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quarkie's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
As in the first book, a really interesting world and some thought-provoking takes on various concepts, but I was a bit distracted by what I thought to be less-than-stellar writing. I liked this one a bit more than the first one, but I think it was more due to the change in structure rather than a significant change in writing. Rather than the entire book told from a single point of view, this story was told from four distinct viewpoints. This helped avoid repetition of the same topic and thoughts that was present in the previous book, and also allowed readers to better follow the motivations of characters, since they had access to more internal monologues. It also allowed for readers to see characters' thought processes develop over the course of the book.
One thing I really enjoyed was the pacing - while the beginning was s bit slow, the second half had me on the edge of my seat, and made it difficult to put down!
One complaint I have, that is similar to the previous book, is that sometimes plot points "just happened". Meaning that they either seemingly had no lead up to them, or that they happened and didn't actually have an effect on the plot. It left readers hanging in a few cases.
The main topics that I took away from reading this were what the concept of "you" means to various societies, which was explored in the previous book and then expanded even further upon here. It was also an interesting look at how a society that is know for consuming cultures through colonization acts when confronted with a (SPOILER ALERT) society that will much more literally consume them. Finally, this book explored more concretely the ways in which people from these various cultures interact with one another, and how they can be actively doing harm when they are in fact well-intentioned.
One thing I really enjoyed was the pacing - while the beginning was s bit slow, the second half had me on the edge of my seat, and made it difficult to put down!
One complaint I have, that is similar to the previous book, is that sometimes plot points "just happened". Meaning that they either seemingly had no lead up to them, or that they happened and didn't actually have an effect on the plot. It left readers hanging in a few cases.
The main topics that I took away from reading this were what the concept of "you" means to various societies, which was explored in the previous book and then expanded even further upon here. It was also an interesting look at how a society that is know for consuming cultures through colonization acts when confronted with a (SPOILER ALERT) society that will much more literally consume them. Finally, this book explored more concretely the ways in which people from these various cultures interact with one another, and how they can be actively doing harm when they are in fact well-intentioned.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Genocide, Sexual content, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Grief and Alcohol
michaelcattigan's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Genocide, Xenophobia, Blood, and War
Moderate: Gore
fraxisle's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Sexual content, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Murder, and War
Moderate: Genocide, Gun violence, Vomit, Medical content, Stalking, and Injury/Injury detail
hailstorm3812's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
An excellent followup. Really interesting themes and plot, and a way different energy than the first book but nonetheless complimentary. I kind of wish we had more time with Mahit and Reed. In general I wouldn't have complained if they gave us another hundred pages to tie up everything even though it wasn't super necessary.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence, Vomit, and Colonisation
Minor: Death, Gore, and Blood
indeedithappens's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Deportation, and Pandemic/Epidemic
booksthatburn's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
*I received a free review copy as part of 2022 Hugo awards voting.
A DESOLATION CALLED PEACE is a collision of cultures bleeding into war, trying to find the bounds of personhood in more than flesh and bone.
The plot follows several parallel threads, centering on various characters. I love Twenty Cicada’s storyline. He’s one of my favorite characters, followed closely by Eight Antidote. Mahit and Three Seagrass are working together again, this time to find a way to communicate with the aliens whose proximity Mahit had used as leverage in the previous book. The worldbuilding focuses on intra-empire politics as much as it focuses on the empire’s communications with Mahit and with the aliens. It balances stress and war with levity and intimacy, exploring connections and communication as characters with conflicting methods and competing aims collide.
This answers a few things left hanging from the first book, showing the next steps without closing much off. There’s a new storyline involving aliens which is almost entirely new (the existence of those aliens was pivotal in Mahit’s big move at the end of A MEMORY CALLED EMPIRE). A few major things involving those aliens are both introduced and resolved. It specifically leaves aspects of Mahit’s relationships to other characters to be resolved later, but with substantial changes from how they were at the start of the book. Some of narrators are the same, with the addition of a new perspective between sections. I don’t think Eight Antidote was a narrator last time, if he was it was brief, but he, Mahit, and Three Seagrass are all narrators this time.
This story likely wouldn’t make sense to anyone who hadn’t read the first book. Because Mahit was on her first journey as an ambassador last time, A MEMORY CALLED EMPIRE had a lot of exposition which could fit naturally into that story. A DESOLATION CALLED PEACE is therefore (assuming one read the first book) free to focus on building up descriptions of the fleet, the Shards, and the aliens, leaving the Empire and its basic details to be shown but more rarely explained.
The ending utterly devastated me, wrapping up the main story and leaving me sated, but promising more in the vast future now made possible by the resolution.
A DESOLATION CALLED PEACE is a collision of cultures bleeding into war, trying to find the bounds of personhood in more than flesh and bone.
The plot follows several parallel threads, centering on various characters. I love Twenty Cicada’s storyline. He’s one of my favorite characters, followed closely by Eight Antidote. Mahit and Three Seagrass are working together again, this time to find a way to communicate with the aliens whose proximity Mahit had used as leverage in the previous book. The worldbuilding focuses on intra-empire politics as much as it focuses on the empire’s communications with Mahit and with the aliens. It balances stress and war with levity and intimacy, exploring connections and communication as characters with conflicting methods and competing aims collide.
This answers a few things left hanging from the first book, showing the next steps without closing much off. There’s a new storyline involving aliens which is almost entirely new (the existence of those aliens was pivotal in Mahit’s big move at the end of A MEMORY CALLED EMPIRE). A few major things involving those aliens are both introduced and resolved. It specifically leaves aspects of Mahit’s relationships to other characters to be resolved later, but with substantial changes from how they were at the start of the book. Some of narrators are the same, with the addition of a new perspective between sections. I don’t think Eight Antidote was a narrator last time, if he was it was brief, but he, Mahit, and Three Seagrass are all narrators this time.
This story likely wouldn’t make sense to anyone who hadn’t read the first book. Because Mahit was on her first journey as an ambassador last time, A MEMORY CALLED EMPIRE had a lot of exposition which could fit naturally into that story. A DESOLATION CALLED PEACE is therefore (assuming one read the first book) free to focus on building up descriptions of the fleet, the Shards, and the aliens, leaving the Empire and its basic details to be shown but more rarely explained.
The ending utterly devastated me, wrapping up the main story and leaving me sated, but promising more in the vast future now made possible by the resolution.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Sexual content, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, and War
Moderate: Cursing, Genocide, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Colonisation
Minor: Ableism, Self harm, and Suicide
criticalgayze's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
First, I would like to thank the publisher (Macmillan Audio) for an advance listening copy of this title that I am very behind on reading.
I think the choice to move all of the characters into unknown territory in the sequel works in this novel's favor and boosts it slightly over A Memory Called Empire for me. My major gripe with Memory was that I felt the reader was not given quite enough world building on the Teixcalaan empire to understand and appreciate all the machinations of the palace intrigue plot. I also thought it focused too much on describing, rather than showing, poems as a cornerstone of the Teixcalaan society's culture. In A Desolation Called Peace, the poetry element plays a much more minor role, and the story moves away from the under built empire to a first-contact narrative. This allows all three societies involved in the engagement to be on unsure footing, and it forces Martine to have to explain for the benefit of all involved. (The issue is not fully resolved, however, as we do still get some of the under-explained dissidence in the empire via the storyline of the empire's heir.)
I also really appreciated the use of a choral narration. The reemergence of choral narration is proving a big stylistic device in recent literary fiction, and I am appreciative of the grandeur of it all.
I would also like to again shout out Amy Landon, who returns to the sequel to provide fantastic narration.
I think the choice to move all of the characters into unknown territory in the sequel works in this novel's favor and boosts it slightly over A Memory Called Empire for me. My major gripe with Memory was that I felt the reader was not given quite enough world building on the Teixcalaan empire to understand and appreciate all the machinations of the palace intrigue plot. I also thought it focused too much on describing, rather than showing, poems as a cornerstone of the Teixcalaan society's culture. In A Desolation Called Peace, the poetry element plays a much more minor role, and the story moves away from the under built empire to a first-contact narrative. This allows all three societies involved in the engagement to be on unsure footing, and it forces Martine to have to explain for the benefit of all involved. (The issue is not fully resolved, however, as we do still get some of the under-explained dissidence in the empire via the storyline of the empire's heir.)
I also really appreciated the use of a choral narration. The reemergence of choral narration is proving a big stylistic device in recent literary fiction, and I am appreciative of the grandeur of it all.
I would also like to again shout out Amy Landon, who returns to the sequel to provide fantastic narration.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Blood, and Medical content
Moderate: Genocide, Sexual content, and Xenophobia
readandfindout's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
slow-paced
4.0
Style/writing: 4.5 stars
Themes: 4 stars
Characters: 4 stars
Plot: 4 stars
Worldbuilding: 3.5 stars
Themes: 4 stars
Characters: 4 stars
Plot: 4 stars
Worldbuilding: 3.5 stars
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Blood, Colonisation, and War
Moderate: Body horror, Genocide, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Xenophobia, Vomit, Grief, and Medical trauma
totallyshelfaware's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Blood, Medical content, and War
Moderate: Xenophobia and Colonisation
Minor: Genocide and Grief
cerilouisereads's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Medical content, and War
Moderate: Sexual content and Xenophobia
Minor: Genocide