There is a scene near the beginning of A Memory Called Empire that I remember reading with so much clarity. In the scene, the protagonist Mahit Dzmare, ambassador from the (tenuously) independent Lsel station, is introduced by her cultural liaison to a crowd of Teixcalaanli literati during an imperial banquet:

“She could follow about half of the allusions and quotations that slipped in and out of their speech. It made her jealous in a way she recognized as childish: the dumb longing of a nonciti

[2.5/5 stars] I have to take a moment to explain how excited I was to dive into this book. I was expecting rich culture, a complex plotline, and fascinating characters. And while I think all those components made an appearance, they weren’t nearly as amped up as I was hoping they’d be.

In fact, 85% of the story was pure dialogue and explanations. It TOLD me about this cool alien world and society, but it often neglected to SHOW me. And that feels like a colossal opportunity wasted. Incidentally,

With reservations.

What do you mean, what do I mean? There's something about it--as good, as inclusive, as remarkable as it is--that just fails to miss me. Possibly it's the empire-building genre. At any rate, this is probably what Alastair Reynolds was going for in The Prefect, only this was so much more tightly plotted, with better characterization, that it was far more satisfying. Perhaps my reservations are due to lingering disaffection, because Martine does exactly what I expected from Reyno

ARC provided by the publisher—Tor Books—in exchange for an honest review.

Easily one of the cleverest sci-fi debuts I’ve read so far.

A Memory Called Empire is Arkady Martine’s debut novel and the first installment in the Teixcalaan series. Ambassador Mahit Dzmare arrives in Teixcalaan only to find out that the previous ambassador from the same mining station as hers has died. Contrary to her belief, nobody wants to admit that his death wasn’t an accident, and now it’s up to Mahit to uncover who

This is an intelligent and well-crafted engrossing science fiction story that combines amazing worldbuilding with the political intrigue and murder mystery, and a fascinating exploration of the culture clashes and colonialism experience. I loved it. It tickled all the right places in my brain and was just a pleasure to read.

“That was the problem. Empire was empire—the part that seduced and the part that clamped down, jaws like a vise, and shook a planet until its neck was broken and it died.

I call this one The Aztec Empire in Space, in the best way. While a number of real world historical cultures no doubt influenced the superb and subtle worldbuilding in this novel, the one that I loved the most, that absolutely thrilled me, was the influence of the pre-conquest Aztec Empire. You so rarely see it in SFF (at least English language work). The naming conventions, the flowers, the people, the poetry, the sacrifice, the nahuatl word influence, and that's just the obvious things. There ...more

Have you ever had to basically bribe yourself to finish a book? Like, you'll decide that if you read 50 more pages, you get to read a chapter of the book you would really rather be reading or you get to have a piece of candy. No? Just me? Well that's what I had to do to finish this book.

It started out well enough - the 'deadly technological secret' referenced in the blurb was absolutely the most interesting part of the book. Though I think labeling it 'deadly' is debatable. But once that secret

Attempt two:

Listened to the audio this time and it really smoothed out the issues I had with the prose. All my initial problems stand, but it was enjoyable. So, 3 stars, but I'm keeping the rating because it really needs to be listened to in order to be palatable, and really it still doesn't add up to a compelling story for me. A political intrigue book where none of the politics make sense and the intrigue is...mostly imaginary.

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Time of death: 62%

I'm sorry, I'm skimming more and

It has a slow at the start with the pace and world building then gets better as you go. Emphasis is own political intrigue in the Empire rather than action and thrills.

A Memory Called Empire is a political sci-fi novel with a main f/f romance, the best court intrigue I've read in months if not ever, and plot twists I didn't see coming.
It's set in a space empire in which straight isn't the default, most of the cast is queer, and the worldbuilding is complex but never confusing - everything I've ever wanted.

And yet it's so much more. I knew this would be an intense read for me right from the dedication, because this book is dedicated to anyone who has ever fa

“the jaws of the empire opening up again, akimbo, bloody-toothed -- the endless self-justifying desire that was teixcalaan, and teixcalaanli ways of thinking of the universe. the empire, the world. one and the same. and if they were not yet so: make them so, for this is the right and correct will of the stars.”

This and The Priory of the Orange Tree (#4 in Goodreads' best fantasy poll) are the two big flops for me this year, where I disagreed strongly with popular books. And not just "it is okay but overrated" but "this is actually not good".

Lacklustre world building, characters that literally accomplish nothing in 400+ pages, contrived secrets, pointless scenes, and more.

On top of that: I went into it with wildly wrong expectations. I'd seen several places call this "space opera", which it definitely

Ambassador Mahit Dzmare, the protagonist of Arkady Martine’s debut space opera A Memory Called Empire, has more than one identity crisis on her hands: she has a deep affinity for the empire that wants to annex her home and she also literally has someone else’s personality nested in her brain. Dzmare’s internal conflicts correlate with the external ones that drive the novel’s plot. Living within the Teixcalaan Empire has been her heart’s desire since childhood, yet her primary aim as ambassador i ...more

reading books the way they’re meant to be read (with no memory of what occurred in the first 100 pages that I read 4 months ago)

This was something of a slow starter for me. I enjoyed the empire that ran on poetry aspect quite a bit. The standard book of poetical encryptions, the multilayered pride, and subversions built right into the language.

However, I've read a ton of murder-mysteries built into SF worlds so the core of the tale was something of a no-brainer and followed all the conventions. Welcome a stranger, an ambassador for a tiny space-station ensconced in a huge, huge empire, have her replace her murdered coun

A sci-fi murder mystery interspersed with reflections on colonialism and imperialism. An engaging and fast read but a bit bland
There was nothing safe, there were only gradations of exposure to danger
🚀🌌👑

It is very interesting how Arkady Martine engages with the question of how the barbarian tribes past the Rhine and Danube would have felt when they’d be invited into Rome at its apex. But than in space. The Heian court of Japan, with the focus on decorum, rituals, literature and poetry, comes to

An exceptional first novel recommended for fans of Cherryh, Leckie, Banks, and Asimov.

***Winner of the 2020 Hugo Award for Best Novel***

I really enjoyed this story of an ambassador that is new on the job and not only has to get used to a different place and culture, but also has to find out what lead to her predecessor‘s death. All this while she has an outdated version of him in her head, and her endocrine system.

I found the idea with the imago-machines, which preserve the memories of the dead, fascinating. The main character Mahit Dzmare should be able to benefit from the exper

"A Memory Called Empire" is a densely-packed, detailed story of interstellar palace intrigue. Those expecting shoot-em-up action need to slow it down a little here. It's a very thick story that takes a while to be fully revealed. One of the central themes is past lives memory in the form of imago machines much like the past lives of Frank Herbert's Bene Gesserits and often a struggle for mind domination with a ghost from the past. Other themes involve how a minority culture on a distant frontier ...more

I'm super disappointed to be giving this only three stars (no three stars isn't bad- I'd just much rather give it four or five). I'm beginning to question whether it's me or the books.

I guess I'll start at the beginning. One of the first pages said something along the lines of: "This is for all those who have ever fallen in love with a culture that was not their own."

That one line pretty much sums up the whole book. Mahit (our MC) has spent her whole life training to be an ambassador from her h

This is a dense, fascinating, strange exploration of diplomacy and otherness and culture clash that is packed to the gills with ideas and richly-conceived details. It is alternately vividly entertaining & somewhat obtuse, but I found myself more or less swept along the whole way. There is a tremendous amount that happens to the protagonist of this tale, and I can’t say that the cumulative emotional and physical effects of her jam packed adventures — some of which are downright traumatic — are al ...more

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An intricate, layered tale of empire, personal ambition, political obligations and interstellar intrigue. Vivid and delightfully inventive.

Surprisingly enough, this was not as disastrously deadly as I thought it would be after reading the first three pages. I was pretty sure this book was headed right into DNF graveyard territory, but lo and behold, I actually made it to the very end! And even slightly enjoyed it a little! Shock! Dismay! Discombobulation!

The pace is slower than an anaemic barnacle's and there's

If you don’t have time to read this entire review, know one thing: Arkady Martine is riotously talented.

If you have time to read no further than this second line, know another: you should read this book.

If you’ve got this far, know a third thing: A Memory called Empire, is one of my favorite SF novels of the last twelve months.

That’s all you really need to know. If you love a good SF novel that is more than the pew-pew of laser pistols and the throaty roar of warp-drives, then a visit to your l

✨ Review now up! ✨

The best science-fiction novels steal your heart, squeeze it, and make an impact. 2021 is still a child learning to walk, but somehow in its first adventures it decided that it would be the year when I finally enjoy reading those novels, and I'm still reeling from the absolute bafflement it makes me feel, okay? Not liking science-fiction - not understanding its appeal - has been part of my reader DNA forever and honestly, I don't know if they just got better or if I've changed

Now *this* is what I ordered when I asked for palace intrigue. This is what I wanted when I was told I was getting a look at the mechanics of empire from an outsider just trying to make it in a bewildering labyrinth of political backstabbing and desperate power grabbing. And this one did it one better because we got what is most useful in empire stories, the thing I teach my kids over and over again in my global studies classes: how their foundation isn’t political, it’s the cultural programming ...more

The praise and the prizes are well deserved. A tremendous read, with fabulous worldbuilding, deep humanity, great characters, heart-thumping tension, twisty politics, and an immense amount to think about. Cultural cringe, domination and appropriation, the way culture shapes our morality as well as how we understand things, often to mutual incomprehensibility, what even is 'personality' outside a culture when we're all composed of memory (our own and others) and our politico-social context. Which ...more

This was awesome. Really elegant writing and lots of expertly-written characters. Looking forward to the next!

This is a striking book, featuring on the one hand, a sophisticated writing style, big themes dealing with culture and empire and belonging, and characters who on a moment-to-moment level feel vivid and real. But on the other hand, there’s a distance to the characters kept me from fully connecting with them, and the political/diplomatic plot is one of the more ludicrously clueless that I’ve encountered, to the point I wish the author had scrapped that element entirely in favor of treating her th ...more