enough time to fully integrate his memories and personality into her own psyche.

Upon arrival, she finds that the previous ambassador is dead, and though no one will say so officially, probably murdered. That shock snaps her already tenuous imago connection to his memories, and Mahit is left to make her way through show more Teixcalaan on her own. She's been assigned a Teixcalaanli liaison to help her acclimate to her new postion, but how much trust can she place in one of the Empire's bureaucrats, especially in a moment of political instability?

Martine gives us an exciting story, vivid characters, and a fascinating world. Teixcalaan is a society in which politics and literature are inseparable; political statements are made in poetry, packed with symbolic references and allusions to the great political poetry of the past. A Teixcalaanli diplomat practically needs a degree in literature.

It's a world so fully developed that even the background details raise intriguing questions that you want to see addressed in another book, and you know that Martine has already thought about them and has answers to all of those questions. show less

I enjoyed this from the start. Me being me, I was immediately classifying it in terms of genre: it reminds me of both the Imperial Radch and Baru Cormorant books in its attention to the functioning of empire. These books aren't about empires as military juggernauts (though that's in there), but as political and cultural forces. A friend read Ancillary Justice and The Traitor Baru Cormorant and pointed out they were both about "evil meritocracies"; A Memory Called Empire is about one as well! The focus on empire isn't the only similarity (both even feature empires with elaborate tea ceremonies, and a language where the name of the empire is synonymous with civilization), as there's an interesting correlation between the leaders of both show more empire, even. The acknowledgements say that this book was begun in 2014; Ancillary Justice came out in 2013. I say all this not to criticize A Memory Called Empire, but to triangulate it. I think these books are all doing something that really appeals to me, and clearly also appeals to readers, taking many of the tropes of sf, but invigorating them with new life by thinking through their complexities. (I need a name for this subgenre, which I would also add The Goblin Emperor and the Hexarchate books to. It obviously connects to space opera, but is not limited to it. "Imperial sf" seems to be taken. "Post-imperial sf"?) A Memory Called Empire is also interested in the production and consumption of narratives, something I've seen in other recent sf (it comes up a lot in the Murderbot stories, for example, and I seem to recall there's something of it in the Wayfarers novels, too), which feels natural in a genre landscape where many writers would have been involved heavily in media fandom. And, like in The City of the Middle of the Night, there's a big focus on the languages of the different cultures, and how they shape thought: one has a lot of case markers.

Mahit Dzmare is the ambassador from the tiny polity of Lsel Station to the homeworld of the powerful Teixcalaanli Empire. But even though Teixcalaan's might threatens her station's sovereignty, she's grown up reading poetry and novels and watching tv shows from Teixcalaan. She loves and is fascinated it, even as she understands its dangers-- but reading about it is no substitute for being there. This was one of my favorite parts of Memory: empire is cruel, but also seductive, and it provides great stories. In the nineteenth century you would have grown up reading about the virtues of Rome even if Rome's virtues actually weren't your nation's virtues. I really liked the book's attention to the nuances of empire; as I said above, it really feels as though it builds on Ancillary Justice in terms of that.

I enjoyed it from the start, but it got better as it went. It's a good political thriller (and it makes sense); it has some neat sf ideas; it has strong worldbuilding (the Teixcalaanli naming system is fun, even if I kept getting distracted by the name "Six Direction" at first). It gets you invested in its characters and their struggles. Mahit is a great, believable protagonist, but I had a soft spot for Twelve Azalea, a friend of Mahit's cultural liaison, a goofy guy who comes through in a pinch. Some aspects of the climax really got me emotionally, and by the end, I loved it, and I can't wait for book two (which isn't out until March 2021 in hardcover, so God knows when it will hit paperback). show less