Anthony's Reviews > A Desolation Called Peace
A Desolation Called Peace (Teixcalaan, #2)
by
by
![4009947](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1534088626p2/4009947.jpg)
Anthony's review
bookshelves: 2021-popsugar-challenge, sf, series, 2021-sffbc-tbr-challenge, nebula-nominees, hugo-winners, queer-content, locus-award-winners, arthur-c-clarke-award-nominees
Jun 09, 2021
bookshelves: 2021-popsugar-challenge, sf, series, 2021-sffbc-tbr-challenge, nebula-nominees, hugo-winners, queer-content, locus-award-winners, arthur-c-clarke-award-nominees
This is another fascinating, strange, absorbing work by the fiercely intelligent Arkady Martine. She once again displays some quirks that are perhaps a bit too ubiquitous — a prevalence of both a lot of italics and many parenthetical interruptions — but I also can’t help but admire her commitment to her idiosyncratic style. Her characters are vividly drawn — although sometimes her dialogue feels a bit too hyper articulate, a la Aaron Sorkin — especially, in this installment, the child Emperor-in-waiting Eight Antidote and the second-in-command Swarm. And she is able to dramatize in very convincing fashion the complex, horrible truth that the fates of entire civilizations rest on flawed, lonely individuals and their whims.
I know folks who bounced off of A Memory Called Empire, and I can understand why, but I’m glad to have read these two novels, which I found to be quite satisfying and evocative.
I know folks who bounced off of A Memory Called Empire, and I can understand why, but I’m glad to have read these two novels, which I found to be quite satisfying and evocative.
Sign into Goodreads to see if any of your friends have read
A Desolation Called Peace.
Sign In »
Reading Progress
December 12, 2020
– Shelved
December 12, 2020
– Shelved as:
to-read
December 12, 2020
– Shelved as:
2021-popsugar-challenge
December 12, 2020
– Shelved as:
sf
December 12, 2020
– Shelved as:
series
December 16, 2020
– Shelved as:
2021-sffbc-tbr-challenge
June 6, 2021
–
Started Reading
June 6, 2021
–
3.0%
"I’d forgotten how much of C.J. Cherryh’s influence could be felt in Arkady Martine’s writing, but it’s already evident in the first several pages of this sequel to A Memory Called Empire. It’s an influence I welcome, being such a huge fan of Cherryh’s as I am."
June 7, 2021
–
36.0%
"I’m definitely enjoying the witty and interesting writing, even if it is a little emotionally chilly, and even if Martine is a bit too enamored with italics."
June 8, 2021
–
66.0%
"It’s rare that I read a sex scene that’s not cringey, but Martine succeeds here, with a brief, not-too-graphic encounter that feels real and human."
June 9, 2021
–
Finished Reading
July 31, 2022
– Shelved as:
nebula-nominees
September 5, 2022
– Shelved as:
queer-content
September 5, 2022
– Shelved as:
hugo-winners
September 18, 2022
– Shelved as:
locus-award-winners
November 25, 2022
– Shelved as:
arthur-c-clarke-award-nominees
Comments Showing 1-6 of 6 (6 new)
date
newest »
![Down arrow](https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/down_arrow-1e1fa5642066c151f5e0136233fce98a.gif)
![Chris (horizon_brave)](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1579214414p1/21891213.jpg)
![Andi](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1624143695p1/1339848.jpg)
![Allan Phillips](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1715321958p1/56073628.jpg)
![DivaDiane SM](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1684061199p1/2183662.jpg)
Lol at the Sorkin reference. Quite on point, now that you put it like that. That's what I mostly recall from the first one, the 'performances' being a bit stilted. Can't recall, if the first one was more heavy in setting up the world and the characters, then, but here I was measures more able (??) to shift my concentration to the wealthy inner dialogue instead.
(Definitely need to revisit the first one, in non-audio format).