A review by sambora
A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine
5.0
A Desolation Called Peace is the best sequel that I've read in a long time, and Arkady Martine is working her way further and further up my list of favourite authors.
Simply put; this book has me incredibly impressed and thirsty for more.
*This will be a spoiler-free review.*
As you may know, book #1 of the Teixcalaan duology, A Memory Called Empire, is one of my favourite books of all time. It made a huge impression on me a few years ago and I was very excited and nervous to finally be reading it's continuation.
I am VERY pleased to say that A Desolation Called Peace maintains the quality of AMCE as well as developing it's themes and characters marvelously.
This story picks up about 3 months after the conclusion to the first entry and the first thing I notice is that we are given a much wider selection of perspectives. This immediately braced me for the scope of the story to be expanded far past what we saw in AMCE - and my goodness was it!
Perspectives include;
- Mahit Dzmare, the protagonist and central POV. A Lsel stationer and foreign diplomat to the Teixcalaan Empire. She left the heart of the Empire after the events of AMCE, but still remains the Ambassador of her Station. She carries the memories and personality of the previous ambassador, Yskandr Aghavn, in a chip in her head.
- Three Seagrass, Mahit's former cultural liaison to the Empire, her guide and bodyguard. She works for the Information Ministry, but her life has not been the same since Mahit left.
- Nine Hibiscus , a renowned (and somewhat infamous) Fleet Captain on a Teixcalaan flagship, on the outskirts of the Empire's territory fighting a war against a powerful and unknown alien force that is encroaching on their sector of space.
- Eight Antidote, the 11 year old, ninety percent clone of the previous Emperor of Teixcalaan. He is quickly learning what it means to rule and is coming to grips with court politics as well as what his own existence implies about his progenitor and, more generally, his Empire.
There are a few others, but these are the primary players.
Martine weaves these characters stories and their individual growth into the complex narrative, whilst sticking close to the books themes throughout. Each character seeing, feeling or experiencing something that we the reader can see is connected to the larger picture, even when they themselves cannot.
This in itself is a primary theme of the book; connectedness. A sharing of and knowledge of others. Belonging to a culture, and what it means to be considered a "person". It also brought forward, re-examined and grew upon many of the superb elements of the first book; the romance, poetry, language, technology, war, surveillance, power and communication.
It honestly floored me how well this book took all of these topics and ideas, ran with them, leaving in its wake such a fantastic story.
I could talk about this book for ages but I wish to keep this spoiler-free. This book is the easiest 5 stars that I've given in a long long time. I am admittedly saddened that this is the last book in this series, but I really hope Martine writes more books in the Teixcalaan universe in the future, even if it doesn't follow Mahit or Three Seagrass specifically.
I can unquestionably say that A Memory Called Empire and A Desolation Called Peace, as a pair, have a very special place in my heart as well as on my shelf.
Simply put; this book has me incredibly impressed and thirsty for more.
*This will be a spoiler-free review.*
As you may know, book #1 of the Teixcalaan duology, A Memory Called Empire, is one of my favourite books of all time. It made a huge impression on me a few years ago and I was very excited and nervous to finally be reading it's continuation.
I am VERY pleased to say that A Desolation Called Peace maintains the quality of AMCE as well as developing it's themes and characters marvelously.
This story picks up about 3 months after the conclusion to the first entry and the first thing I notice is that we are given a much wider selection of perspectives. This immediately braced me for the scope of the story to be expanded far past what we saw in AMCE - and my goodness was it!
Perspectives include;
- Mahit Dzmare, the protagonist and central POV. A Lsel stationer and foreign diplomat to the Teixcalaan Empire. She left the heart of the Empire after the events of AMCE, but still remains the Ambassador of her Station. She carries the memories and personality of the previous ambassador, Yskandr Aghavn, in a chip in her head.
- Three Seagrass, Mahit's former cultural liaison to the Empire, her guide and bodyguard. She works for the Information Ministry, but her life has not been the same since Mahit left.
- Nine Hibiscus , a renowned (and somewhat infamous) Fleet Captain on a Teixcalaan flagship, on the outskirts of the Empire's territory fighting a war against a powerful and unknown alien force that is encroaching on their sector of space.
- Eight Antidote, the 11 year old, ninety percent clone of the previous Emperor of Teixcalaan. He is quickly learning what it means to rule and is coming to grips with court politics as well as what his own existence implies about his progenitor and, more generally, his Empire.
There are a few others, but these are the primary players.
“Wait for the real problem, Your Excellency. Don’t borrow trouble that doesn’t come to you on its own.”
Martine weaves these characters stories and their individual growth into the complex narrative, whilst sticking close to the books themes throughout. Each character seeing, feeling or experiencing something that we the reader can see is connected to the larger picture, even when they themselves cannot.
This in itself is a primary theme of the book; connectedness. A sharing of and knowledge of others. Belonging to a culture, and what it means to be considered a "person". It also brought forward, re-examined and grew upon many of the superb elements of the first book; the romance, poetry, language, technology, war, surveillance, power and communication.
It honestly floored me how well this book took all of these topics and ideas, ran with them, leaving in its wake such a fantastic story.
“...don’t trust anyone who makes you feel good without knowing why they want you to feel that way.”
I could talk about this book for ages but I wish to keep this spoiler-free. This book is the easiest 5 stars that I've given in a long long time. I am admittedly saddened that this is the last book in this series, but I really hope Martine writes more books in the Teixcalaan universe in the future, even if it doesn't follow Mahit or Three Seagrass specifically.
I can unquestionably say that A Memory Called Empire and A Desolation Called Peace, as a pair, have a very special place in my heart as well as on my shelf.