Arkady Martine: A Memory Called Empire (Paperback, 2019)
Paperback, 462 pages
English language
Published July 19, 2019
A Memory Called Empire is a 2019 science fiction novel, the debut novel by Arkady Martine. It follows Mahit Dzmare, the ambassador from Lsel Station to the Teixcalaanli Empire, as she investigates the death of her predecessor and the instabilities that underpin that society. The book won the 2020 Hugo Award for Best Novel.
I really enjoyed this book. It had a lot of fun and engaging characters as well as a pretty exciting plotline full of political intrigue. The only real gripe I had with the book was that with all the characters names being formed similarly it was much harder for me to remember the name of any specific character even though the characters themselves were very memorable.
This was a fantastic whirlwind of politics, intrigue, diplomacy wrapped in a vivid, unique setting. While some of the finer aspects of the book didn't quite land for me, I thought this was a great read and look forward to the next one.
In A Memory Called Empire, we follow Mahit, a resident of Lsel Station, a space station off in deep space; but that's not where the story takes place. You see, Mahit has been selected as the next ambassador to the Teixcalaanli Empire, a sprawling and powerful empire, influenced by Aztec culture. The previous ambassador, Yskander, has died under extremely mysterious circumstances, and while it is Mahit's mission to fulfill the role as ambassador, her secondary mission is to figure out what happened to him. And thankfully she has help from -- Yskander himself.. Well, an outdated version of him. On Lsel Station, residents utilize an extremely secretive …
This was a fantastic whirlwind of politics, intrigue, diplomacy wrapped in a vivid, unique setting. While some of the finer aspects of the book didn't quite land for me, I thought this was a great read and look forward to the next one.
In A Memory Called Empire, we follow Mahit, a resident of Lsel Station, a space station off in deep space; but that's not where the story takes place. You see, Mahit has been selected as the next ambassador to the Teixcalaanli Empire, a sprawling and powerful empire, influenced by Aztec culture. The previous ambassador, Yskander, has died under extremely mysterious circumstances, and while it is Mahit's mission to fulfill the role as ambassador, her secondary mission is to figure out what happened to him. And thankfully she has help from -- Yskander himself.. Well, an outdated version of him. On Lsel Station, residents utilize an extremely secretive technology that allows people to access the consciousness of other people before them, assuming they are a personality match. After a few years as an ambassador, Yskander returned to Lsel station to upload his consciousness at the time, then returned to the Teixcalaanli Empire, only to die after 15 years. It is this outdated version of Yskander that Mahit has to consult, but he knows almost as little as Mahit stepping into this new role. What follows is almost immediate politicking and backroom deals, figuring out where her successor left off, what he got himself into, what deals he made, and who to trust. With the backdrop of growing unrest around a succession crisis with the aging emperor and a growing unknown galactic threat, Mahit must move quickly to position herself as a main player so she can do what it takes to protect her people.
I have always really enjoyed extremely political science fiction stories. This book takes it to another level with the intriguing story being set in a beautifully crafted world. With every passing chapter, the Teixcalaanli culture took more shape and grew more vivid, leading me to love it as much as Mahit did. I loved how the tension steadily grew and grew throughout the book, coming to an explosive head that felt satisfying and well-earned. While the story was long and many might argue it was slow paced, I found the backroom machinations to be interesting, and I was never bored while reading this.
Despite being a lover of good world building, at the end of the day, I'm a character reader, and that's where this book missed a bit. While I liked Mahit's character a lot, I think many of the other characters I was supposed to like more than I did, particularly Three Seagrass and Twelve Azaela. I think an attempt was made to really make them likable, but I just wasn't feeling it, so some of the story beats that hit later on in the book that relied on the reader feeling a connection to the characters fell flat for me personally. There were some characters that I liked, like Nineteen Adze and the emperor, but that was more to do with how the story treated them with a level of reverence rather than having them be dynamic characters that cultivated an emotional connection. I really wish the character work here was stronger or it would definitely be a new favorite.
But still, I can't recommend this enough. Especially if you enjoy other political sci fi, like Dune, The Expanse, the Luna series, or the Ancillary series. I'm eager to pick up the next one!
Blurbed by Ann Leckie and reminiscent of her. A brilliantly written story with an rich cast of very human characters, in the throes of a series of events that are at once in human and also very banal – superbly demonstrates how the shifting of empires is something that happens at a very human scale, not by demigods or titans, but by people.
An example of space opera in the vein of Leckie, and Dune. That was one aspect of it that I could have done with a little more of, though that's probably a mood and taste thing. The world building is done well, and weaves the epic and prosaic, the exotic and banal, deftly, and with grace. There's plenty around the edges to make you feel that things extend much further than shown.
… wirklich schön anzusehen. Die Unterschiede auch in der Betrachtung der Welt, zwischen denen, die auf einer Weltraumstation aufgewachsen sind und denen, die auf DEM Planeten aufwuchsen. Gute Charakterisierungen, tolles Namenssystem, das mir das Merken von Namen sehr erleichtert. Alle auf dem Planeten heißen $Zahl $Substantiv also bspw „Neunzehn Breitaxt“, „Sechs Vektor“, „Drei Seegras“. Die Zahlen haben manchmal auch Verbindungen zum Charakter oder Job der jeweiligen Personen — so viel einfacher zu merken für mich als irgendwelche random Fantasynamen wie „Ft‘anr Lobdart“ oder sowas. Ich mochte auch die Poesie-Obsession der Planetenbewohnenden, die ihre ganze Kultur formt. Hier hatte ich allerdings desöfteren das Gefühl, dass die Übersetzung ihr nicht gerecht wurde. Auch wunderte es mich sehr, dass die Menschen in dem Buch alle Männer oder Frauen waren und sehr sehr viel generisches Maskulinum genutzt wurde. Daher werde ich den 2. Band auf Englisch lesen zum Vergleich. An sich ist das 1. …
… wirklich schön anzusehen. Die Unterschiede auch in der Betrachtung der Welt, zwischen denen, die auf einer Weltraumstation aufgewachsen sind und denen, die auf DEM Planeten aufwuchsen. Gute Charakterisierungen, tolles Namenssystem, das mir das Merken von Namen sehr erleichtert. Alle auf dem Planeten heißen $Zahl $Substantiv also bspw „Neunzehn Breitaxt“, „Sechs Vektor“, „Drei Seegras“. Die Zahlen haben manchmal auch Verbindungen zum Charakter oder Job der jeweiligen Personen — so viel einfacher zu merken für mich als irgendwelche random Fantasynamen wie „Ft‘anr Lobdart“ oder sowas. Ich mochte auch die Poesie-Obsession der Planetenbewohnenden, die ihre ganze Kultur formt. Hier hatte ich allerdings desöfteren das Gefühl, dass die Übersetzung ihr nicht gerecht wurde. Auch wunderte es mich sehr, dass die Menschen in dem Buch alle Männer oder Frauen waren und sehr sehr viel generisches Maskulinum genutzt wurde. Daher werde ich den 2. Band auf Englisch lesen zum Vergleich. An sich ist das 1. Buch aber abgeschlossen und kann alleinstehend gelesen werden.
Was ein bisschen kurz kam, als seiendes Thema nur angeschnitten aber nicht ganz ausgespielt worden: Der Charakter der Stadt. Diese ist AI gesteuert und wird von Ministerien beeinflusst, scheint aber auch das Potential zu haben, rogue zu gehen. Mal sehen ob das im Band zwei anklingt.
Kurzum: Echt spannend, manchmal n bisschen langatmig aber überlebbar und richtig gutes Worldbuilding. Zudem ein paar „Queers“, wobei Heterosexualität nicht die Norm zu sein scheint und daher als Beschreibung vermutlich L/G/B besser passen würde.
If I'm honest I first picked up this book because of the image on the cover but once I picked up the book I remained interested and the aesthetic remained pretty cool throughout and gave me vibes from the "Coup" and "The Resistance" board games.
The book really focuses in a lot on the political manoeuvrers of the central character Mahit and her allies (and enemies). There's a fair amount of political theatre and description of Mahit's internal monologue which reminded me of House of Cards. The world building meant that the plot does take a little while to really get going but once it does get going, there's a fair amount to be excited about. The last few chapters were pretty gripping and more reminiscent of something like The Expanse.
There is a lot of description of the culture and language used in the Teixcalaanli Empire which for me, …
If I'm honest I first picked up this book because of the image on the cover but once I picked up the book I remained interested and the aesthetic remained pretty cool throughout and gave me vibes from the "Coup" and "The Resistance" board games.
The book really focuses in a lot on the political manoeuvrers of the central character Mahit and her allies (and enemies). There's a fair amount of political theatre and description of Mahit's internal monologue which reminded me of House of Cards. The world building meant that the plot does take a little while to really get going but once it does get going, there's a fair amount to be excited about. The last few chapters were pretty gripping and more reminiscent of something like The Expanse.
There is a lot of description of the culture and language used in the Teixcalaanli Empire which for me, really teetered on the precipice between detailed world-building and self-absorbed. I'm not really in to poetry - which is a huge part of Teixcalaanli culture so maybe that explains why I didn't really get on board with certain aspects of the world building but the descriptions of the technology, city, space vessels etc were well done.
Overall a solid, captivating sci-fi read if you can get on board with some of the slower descriptive parts of the book.
