A Desolation Called Peace

Ambassador Mahit continues to surround herself with trouble in this follow up to A Memory Called Empire.

The struggles for supremacy at the capital have continued as the empire pursues an interplanetary war out on the edges of it's territory. A new emperor has been named and a guardian has been put on the throne until the emperor is of age. The Ministry of War is struggling against the Ministry of Information, and other sections of government are claiming their sphere of influence with those at the top.

The first book revealed that Mahit's mining has technology whereby a person's memories are stored on a brain stem implant chip, called an imago. The person's successor is then given those memories. This was developed so that pilots could be enhanced by the skills of their predecessors and lessen training time. Once this is discovered, there are those in the empire who want the technology, believing it to be some sort of eternal life existence.

Mahit has returned to her mining station and is running from discovery. When she was given her predecessor's memory, the official in charge of that department had deliberately sabotaged it. However, Mahit managed to recover the chip from the body of her predecessor and now has his memories and wisdom in her thoughts. But she can't let the imago official know her imago has been restored.

And then the empire recalls Mahit as ambassador and linguist to assist in making contact with their alien opponents, hoping they can end the war. Once again we are thrust into the internal battles for supremacy between various ministries and people seeking power. Martine proves to be a master of this high stakes political intrigue.

Martine is reunited with envoy Three Seagrass and they are taken to the battleship at the head of the war. Their role is to try to communicate with the aliens. Meanwhile, back at the capital, there are others who want to bomb the alien planet with enough destructive power to destroy it completely. And since when does the eleven year old future emperor think he has the authority to get involved in the affairs of adults?

The book has been fast paced from the beginning but something happens and all forward momentum stops as many different plot points suddenly coalesce and everybody has to rethink their part.

There is a phrase in writing that says, 'Somebody has to put the gun on the mantleshelf'. It means you can't write a sudden escape hatch into a story, you have to do the set up ahead of time. Martine has been 'putting guns on the mantleshelf' since book #1. And with the main players in the palace and in the control deck of the leading battle ship, everything is brought to a halt, and here comes the payoff.

The final chapter ends on such a calm note that it almost robs the overall story of its power. But there is a Postlude that brings it all to a very fitting conclusion - just enough mystery, just enough information, just enough satisfaction.

The word 'byzantine' is often used as an adjective to describe a highly complex and convoluted plot in literature. These two books definitely fit that description as the various power players outplay and sidestep each other. And having delighted in reading these two books of interweaving character arcs in their battles for supremacy, it is fitting to find that Arkady Martine is not only an esteemed scholar but has a PhD in Byzantine history, and that the first book was written through the time she was studying for that Doctorate. I knew we were in the hands of a master of her craft.

A solid sequel, although unfortunately since there was a big gap between me reading the first and the second book, I was quite confused at what was happening for a while. I'm not too sure if reading the books back to back would have helped or if it would have been confusing either way.

This reads closer to 3.5 stars, but because of that interlude scene that I loved I'm giving it 4 stars.

i'm writing this immediately after finishing the book, right at my no-more-renewals library due date, so i might feel differently after it's had time to settle (like what does/will dekakel onchu do after all that? is that a loose thread or not?), but right now: the story's conclusion was satisfying and hit all the right notes for me. it felt like closing a window, conclusive, final, but the universe would go on beyond it. i wasn't sure i'd like the eight antidote POV sections at first (i thought they'd fall somewhere between being very young but not in expected mannerisms, à la ender's game, and adult-writing-a-child) but they and the rotating POVs grew on me. i think a minor gripe was just that sometimes the text would progress entirely chronologically between characters and sometimes a POV switch would take you back in time to experience the same scene from another angle. and the we POVs were a bit purposefully opaque. besides some of the more blunt characters (like sixteen moonrise), i also lost track of some characters' political ties and motivations over time; there were so many different approaches to conflict and i wasn't ever 100% sure i was remembering certain details correctly. at the same time, though, that nuance was fun and the discontinuity human.

the romance was overall sweet, and i thought left off in a good, realistic way. reminded me a bit of the abyss surrounds us in terms of power dynamics, but much less harsh (that one had pirates and their prisoners and a toxic hate-love situation) while simultaneously being much more full of microaggressions that were alluded to but not addressed head-on between the characters. like even when they were fighting about it they weren't, and apologies happened through intent only. some steamy stuff happens though. a memory called empire took place over what, a week? this one, less than? hard to say, but either way my girl three seagrass was down bad.

my page 444 status update was me having my mind blown. how wide is the concept of “you”? except now i see “the world, the empire” in the status update got annihilated because it was between yskandr-voice angle brackets and goodreads didn't like it. that's hilarious.

i also read this via a combination of hardcover, ebook, and audiobook while at home and on the road. the audiobook properly served its purpose of injecting the book into my earholes, but even after i got used to the narrator i found the speech patterns chosen for mahit dzmare and three seagrass incongruous with what i imagined for them, and especially so after three seagrass is described as having a clear alto voice in chapters eleven and fifteen. via audiobook, she comes across as too high-pitched, girlish, and whiny to me, rather than the kind of steady poet, diplomat, and orator i imagined her to be. the scenes in which neither character spoke were much more tolerable.

First, this book made me feel like I was watching a Star Trek series (particularly it has DS9 vibes) and therefore I loved it. Second, I mildly enjoyed A Memory Called Empire (I rated it 3-stars) and quite frankly I can't believe this is the sequel. It turned from (mostly) single point-of-view to multi, and everything from the plot, political plays and character development has improved for me 80 billion percent. And what I love about sci-fi (read: aliens) is much more present in this book as well. I definitely had a blast with this sequel. If there's a next book, this time I will not hesitate about picking it up.

This book tries so hard to be so clever but fails miserably. We get pages upon pages on pseudo philosophical rambling, like the author is explaining the most basic concepts to a toddler. On top of that we can witness the MC having irrational relationship fights for no reason other than drama. Yiekes.

hello Yaotlek, i'm Sixty-Nine Daffodil and my cute name is Tulip something something poetry something something caesura