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A Memory Called Empire (Teixcalaan Book 1) Kindle Edition
Winner of the 2020 Hugo Award for Best Novel
A Locus, and Nebula Award nominee for 2019
An NPR Favorite Book of 2019
An Esquire Best Sci-Fi Book of All Time
A Guardian Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Book of 2019 and “Not the Booker Prize” Nominee
A Goodreads Biggest SFF Book of 2019 and Choice Awards Nominee
"A Memory Called Empire perfectly balances action and intrigue with matters of empire and identity. All around brilliant space opera, I absolutely love it."—Ann Leckie, author of Ancillary Justice
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.
Arkady Martine's debut novel A Memory Called Empire is a fascinating space opera and an interstellar mystery adventure.
"The most thrilling ride ever. This book has everything I love."—Charlie Jane Anders, author of All the Birds in the Sky
Also by Arkady Martine:
A Desolation Called Peace
Rose/House
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherTor Books
- Publication dateMarch 26, 2019
- File size4187 KB
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From the Publisher
![A Memory Called Empire Arkady Martine New York Times Book Review Quote](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/S/aplus-media/vc/2857160f-e54e-4252-be7f-7d5846cec19e.__CR0,0,970,300_PT0_SX970_V1___.jpg)
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Editorial Reviews
From School Library Journal
Review
“A mesmerizing debut . . . it left me utterly dazzled.”
―The New York Times Book Review
"In a gorgeously detailed world, Martine delivers a slow-burning, twisty-turny tale of palace intrigue. Rich in big ideas about colonization and culture, belonging and betweenness, A Memory Called Empire is a remarkable space opera, sans explosions."
―Esquire
"[A] gorgeously crafted diplomatic space opera . . . Readers will eagerly away the planned sequels to this impressive debut."
―Publishers Weekly, starred review
"Politics and personalities blend with an immersive setting and beautiful prose in a debut that weaves threads of identity, assimilation, technology, and culture to offer an exceedingly well-done sf political thriller."
―Library Journal, starred review
"This is both an epic and a human story, successful in the mode of Ann Leckie and Yoon Ha Lee. A confident beginning with the promise of future installments that can't come quickly enough."
―Kirkus, starred review
“Exquisite . . . a compelling journey with a rich world and fascinating characters”
―The Los Angeles Times
"Interesting, detailed, lavish."
―The Wall Street Journal
"A Memory Called Empire perfectly balances action and intrigue with matters of empire and identity. All around brilliant space opera, I absolutely love it."
―Ann Leckie, author of Ancillary Justice
"In A Memory Called Empire, Arkady Martine smuggles you into her interstellar diplomatic pouch, and takes you on the most thrilling ride ever. This book has everything I love: identity crises, unlikely romance, complicated politics, and cunning adventurers. Super-fun, and ultra-fascinating."
―Charlie Jane Anders, author of All the Birds in the Sky
“Stunning sci-fi debut. An ambassador from a small space station has to survive in the capital of a galactic empire where everyone seems to want her dead. Add in a great will-they-won’t-they wlw romantic interest. Awesome.”
―Rick Riordan, author of the Percy Jackson series
“An elegant and accomplished example of the subgenre of subtle scheming with a background of stars. A delightful read. I couldn’t put it down.”
―Jo Walton, Hugo and Nebula award-winning author of Among Others
“Arkady is one of the best new voices in speculative fiction”
―Adrian Tchaikovsky, author of Children of Time
“A taut murder mystery entwined with questions of technological ethics, A Memory Called Empire is also an evocative depiction of foreignness. Martine creates an elaborate and appealing culture against which to play out this story of political intrigue, assimilation, and resistance. Daring, beautiful, immersive, and often profound.”
―Malka Older, author of Infomocracy
“A Memory Called Empire is a murder mystery wrapped up in a political space opera, and deeply immerses the reader in a unique culture and society. I very much enjoyed it and look forward to what Martine does next.”
―Martha Wells, author of The Murderbot Diaries
"A cunningly plotted, richly imagined tale of interstellar intrigue that does something new with space opera."
―Ken MacLeod
“A Memory Called Empire elevates space opera to poetry―clever, deep, sometimes tragic, sometimes violent, always transcendent poetry that shines like the edge of a knife.”
―Delilah Dawson, New York Times bestselling author of Star Wars: Phasma
“An intricate, layered tale of empire, personal ambition, political obligations and interstellar intrigue. Vivid and delightfully inventive.”
―Aliette de Bodard, Nebula Award-winning author of the Xuya Universe stories and The House of Binding Thorns
“A cutting, beautiful, human adventure about cultural exchange, identity, and intrigue. The best SF novel I’ve read in the last five years.”
―Yoon Ha Lee, author of the Machineries of Empire trilogy
“An exceptional first novel recommended for fans of Cherryh, Leckie, Banks, and Asimov.”
―Elizabeth Bear, author of Hammered
"A Memory Called Empire . . . is so frigging good. It's like a space opera murder mystery combined with all the political parts of Dune."
―Dan Wells, author of I Am Not a Serial Killer
About the Author
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
A Memory Called Empire
By Arkady MartineTom Doherty Associates
Copyright © 2019 AnnaLinden WellerAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-250-18643-0
CHAPTER 1
And from behind the curve of the large gaseous planet at coordinate B5682.76R1, the Emperor Twelve Solar-Flare arose on the bow of her ship, and she was a radiant blaze flooding all of the void. The rays of her light, reaching outward like the spear-spokes of her throne, struck the metal shells which were the dwelling-places of human beings in Sector B5682, and illuminated them brightly. The sensors of Twelve Solar-Flare's ship recorded ten of them, each alike to the other, and this number has not increased since. Within the shells the men and women knew not seasons nor growth nor decay, but lived endlessly in orbit without benefit of a planetary home. The largest of these shells called itself Lsel Station, which in the language of its people meant a station that both listened and heard. But the people there had grown strange, and cleaved to themselves, though they were capable of learning language, and immediately began to do so ...
— The Expansion History, Book V, lines 72–87, anonymous but attributed to the historian-poet Pseudo-Thirteen River, writing in the reign of the Emperor of All Teixcalaan Three Perigee
* * *
In order to expedite your travel into the Imperium, Teixcalaan requests the following as proofs of identity: a) a genetic record stating your sole possession of your own genotype, unshared with clonesibs OR a notarized document stating that your genotype is at least 90 percent unique and that no other individual holds LEGAL claim to it; b) an itemized list of goods, chattels, currencies, and objects of idea commerce which you intend to bring with you; c) a work permit from a registered employer in a Teixcalaanli system, signed and notarized, with salary and maintenance information, OR a record of superlative performance on the Teixcalaanli Imperial Examinations OR an invitation by a person, governmental entity, bureau, ministry, or other authorized individual specifying your entrance and exit dates from Imperium space OR evidence of sufficient self-supporting currency ...
— Form 721Q, Visa Application Made from Foreign Sectors ALPHABETIC LANGUAGE VARIANT, page 6
MAHIT came down to the City, heart-planet and capital of the Teixcalaanli Empire, in a seed-skiff, a bubble of a ship hardly big enough for her body and her luggage both. She squirted from the side of the imperial cruiser Ascension's Red Harvest and burned atmosphere on her planetward trajectory, which distorted the view. Thus the first time she saw the City with her own flesh eyes, not in infofiche or holograph or imago-memory, it was haloed in white fire and shone like an endless glittering sea: an entire planet rendered into an ecumenopolis, palatially urban. Even its dark spots — older metropolises not yet clad in metal, decaying urban blight, the harnessed remains of lakes — looked populated. Only the oceans remained untouched, and they gleamed too, a brilliantine blue-turquoise.
The City was very beautiful and very big. Mahit had been on a fair number of planets, the ones closest to Lsel Station that weren't completely inimical to human life, and she was nevertheless overcome by awe. Her heart beat faster; her palms went clammy where they gripped her harness. The City appeared exactly as it was always described in Teixcalaanli documents and songs: the jewel at the heart of the Empire. Complete with atmospheric glow.
said her imago. He was a faint staticky taste on the back of her tongue, a flash of grey eyes and sun-dark skin in her peripheral vision. The voice in the back of her head, but not quite her voice: someone around her age, but male, and quicksilver-smug, and as excited to be here as she was. She felt her mouth curve in his smile, a heavier and wider thing than the muscles in her face preferred. They were new to each other. His expressions were very strong.
Get out of my nervous system, Yskandr, she thought at him, gently chiding. An imago — the implanted, integrated memory of one's predecessor, housed half in her neurology and half in a small ceramic-and-metal machine clasped to her brainstem — wasn't supposed to take over the host's nervous system unless the host consented. At the beginning of the partnership, though, consent was complicated. The version of Yskandr inside her mind remembered having a body, and sometimes he used Mahit's as if it were his own. She worried about it. There was still so much space between them, when they were supposed to be becoming one person.
This time, though, he withdrew easily: sparking prickles, electric laughter. When she gazed down at the City again — closer now, the skyport rising to meet her skiff like a flower made of scooping nets — she let the imago look through her eyes and felt his rush of exhilaration as if it were her own.
What's down there, she thought. For you.
said her imago, who had been Ambassador from Lsel in the City when he was still a living person and not part of a long chain of live memory. He said it in the Teixcalaanli language, which made it a tautology: the word for "world" and the word for "the City" were the same, as was the word for "empire." It was impossible to specify, especially in the high imperial dialect. One had to note the context.
Yskandr's context was obfuscating, which Mahit had come to expect of him. She coped. Despite all her years of studying Teixcalaanli language and literature, his fluency had a different quality than hers, the sort that only came from immersive practice.
he said again, The Empire, but also where the Empire stops.
Mahit matched his language and spoke out loud in Teixcalaanli, since there was no one but her in the seed-skiff. "You've said something meaningless."
Yskandr agreed.
In the privacy of her body, Yskandr used the most intimate forms of address, as if he and Mahit were clonesibs or lovers. Mahit had never spoken them out loud. She had a natural younger brother back on Lsel Station, the closest she would ever get to a clonesib, but her brother only spoke the Stationers' language, and calling him "you," intimate-otherself in Teixcalaanli, would have been both pointless and unkind. She could have said "you" to a few people who had been in those language and literature courses with her — her old friend and classmate Shrja Torel would have taken the compliment correctly, for instance, but Mahit and Shrja hadn't spoken since Mahit had been picked to be the new Ambassador to Teixcalaan and carry the imago of the previous one. The why of that little breakage between them was obvious, and petty, and Mahit regretted it — and it wasn't something she was going to get a chance to repair,except by apologetic letter from the center of the Empire both she and Shrja had wanted to see. Which almost certainly wouldn't help.
The City had come closer: it filled up the horizon, a vast curve she was falling into. To Yskandr, she thought, I am the Ambassador now. I might speak meaningfully. If I wanted.
Yskandr said, which was the sort of compliment the Teixcalaanlitzlim gave to a still-crèched child.
Gravity caught at the seed-skiff and sank into the bones in Mahit's thighs and forearms, giving her the sensation of spin. It was dizzying. Below her the skyport's nets flared open. For a moment she thought she was falling, that she would fall all the way to the planet's surface and smear to paste on the ground.
Yskandr said quickly, in that Stationers' language that was Mahit's native tongue.
The skyport caught her with hardly a bump.
She had time to gather herself together. There was some business with the seed-skiff being shunted into a long line of other such vessels, moving along a great conveyor until each one could be identified and come to its assigned gate. Mahit found herself rehearsing what she would say to the imperial citizens on the other side as if she was a first-year student preparing for an oral examination. In the back of her mind, the imago was a watchful, thrumming presence. Every so often he moved her left hand, the fingers tapping along her harness, someone else's nervous gesture. Mahit wished they'd had longer to get used to each other.
But she hadn't undergone the normal process of having an imago implanted, complete with a year or more of integration therapy under the precise care of one of Lsel's psychotherapists: she and Yskandr had had a scant three months together, andnow they were approaching the place where they'd need to work together — work as one person, compiled out of a memory-chain and a new host.
When Ascension's Red Harvest had arrived, hanging in parallel orbit around Lsel Station's sun, and had demanded a new ambassador to take back to Teixcalaan, they had refused to explain what had happened to the previous one. Mahit was sure there had been a great deal of politics on the Lsel Council as to what — and who — to send back, and with what demands for information. But this she knew was true: she herself had been one of the few Stationers both old enough for the job and young enough not to have already been brought into an imago-line — and one of the fewer still within that group who had any of the appropriate aptitudes or training for diplomacy. Of those, Mahit had been the best. Her scores on the Imperial Examinations in Teixcalaanli language and literature had approached those of an imperial citizen, and she'd been proud of that — spent the half year since the exams imagining that she would come to the City, sometime in her middle age, once she was established, and collect experiences — attending whatever salons were open to noncitizens that season — gathering up information for whoever she'd share her memory with after she died.
Now she'd get to the City, all right: more important than any Teixcalaanli examination, her scores on the imago-aptitudes had come up green, green, green for this match. Her imago would be Yskandr Aghavn, the previous Ambassador to Teixcalaan. Who was now somehow unsuitable to that empire — dead, or disgraced, or held captive if still alive. Mahit's instructions from her government included determining precisely what had gone so wrong with him — but she still had his imago. He — or, at least, the last version of him available to give her, fifteen years out of date — was the closest thing Lsel could provide to a native guide to the Teixcalaanli court. Not for the first time, Mahit wondered whether or not there would be a Yskandr waiting for her in the flesh when she stepped outside. She was not sure which would be easier, having one — a disgraced ambassador? A competitor for her, but perhaps salvageable? — or not having one, which meant he had died without ever giving to any younger person what he had learned in his lifetime.
The imago-Yskandr in her head was hardly older than she was, which was both helpful in finding commonality and uncomfortable — most imagos were elders or victims of early-death accidents — but the last record of Yskandr's knowledge and memory had been taken when he'd last returned to Lsel on leave from his post in Teixcalaan, only five years after he had first gone down to the City. It had been another decade and a half since then.
So he was young, and so was she, and whatever advantage to integration that might have granted the two of them was belied by how short a time they'd been together. Two weeks between the courier's arrival and when Mahit learned that she'd be the next ambassador. Three more weeks for her and Yskandr to learn how to live together in the body that used to belong to her alone, under the supervision of the Station's psychotherapists. A long, slow time on Ascension's Red Harvest, traversing the sublight distances between the jumpgates that were scattered like jewels throughout Teixcalaanli space.
The seed-skiff peeled open like a ripe fruit. Mahit's harness retracted. Taking hold of her luggage in both hands, she stepped onto the gate, and thus into Teixcalaan itself.
The skyport gate had an airy utilitarianism constructed of wear-resistant carpet and clearly marked signage between glass-and-steel-paneled walls. Standing in the center of the gate's connecting tunnel, a precise halfway between the seed-skiff and the skyport proper, was a single Teixcalaanli imperial official in a perfectly cut cream suit. She was small: narrow at the shoulder and hip, much shorter than Mahit, and she wore her hair in a fishtail-braid queue of black that spilled over her left lapel. Her sleeves, wide like bells, shaded through flame-orange at the upper arm — Yskandr told Mahit — down to the deep red cuffs that were the privilege of the titled members of the court. Over her left eye she wore a cloudhook, a glass eyepiece full of the ceaseless obscuring flow of the imperial information network. Hers was sleekly decorative, much like the rest of her. Her large, dark eyes and thin cheekbones and mouth were more delicate than was fashionable on Teixcalaan, but by Mahit's Stationer standards she was interesting, if not quite pretty. She touched her fingers together politely in front of her chest and inclined her head to Mahit.
Yskandr lifted Mahit's own hands to make the same gesture — and Mahit dropped the two bags she'd been carrying on the floor with an embarrassing clatter. She was horrified. They hadn't slipped like that since the first week they'd been together.
Fuck, she thought, and heard at the same moment Yskandr say The doubling wasn't reassuring.
The official's carefully neutral expression did not change. She said, "Ambassador, I am Three Seagrass, asekreta and patrician second-class. It is my honor to welcome you into the Jewel of the World. I will be serving as your cultural liaison at the command of His Imperial Majesty Six Direction." There was a long pause, and then the official gave a small sigh and went on: "Do you require some sort of assistance with your belongings?"
"Three Seagrass" was an old-fashioned Teixcalaanli name: the numeral half was low value, and the noun half was the name of a plant, even if it was a plant Mahit hadn't seen used in a name before. All of the noun parts of Teixcalaanli names were plants or tools or inanimate objects, but most of the plant ones were flowers. "Seagrass" was memorable. Asekreta meant she was not only Information Ministry, as her suit suggested, but a trained agent of rank, as well as holding the court title of patrician second-class: an aristocrat, but not a very important or rich one.
Mahit left her hands where Yskandr had put them, which was where they belonged no matter how angry she was at how they'd gotten there, and bowed over them. "Ambassador Mahit Dzmare of Lsel Station. At your service and that of His Majesty, may his reign be a radiant blaze upon the void." Since this was her first official contact with a member of the Teixcalaanli court, she used the imperial honorific she'd picked carefully in consultation with Yskandr and the Council government on Lsel: "radiant blaze" was the epithet for the Emperor Twelve Solar-Flare in The Expansion History as Attributed to Pseudo-Thirteen River, the oldest account of imperial presence in Stationer space. Using it now was thus a sign of both Mahit's erudition and her respect for Six Direction and his office; but "the void" carefully avoided any intimation of Teixcalaanli claim on parts of Stationer space which were not, in fact, space.
Whether Three Seagrass was aware of the implications of reference was somewhat difficult to tell. She waited patiently while Mahit scooped up her luggage again, and then said, "Keep a tight grip on those. You are urgently awaited in the Judiciary concerning the previous ambassador, and you may need to greet all sorts of people along the way."
Fine. Mahit wouldn't underestimate Three Seagrass's capability to be snide, nor her capability to be clever. She nodded, and when the other woman turned smartly and walked up the tunnel, she followed.
Yskandr said.
Product details
- ASIN : B07C7BCB88
- Publisher : Tor Books (March 26, 2019)
- Publication date : March 26, 2019
- Language : English
- File size : 4187 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Sticky notes : On Kindle Scribe
- Print length : 472 pages
- Best Sellers Rank: #15,282 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
![Arkady Martine](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/S/amzn-author-media-prod/5oudgn17pj3i1161jijfi9g8ad._SY600_.jpg)
Arkady Martine is a speculative fiction writer and, as Dr. AnnaLinden Weller, a historian of the Byzantine Empire and a city planner. Under both names she writes about border politics, rhetoric, propaganda, and the edges of the world. Her debut novel, A Memory Called Empire, won the 2020 Hugo Award for Best Novel, and its sequel, A Desolation Called Peace, won the 2022 Hugo Award in the same category. Arkady grew up in New York City, and after some time in Turkey, Canada, Sweden, and Baltimore, lives in New Mexico with her wife, the author Vivian Shaw. Find her online at arkadymartine.net or on Twitter as @ArkadyMartine.
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers find the book enthralling, lofty, and complex. They also describe the tone as poetic, refreshing, and funny. Readers praise the vivid, well-drawn, and different worldbuilding. They find the characters compelling and surprising. They praise the writing style as well-suited to the Teixcalaan empire and the dialogue. Customers also mention the storyline as engrossing and real. However, some find the content boring and hard to understand. Opinions are mixed on the pacing, with some finding it well-paced and others finding it slow.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Customers find the storyline engrossing, believable, and unique. They also say the book is filled with political intrigue, subtle character development, and clear mystery elements throughout. Customers also mention that the world feels real and easy to immerse in.
"...Most chapters clock in at around 15-20ish pages and each is filled with political intrigue, subtle character development, and beautiful, poetic prose..." Read more
"...SettingThe setting was well defined. The world felt real and was easy to be immersed in. Teixcalaan felt like earth...." Read more
"Undoubtedly one of the best sci-fi epics I have read in many years...." Read more
"...It starts with an intriguing premise of the suspicious death of the previous ambassador, a mystery unraveling a plot involving the future of Lsel's..." Read more
Customers find the storyline gripping, enthralling, and worth the read. They also appreciate the interesting plot with interstellar intrigue, palace rivalries, and easy to be immersed in.
"...It was a really powerful reading experience for me because I pretty much live with an exactly opposite state of mind: I almost always assume the..." Read more
"...The setting was well defined. The world felt real and was easy to be immersed in. Teixcalaan felt like earth. It may have been intended that way...." Read more
"...places, and cultural ideals all carry a unique flavor, complex and fascinating, albeit difficult to appreciate at first...." Read more
"...Seeing how that plays out is extremely satisfying, although I did have some minor concerns about how easily some of the plots were resolved...." Read more
Customers find the world building concepts vivid, interesting, and unique. They also appreciate the gorgeous imagery and the byzantine construction. Readers also mention that the universe Arkady Martine develops is complex and different from our own.
"A Memory Called Empire (AMCE) is a wonderful work of speculative fiction. But first, two disclaimers:..." Read more
"...PlotVery intriguing. I loved a science fiction story that was really a political thriller rather than any grand, sweeping epic...." Read more
"...story taking a while to kick into gear, all the small details and gorgeous imagery make sure that the reader is fully immersed in the story by the..." Read more
"...drawn in by the richness of the prose, and promise of the elaborate world building, but also bored, and struck with a vague sense of grade-school..." Read more
Customers find the prose well suited to the Teixcalaan empire, with the dialogue. They also appreciate the useful glossary at the back of the book, along with a pronouncing gazeteer. Readers also mention that the main character, Mahit, is well defined and consistent throughout. They say the book explains technical concepts and demonstrate expertise. They mention that it provides an interesting culture and intriguing technology.
"...debut novel filled with rich and multi-layered characters and powerful prose...." Read more
"...The characters were pretty good. The main character, Mahit, was well defined and was consistent throughout, which, for me is the most important...." Read more
"...with a vague sense of grade-school induced stress-memory from how plodding and thick the story telling could be at times...." Read more
"...Names, places, and cultural ideals all carry a unique flavor, complex and fascinating, albeit difficult to appreciate at first...." Read more
Customers find the characters in the book compelling and real. They also mention that the book has intrigue, palace rivalries, surprising friendships, and a looming alien invasion.
"...15-20ish pages and each is filled with political intrigue, subtle character development, and beautiful, poetic prose...." Read more
"...As in, not a big deal at all. Several characters were bisexual, and there were frank discussions of sex and past relationships - but the romance..." Read more
"It was believable. The characters were engaging and I kept picking it up for "just one more chapter". I'm looking forward to beginning the sequel." Read more
"...created out of tow worlds is complex and full, along with compelling characters that flush out as real with an ease that’s welcoming...." Read more
Customers find the tone of the book marvelously poetic, thoughtful, and interesting. They also say the language can be pretty at times, and the book is refreshing, funny, and satisfying.
"...works of speculative fiction don’t have is a great, careful attention to the emotional balance of the characters...." Read more
"...The originality and creativity of the author are abundant, and it is well worth the time to read." Read more
"...combined with smooth writing, excellent world building, usually sharp dialogue (minus occasional regressions), and with only vague writing on the..." Read more
"...mind and influencing your identity are explored in a touching and thought-provoking way...." Read more
Customers are mixed about the pacing. Some find the story well paced, while others say it's very slow.
"...amount of time to finish, in large part because it is LONG, the beginning is SLOW, and I kept having to look up words to figure out what the author..." Read more
"...The plot was the right speed. It wasn't fast moving like a Dan Brown novel, but it wasn't super slow either. I never felt the book dragged...." Read more
"...but I also can't deny that part of it is just because the pacing on this story is viscous and heavy on the political-based drama...." Read more
"...It is interesting and fast paced in ways that the average populace aren't used to...." Read more
Customers find the content boring, with no comedy, suspense, or anything to hold their attention after twenty. They also say the book is hard to understand.
"...The difference is that the other reviewer liked it, and I found it boring. I'm going to try to tell you without spoiling things...." Read more
"The book is written well, but the story is slow, boring, and could have happened on regular Earth in the next few years...." Read more
"...Third, it's boring as hell until 2/3rds of the way in...." Read more
"...within the universe she has crafted is fascinating, but not overly intrusive or implausible...." Read more
Reviews with images
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LOVED IT!
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1) You might not appreciate or care for the type of story being told here. While you’re certainly entitled to your own opinion, I strongly urge you to challenge yourself and dig deep. Read the pronunciation guide, try and understand the cultural differences in play, look for the subtleties.
I promise that this is an amazing book, even if it doesn’t sync with your usual tastes.
2) Despite being entirely different from each other, I couldn’t help but compare AMCE with Seth Dickinson’s “The Traitor Baru Cormorant”. If you like Dickinson, then I think you will love Arkady Martine. However, I will say now that I think AMCE is even more masterful than the gut-wrenching Baru Cormorant. Not that it’s a competition.
So, onto the review. What AMCE has that so many other great works of speculative fiction don’t have is a great, careful attention to the emotional balance of the characters. The protagonist, Mahit Dzmare is constantly questioning why she feels or thinks a certain way, but it never feels overdone. Similarly, Mahit pays very close attention to the emotions of the people she interacts with, but more importantly, she is laser-focused on how the inhabitants of the glorious empire treat her. The author very delicately balances her work with a constant sense of ulterior motive. Does this person like me? Or do they want me to fail?
It was a really powerful reading experience for me because I pretty much live with an exactly opposite state of mind: I almost always assume the best of intentions from everyone and I’m taken by surprise when I find out that someone was playing the political game. My somewhat innocent mental state is almost assuredly guided by my privileges and it’s something I’ve been working on.
Mahit does not possess the same privileges. She very obviously comes across as a foreigner to all of the imperial citizens she meets. Her careful steps taken throughout the story feels like watching someone tiptoe past a sleeping lion.
So clearly, Martine, the author, knows her stuff about emotions and cultural interactions. She also really nails the pacing for this book. Most chapters clock in at around 15-20ish pages and each is filled with political intrigue, subtle character development, and beautiful, poetic prose. Individual chapters from this novel could be submitted into poetry or short fiction contests and they would probably win on their own.
I found the premise, climax, and ending to all be very satisfying and refreshing. There’s is a LOT baked into this story that is worth your attention. We have a masterclass author worthy of her accolades for this unbelievable debut novel filled with rich and multi-layered characters and powerful prose.
I can almost guarantee that even if you don’t love the book, you WILL learn something, perhaps even about yourself; a feature that all Hugo award-winning works should be capable of.
Character
The characters were pretty good. The main character, Mahit, was well defined and was consistent throughout, which, for me is the most important. Some of the side characters were decidedly less consistent. Three Seagrass was a shining example of an inconsistent character.
The Teixcalaanlitzlim or whatever were themselves wildly inconsistent. The author portrayed them as a people that never showed emotion, and yet they showed emotion throughout the whole book. The moment towards the end when Three Seagrass breaks down in tears should have been a powerful moment of emotion, but Three Seagrass, and all the Teixcalaanli were prone to emotion. Excitement, humor, sadness, happiness, etc. I think the impassivity should have been stressed more throughout the book, or left out entirely.
Setting
The setting was well defined. The world felt real and was easy to be immersed in. Teixcalaan felt like earth. It may have been intended that way. So the story felt like an alien coming to earth, rather than a human visiting an alien world. It was different and I liked that.
One thing the really bothered me. I have often read stories like this in which children are bred and families are not a thing. As if in some ultra progressive future the family unit will be rendered obsolete and antiquated. I get why some people may not want to have families themselves, but the idea that all of society would decide that families are unnecessary and instead leave the perpetuation of the species to a laboratory is absurd,unrealistic, and immersion breaking. I don't care if a book is conservative or progressive, there are other progressive elements to this book that don't bother me, but this one does.
Plot
Very intriguing. I loved a science fiction story that was really a political thriller rather than any grand, sweeping epic. What we had was a nation on the brink of a civil war, and I thought that was pretty cool. The plot was the right speed. It wasn't fast moving like a Dan Brown novel, but it wasn't super slow either. I never felt the book dragged. The intrigue was clever and the foreshadowing was proper. Well done.
The problem I had here, however, was one of foundation. The imago issue surfaces way too quickly. We don't really get a chance to see the imago Mahit before it is taken away. Then the author tries telling us how jarring it is that the imago is gone, but we don't feel that because we had only a few pages while it was there. For the absence of the imago to be properly impactful, we first needed to see more of what it was like to have the imago functioning properly. The loss of this tool, which the author constantly tells us the whole rest of the novel is a big deal, didn't feel like a big deal. It felt more like the author wanted it to be a big deal. Also one more issue that involves spoilers.
SPOILER ISSUE BELOW
Near the beginning, Mahit tells us old Yskander's imago would be useless because it had been recording 3 months of brain decay, and that anything useful would have been corrupted by that. Fast forward the the final third of the book and that point is conveniently forgotten when she decides to replace her implant with old Yskander's. The fact that there was three months of decay on the imago doesn't come up as even a potential problem. It's simply never mentioned. That's a pretty big oversight.
The technology within the universe she has crafted is fascinating, but not overly intrusive or implausible. The real strength of the novel lies in the political intrigue, and the small ensemble of characters that you will grow to both love and hate. The setting feels old, lived in—as if it’s existed for thousands of years and the author has simply documented it. Names, places, and cultural ideals all carry a unique flavor, complex and fascinating, albeit difficult to appreciate at first. I expect the author did not care to water down her style to appeal to the common palate, which is a mark in her favor.
It is very much written in the style of Dune and borrows heavily from some of the ideas there, but stands on its own as a heavyweight of the genre. The originality and creativity of the author are abundant, and it is well worth the time to read.
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Reviewed in Germany on May 26, 2024
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