A Desolation Called Peace

When a novel feels like it strongly stands alone and ends with such closure, it's hard to imagine what a sequel would be like. This sequel to A Memory Called Empire is different, stranger. I like it a lot, but it is also not what I expected.

It grows a few more points of view, over the original's singular voice from Mahit. It's also a first contact military sf story in space as opposed to the first book's city-centered succession politics and poetry. It's a story about not being able to truly go home again after travelling, about disobeying orders that don't sit well in your heart, about the psychology of different kinds of consciousnesses (in some ways similar to the Ancillary series), and about what peace means to individuals and empires.

One thing I enjoy is that the book gets into the friction between Mahit and Three Seagrass. The first book is a whirlwind week of adventure, and ends with a smooch between them during a momentary pause before the climax of the book. There's no time for conversation or for feelings or for anything other than an emotional moment of connection. This book gives them more space and time, where feelings that were smothered in the first book about the complications of perception rear their head and have to be processed. This also makes it feel much different than the first book, where everybody, and especially Three Seagrass, feel more "on side", even when relationships and goals are complicated.

I don't think either of these books are creating larger worldbuilding that would extend out to a longer series. However, I do think they each are remarkably thematically tight books and both worth reading.

I really enjoyed A Memory Called Empire, but this I didn't enjoy nearly as much. I'm not entirely sure why. I think part of it was that Memory built an interestingly different world and learning about it was part of the fun of the book. Desolation, on the other hand, is just another story set in that same world. I didn't feel it did as much to add to the world, and I didn't find the story all that engaging. Don't get me wrong, it's fine, but I definitely found this book disappointing after the first one.

I wasn't sure whether to start this, because the first one was a bit hard to follow, but it was very good! It took up some of the themes of "A Memory Called Empire" and explored them in another, deeper way. Also, it was a lot more thrilling, and the characters became more fleshed out and interesting. Had a great time, recommended!

Second tome du dyptique formé avec Une mémoire appelée empire, celui-ci raconte une histoire fort différente, mais néanmoins parfaitement complémentaire.
On y retrouve Mahit Dzmare en ambassadrice retournée sur sa station après les événements successoriaux de la première partie, et Trois posidonie occupant un poste de bureau, alors qu'une guerre se déclenche entre Teixcalaan et les étranges envahisseurs. Bien entendu, nos deux héroînes se retrouvent au milieu du conflit (grâce au génie de Trois Posidonie pour l'intrigue de palais) et vont faire basculer la guerre dans un premier contact sous haute tension. Et comme l'autrice est fabuleusement géniale, on est passé d'un récit strictement linéaire et à voix unique à un récit polyphonique raconté par Mahit, bien sûr, mais aussi par Trois posidonie (encore heureux), mais aussi l'héritier de l'empire, la générale en cheffe de l'arme Teixcalaan. Ces différentes voix auront évidement toutes leur rôle dans cette histoire, aussi bien pour faire avancer l'intrigue que pour donner un un champ émotionnel plus vaste à ce récit qui aurait pu être sinon parfois un peu âpre. C'est déja une grande qualité.
Mais si on y rajoute un scénario habilement ficelé et ne manquant pas de profondeur (avec en particulier un angle sur la nature de l'intelligence, de la mémoire et de la civilisation), un talent achevé pour les situations prises à contrepoint, on a un récit de haute qualité.Pour donner un exemple (et oui, c'est un spoiler), la scène amoureuse ayant lieu au moment précis d'une attaque bactériologique est un monument de contrepoint/contrepied.
D'ailleurs, en parlant de sexe, je n'avais jamais lu de récit donnant une telle corporalité à un amour lesbien. C'était incroyablement charnel autant que parfaitement adapté.
Autrement dit, le récit est très bien raconté, les personnages sont beaux, et leurs relations sont décrites avec subtilité et dynamisme.
Ca en fait un roman que je vous recommande aussi chaudement que le premier tome (c'est-à-dire très très fort). Lisez-le, c'est vraiment très bien.

There were many directions in which Arkady Martine could have taken the sequel to her popular 2019 novel A Memory Called Empire, and she has chosen an interesting and entertaining one.

The worldbuilding for which A Memory Called Empire was praised is back in A Desolation Called Peace, and while the first book focused on the Teixcalaanli capital, the second one explores more of the life onboard of the Lsel Station, as well as life in campaigning military fleets of the empire. For the most part, the worldbuilding in the sequel does not disappoint.

The bits where it does disappoint is in Martine leaning perhaps too heavily on space opera tropes in the parts of the book that take place aboard starships. While the descriptions of the capital or the palace grounds therein continue to be evocative, the descriptions of what it is like onboard of an imperial warship feel dull in comparison.

The plot continues to explore the politics of empire, and their relationship to individuals. Like with the first book, Martine manages to portray empire as a system built up of individuals—same as those it looms over, poised for conquest. The grand plots of the novel are not driven by villains motivated by their own evil nature, but by people who, entwined as they are with the culture of the empire, are doing what they think is the right thing to do. This is perhaps the most compelling aspect of Martine's Teixcalaan novels—the view of empire from within, but also from the liminal space on its edges.

The one complaint to level here, though, is that the book's pacing leave some to be desired in the first parts of it. The action moves rather slowly as everyone gets from where they were at the end of the first novel to where interesting things will happen in the second one. It is in the second part that things become more interesting and compelling.

Overall, the book is likely to be enjoyable for anyone who enjoyed A Memory Called Empire. The lack of novelty inherent in a sequel means that A Desolation Called Peace does not outshine the first novel, it is nevertheless a worthy successor.