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Anthony's Reviews > A Desolation Called Peace
A Desolation Called Peace (Teixcalaan, #2)
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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.
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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)
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I enjoyed the first...but I wasn't blown away by it..nor do I think it deserved a Hugo award...so I'm going into this one with pretty tempered expectations...
Excellent review, Anthony! I'm really excited to get to this one. Barnes and Noble workers and Amazon seem to hype it up to be the next 'must read' series. Your sci-fi/fantasy reviews are always a treat to review because you seem to take on a more dissertation level with them (which is usually what I look for when trying out new sci-fi/fantasy).
I completely agree, Anthony. The layered sentences drove me a bit crazy in this one, forcing me to really work to focus intensely, but that technique was not enough to wipe out the intrigue of the story and the depth of the characters. I didn’t think it was as good as the first one, but it was not too far off.
Nice review, Anthony. I quite like the italics and the parenthetical asides (I talk/write like that)! I also appreciate, as you put it, the author’s fierce intelligence. I learned so many new to me words in both books and I loved it. I am definitely going to reread these one day and buy a copy of Desolation. The ARC I read really almost ruined it for me.
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).