A Memory Called Empire
Ratings362
Average rating4.2
Loved the story. Really enjoyed learning about the two cultures; though I wish we'd gotten more ... well, political scenes and less running around in danger. I enjoy witty repartee and seeing characters use their keen observational (and conversational) skills to get ahead of their enemies.
This was a fantastic foray into sci-fi that deals with political intrigue. The two cultures that we experience were different enough thst they truly did feel alien to each despite being human. I loom forward to the next book.
This book recently got the nod in the Hugo awards, and based on that I bumped it to the top of my tbr. I have no regrets for doing this - it is one of the most impressive books I have read this year.
Teixcalaan is a galaxy spanning empire, with a rich political history. We follow the new ambassador for a small independent ‘state' on the edge of the Teixcalaan empire, summoned to the Teixcalaan court and immersed into this complex political structure. Arkady Martine slowly introduces us to elemnts of this court through a combination of murder mystery (what happened to the previous ambassador?) and political maneuverings of the various political factions in court. Somehow politics through poetry seems to work, as that is the way Teixcalaan seems to be ruled. The world building is on a scale I have rarely encountered. This is truly epic.
Away from the politicking that underlies the main story there are some deeply philosophical themes running through the story as well, especially around the concept of ‘self'. One of the key technologies here is an ‘imago' - a device that record the memories and personality of the previous holder of the job, which is embedded in the new person. This person is the integrated with the new job holder, gradually meshing into one, with the old personality being subsumed by the new, but leaving the knowledge and experience of the first. A clever concept and it leads to some interesting subtext around how we view our selves and how our own personality evolves.
If I did not know that this was a debut novel, I would never guess. This is a deep, philosophical and political epic space opera/murder mystery. It is deeply impressive. A Memory Called Empire has to rank as one of the best books I have read this summer. It is definitely the cleverest.
I really had a lovely time getting swept up in this book. It's certainly science fiction but reminded me of the high fantasy genre that has captured my heart for so long, in the political/court drama and intrigue. The central theme exploring Mahit's love and hate of the colonizing force of the Empire, and of course viewing the Empire from the perspective of the colonized, was a unique strength – rarely do we see empire structures in SFF treated as “imperial” in an explicitly critical way. (Like usually the king is evil or whatever but we don't get the same critique of the entire empire, the cultural assumption that the imperial model is fine.) This book drew me in similarly to Gideon the Ninth, where watching a big cast play metaphorical chess but in space and with sapphics hit many satisfying spots I didn't realize I wanted. I also thought it was really fun/interesting that the identity crisis in this book does not come from the literal brain-merge Mahit undergoes (or at least, not only from that; the imago is an accepted part of her heritage and if there are identity issues it's because of the malfunction) but from her wrestling with her position in the empire.
I enjoyed the writing, the world building (although honestly I was sometimes skimming over the detailed explanation of language, syllables, verse). I loved the characterization of cast members like Nineteen Adze and the emperor and even Yskandr, these enigmatic people with deep convictions all around Mahit who contrast her frequent internal dialogue. I enjoyed Mahit as a protagonist though agreeing that her personality and development were often obscured by stewing or plot events – enough of her came through to make me like her, root for her, want to know more about what she does next.
A Memory Called Empire sets up an amazing world centered around a complex imperial empire and it plays with some great sci-fi and philosophical concepts as well. It's a political thriller with a sci-fi backdrop and some things to say about imperialism. All good stuff!
There's a good chance there are a lot of people out there that will fall in love with this book. I'm not one of them.
I liked it, and I see that it has done what it set out to do very well, but I felt like I was pushing through the book rather than being pulled along by the story.
This might be a case of me being burnt out on space imperialism (I finished Ancillary Sword not long ago too) but I just don't have any motivation to pick up the second book in the series.
3.5/5 for me, but I totally understand the 5/5 reviews. It's an objectively great book, but not for me.
I think it's going to take me a bit to fully process this story. It's exactly what I wanted out of a political space drama. Everything feels like it's barely balanced on a tightrope.
A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine is an expertly crafted science fiction fantasy novel that incorporates real-world cultures into the intricate Aztec Empire influenced mythos. It is shining and immersive and should be read and read often.
“This book is dedicated to anyone who has ever fallen in love with a culture that was devouring their own.”
Right from the first pages of the story, you know that you are reading something different, and doing a little research into author Arkady Martine I instantly knew why. Martine is by profession a historian and city planner. The city planning part thrilled me to no end as I was also a city planner once upon a time. She has many prestigious degrees, one of which is a Ph.D. in medieval Byzantine, global, and comparative history at Rutgers University. When you read this book, you will notice the excellent care and detailing that went into the language and worldbuilding of the Teixcalaani Empire with obvious influences from the pre-colonial/conquest Aztec Empire and influences from the Nahuatl languages. The Nahuatl language group is currently spoken by close to two million people in central Mexico and was spoken by the Aztecs.
“Released, I am a spear in the hands of the sun.”
Often you read science fiction and fantasy novels that are based on or influenced by a particular culture. They usually only “pay lip service” to that culture. Authors delve deep enough historically and sociologically to have a general understanding of that culture enough to be as respectful and authentic as they can in the depiction with varying degrees of success. I think that what is so exceptional about A Memory Called Empire, and why it won the Hugo award for best novel and a finalist for the Nebula for the same category is that instead of superficially glancing at the culture, it is intensely immersive. The worldbuilding in this story flows like rain flowing to the ocean. Every detail was imagined, and it coalesced into a much greater picture of the history, city planning, and generally the Teixcalaani. There were no moments in which the detailing was off that it threw me out of the story.
“A MIND is a sort of star-chart in reverse: an assembly of memory, conditioned response, and past action held together in a network of electricity and endocrine signaling, rendered down to a single moving point of consciousness”
The story follows the protagonist Mahit Dzmare. She arrives as an ambassador to the imperial city of Teixclaan as a representative of the space station Lsel. She is to advocate on behalf of her fiercely independent homeland of Lsel Station and investigate the previous ambassador's death. The Teixcalaani is a glorious golden empire that swallows and changes everything it touches. It is beautiful to behold, but so much so that places like Lsel Station will get swallowed by its magnitude. Mahit is new to her ambassadorial duties, although she has studied the Teixclaan culture, language, and history for most of her life. But studying something and living it are two very different things. She must figure out a way to protect her small homeworld's independence in the face of everything.
Martine does an excellent job in representing the feelings of Mahit being a stranger in a strange land. Everything is foreign to Mahit, right down to customs of facial expressions and food. She desperately needs to belong and assimilate into this foreign culture, but she can't because she is missing a critical piece of information. One of the important pieces of hardware that the people of Lsel station use is a device called an imago. The device is the memory and personality of people who have come before her, saved as data to be re-downloaded. It is used so that none of the experiences and aptitude of the Lsel citizens is lost at the death of the person. The experience is then added to the new wearer, and the personalities are blended.
Nothing is lost. But, for Mahit her imago is malfunctioning. The previous ambassador's memory and experiences are gone. She is a fish out of water. Without the experiences and knowledge of her predecessor, how is she supposed to do this?
As befits her station, Mahit is assigned a cultural liaison named Three Seagrass. The naming conventions in this story are spectacular. While not the main protagonist of the story, three Seagrass is hugely important to the narrative and often steals the scenes with her wit and systematic efficiency. She is brutally efficient. As Mahit surfs the political intrigue of the city Teixclaan and its people must not pull her under.
“I could have told her the truth,” Mahit said. “Here I am, new to the City, being led astray by my own cultural liaison and a stray courtier.” Twelve Azalea folded his hands together in front of his chest. “We could have told her the truth,” he said. “Her friend, the dead Ambassador, has mysterious and probably illegal neurological implants.” “How nice for us, that everyone lies,” Three Seagrass said cheerfully.”
A lot is going on in this book. Right from the get-go, Mahit is thrown into a world of political intrigue. This book is called a space opera, but the genre title is misleading, as it often is. Space operas are usually around space battles, often having a plucky captain or a quest to save the universe. I love the genre, but I don't consider this to be a space opera.
Instead, A Memory Called Empire is a deep science fiction story that asks questions on the nature of memory. What is memory? Can it be taken away? Is memory the collective history of a rich culture like that of the Teixcalaani people or a moment of a single individual? It can be so many things. Simultaneously, while A Memory Called Empire delves into what memory is, it also has a complicated mystery plot of “who done it” laced with wordplay, culture, and political intrigue. There are even cyberpunk elements laced into the story, which is hard to believe, but they work with the narrative perfectly.
The plotting of the story is swift. It moves from scene to scene with no lag and propels the narrative forward. Honestly, the story just got better and better as it continued.
“Nothing touched by Empire stays clean.”
A Memory Called Empire had me stopping and evaluating my thoughts on what memory actually is many times. It is a story that can be taken in sips or devoured for hours at a time. It is glorious and shining like the golden city of Teixcalaani. It has made me remember why I love science fiction as much as I do.
For all those readers who love deep, well-written, and intelligent science fiction and fantasy, A Memory Called Empire should leapfrog all other books on your to-be-read list for your immediate attention.
I really enjoyed this book. Do yourself a favor and pick it up. Nice world building and character development. Enjoyed the tech too.
I really didn't enjoy this, however, the last third of the book did get a lot lot lot better, and by the end I thought it wrapped up nicely
I went in expecting some epic sci-fi to the tune of Dune, but I was pleasantly surprised that this book was probably one of the more digestible epic sci-fis I've read. It doesn't mean that it's simple though. This book is incredibly replete with things to think about, it's just conveyed in a fairly legible manner. Martine almost hand-holds us the readers into this amazing world that she's created, but shows us with every sentence some sharp observation to think about in relation to colonialism and cultural imperialism. Definitely going to continue on to the sequel (upset that this is not a longer series!)
The author is extremely good in conveying the psychological and sociological complexity of human interaction: about all the dialogues were absolutely fascinating. The writing is great, too, and so are many of the characters.
What is less riveting is the rhythm (so, so very slow, eventually growing boring) and the very low scifi-ness (let's be honest, it's actually a very good book about a foreign envoy to the imperial Chinese/Japanese court, disguised very poorly with a lame scifi background which is actually less evolved technologically, in many ways, than our present).
I am...underwhelmed. I liked the world; I loved the linguistics. I feel like 462 pages later I still don't know who any of these people are or why I should spend time with them.
I'm not a fan of fish-out-of-water stories, which I can't hold against the book (it's me, not you), but I am a fan of mystery and this one was only half solved (it's you, not me).
It ticks another book club/hugo read off the list, but I won't read the rest of this series.
Overview: A beautifully written book that combines some of the best aspects of Science Fiction. An outstanding debut book from an author with huge promise.On 1st Reading: I came away from this book with a feeling of satisfaction, wonder and fascination. This is a book from a new author, one that is clearly both skilled and knowledgeable. Who does she remind me of? There are many passages in which the writing is just beautiful, and gently guides the reader into pondering the nature of society, culture and preconceptions. In this, perhaps more than any other author, she reminds me of the peerless [a:Ursula K. Le Guin 874602 Ursula K. Le Guin https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1244291425p2/874602.jpg].In other areas the writing can be stark, evoking the harsh beauty of the cosmos. The author also raises deep questions about technology, how we interact with it and what this means for our identity and the nature of humanity. In both these areas she strongly reminded me of [a:Alastair Reynolds 51204 Alastair Reynolds https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1521740247p2/51204.jpg], one of the best SF writers of today.As someone who has enjoyed reading some...older books, I felt many passages and themes echoed with Heroditus, Thucydides, Plutarch, Diodorus Siculus and Procopius. After one particular passage in which the main character is presented to the Emperor and has to consider how to balance her cultural aversion to bowing with the expectation that she should prostrate herself, I read up about the author and was utterly blown away by the breadth of her scholarly background. This rich knowledge has clearly come through in her writing, giving a believability and a depth that you can really feel to the world that she has created.So yes, the writing reminds me of all these things, yet there is something else there too. I feel that Ms Martine has learned from the best that literature offers, but she has brought something new. It is true that there are threads that remind me of some of the best books out there - but there are novel ideas and a special style that clearly 100% Arkady Martine, something hard to pin down, but spicy, floral and wonderful.As a debut work this is frankly staggering.On 2nd Reading: I reread this ahead of the release of the sequel. I found it just as meaningful and well written as the first time around. Knowing what would happen I was able to relax and appreciate the authors skill in blending genres, and in the little details - particularly in the frankly beautiful handling of the relationship between Mahit and Three Seagrass, in a different way between Yskandr and Six Direction. (Being a softy I'm desperate for Mahit and Seagrass to get together!). This is a fantastic book, it stands on its own, but I am very much looking forward to the sequel.I am moving straight into [b:A Desolation Called Peace 45154547 A Desolation Called Peace (Teixcalaan, #2) Arkady Martine https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1591755604l/45154547.SY75.jpg 61309907].
This is a fine debut book. Although I love the genre I am not very well read so the only other author I feel has the same approach would be Iain M Banks or Le Guin - with greater care to highlight the framework than drive the plot forward with action. I will look forward to the next one.
Aztecs in space!!!
This is actually a really fun political intrigue novel... featuring AZTECS IN SPACE!
Overall, this was a really excellent book. It reminds me a lot of Ann Leckie's Ancillary series and Katherine Addison's Goblin Emperor, very intricate world-building, political thriller. The worlds Martine creates are vivid and real, and she has a beautiful ability to highlight the ambivalence of the ex-pat in a country one used to love through rose-colored glasses and now must see the dark truth of. The only part that fell a little flat for me was the romance. Something about it just felt a little tacked on. Granted, I like my romances either entirely subtextual tension or plot-drivingly present, so this one was just a bit lukewarm, like if you removed it from the story, nothing would really be lost. That said, the rest of the tension and mystery more than make up for this, and I will eagerly read the next one when it arrives.
I read the prologue of this book and knew I was in for a treat. It was just a council meeting on a far flung space station, but it had all the promise of a giant complex world full of intrigue, action and imagination. And it delivered!
The bulk of the story follows an ambassador from that station navigating her way through the strange culture and politics of a massive empire that controls the space around them. She has two missions: don't let her station get annexed, and find out what happened to the last ambassador we sent. Oh, and protect the secret technology in her brain, obviously. Once I got a handle on the kind of world I was in, the plot moves fast. There's mysteries, lies, a 3-way battle for control of the empire, and in a completely unfamiliar world, no one she feels she can trust.
What really made the story for me though was the uniqueness of the world the author built. The empire is beautiful. Its culture is rich. Some of their traditions seem ancient despite their futuristic technology and dominance over the solar system. Other aspects of the culture simply imagine a world run differently. The main character is constantly torn between idolizing the Empire she's in, and resenting it for the power it wields and its increasing influence on her own world. It's a powerful concept that rings true throughout history and civilization, and because of how well this world is imagined, the reader can intrinsically understand how she feels.
Beyond making powerful statements about history, culture and civilization, the story also comments on technology's role on societies, and on relationships within a world of power imbalances. That sounds like a lot, but somehow the book does all this without feeling too heavy. In fact, when all was said and done, I really wanted more. The world is just so big and amazing, and written so well, I can't wait to see what the sequels will have in store!
Multi-layered and very well written, AMCE is a good science-fiction murder mystery with lots of court intrigue. I will look for more from Arkady Martine.
I so wanted to like this, especially given the high praise it has received. Instead, reading this felt like work that I couldn't wait to end.