rmperezpadilla's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Xenophobia, Suicide, and Police brutality
Moderate: Terminal illness, Mental illness, Violence, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Minor: Blood
maddiebusick's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Death, Suicide, Blood, and Violence
Moderate: Gun violence, Medical content, Grief, Colonisation, Xenophobia, Medical trauma, and Injury/injury detail
Minor: Police brutality, Alcohol, Confinement, Cultural appropriation, Sexual content, Terminal illness, and Classism
criticalgayze's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
I found A Memory Called Empire to be a really enjoyable court intrigue story. Martine has done interesting things with the integration of language, like a heavier version of How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe. I also found all the characters incredibly enjoyable, especially with the aforementioned work by the audiobook narrator. This was a long audiobook that spread across a span of two weeks for me, so I'm having trouble forming solidified praise, but I do recommend this one.
The problems are small for me, but they did keep from a full appreciation of the novel. The biggest is the minimal world-building. I don't know if this is done to give us a connection to the in-over-my-head feeling of Mahit, the novel's narrator, as she tries to navigate the inner turmoil of the Teixcalaan empire, but the reader is left with little sense of the history that would lead to the kind of civil war the capital city is facing or the relationship of Mahit's Lsel Station to the empire. My other sticking point centers around poetry, which is a central motif of the story. I'm not sure if it would be more accessible an idea in print, but there seems to be too much description of poetry characters are writing and not enough of the poetry itself, which comes across as overly indulgent linguistic fascination on the part of the author.
A Memory Called Empire is an interesting and effortlessly Queer entry into the science fiction genre that has plenty of things to chew on in the current conversation on American imperialism.
Graphic: Blood, Cursing, and Injury/injury detail
Moderate: Suicide, Xenophobia, Gun violence, Death, and Terminal illness
Minor: Alcohol
emilyplun's review
- 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
Graphic: Blood, Colonisation, Death, Grief, Suicide, Terminal illness, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Cultural appropriation, Medical content, and Body horror
Minor: Alcohol, Police brutality, and Sexual content
naldorah's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Moderate: Blood, Death, Grief, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Murder, Police brutality, Terminal illness, Violence, and Xenophobia
Minor: Confinement and Toxic relationship