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A review by one_womanarmy
A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine
adventurous
inspiring
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Equal parts Game of Thrones, Cold War realpolitik, anti-colonialist tale, and Star Wars prequel. It’s a grand, galaxy-spanning space opera that is mostly about diplomacy. Or, if you prefer, it’s an impressively wonky novel about galactic geopolitics that just happens to feature spaceships and aliens. I loved it.
It’s difficult to talk about A Memory Called Empire without spoiling some of its best surprises because the core of the book sounds impossibly dry. Mahit Dzmare has been named ambassador to the mighty Teixcalaanli Empire - a formidable colonial presence she aspires to and despises - and must quickly navigate the untimely death of her predecessor who, is also partially embedded in her brain as a living ghost.
For all of its big, exciting plot devices, (AI Imago implants!, complex geo-pokitical maneuvering! lineage-based officials!) the book is most concerned with the ways that gigantic empires gobble up local cultures almost without trying. When you live in a place filled with power and wealth, it can be difficult to see how power and wealth breed destruction radiating out from the center.
What I loved most was Martines complex character development, busying us not only with grand space cities and romantic poetry duels, but intensely personal characters whose queer ess, familial bonds, and cultural assimilations both test and triumph at equal turn.
Wildly similar to Anne Leckie's Ancillary Justice series at times (queer autistic coded main characters with deep burn lesbian plot lines navigating complex political machinations that out then at the center of ruling class politik) the book receives five stars for its balance of world and character building, ease of narrative flow and closely connected resolving threads, emotional scenes, and poignant narrative on what it means to navigate freedom, identity, and community when faced with the crushing wheels of empire, progress, and the unknown.
It’s difficult to talk about A Memory Called Empire without spoiling some of its best surprises because the core of the book sounds impossibly dry. Mahit Dzmare has been named ambassador to the mighty Teixcalaanli Empire - a formidable colonial presence she aspires to and despises - and must quickly navigate the untimely death of her predecessor who, is also partially embedded in her brain as a living ghost.
For all of its big, exciting plot devices, (AI Imago implants!, complex geo-pokitical maneuvering! lineage-based officials!) the book is most concerned with the ways that gigantic empires gobble up local cultures almost without trying. When you live in a place filled with power and wealth, it can be difficult to see how power and wealth breed destruction radiating out from the center.
What I loved most was Martines complex character development, busying us not only with grand space cities and romantic poetry duels, but intensely personal characters whose queer ess, familial bonds, and cultural assimilations both test and triumph at equal turn.
Wildly similar to Anne Leckie's Ancillary Justice series at times (queer autistic coded main characters with deep burn lesbian plot lines navigating complex political machinations that out then at the center of ruling class politik) the book receives five stars for its balance of world and character building, ease of narrative flow and closely connected resolving threads, emotional scenes, and poignant narrative on what it means to navigate freedom, identity, and community when faced with the crushing wheels of empire, progress, and the unknown.