A Memory Called Empire

This was a fantastic whirlwind of politics, intrigue, diplomacy wrapped in a vivid, unique setting. While some of the finer aspects of the book didn't quite land for me, I thought this was a great read and look forward to the next one.

In A Memory Called Empire, we follow Mahit, a resident of Lsel Station, a space station off in deep space; but that's not where the story takes place. You see, Mahit has been selected as the next ambassador to the Teixcalaanli Empire, a sprawling and powerful empire, influenced by Aztec culture. The previous ambassador, Yskander, has died under extremely mysterious circumstances, and while it is Mahit's mission to fulfill the role as ambassador, her secondary mission is to figure out what happened to him. And thankfully she has help from -- Yskander himself.. Well, an outdated version of him. On Lsel Station, residents utilize an extremely secretive technology that allows people to access the consciousness of other people before them, assuming they are a personality match. After a few years as an ambassador, Yskander returned to Lsel station to upload his consciousness at the time, then returned to the Teixcalaanli Empire, only to die after 15 years. It is this outdated version of Yskander that Mahit has to consult, but he knows almost as little as Mahit stepping into this new role. What follows is almost immediate politicking and backroom deals, figuring out where her successor left off, what he got himself into, what deals he made, and who to trust. With the backdrop of growing unrest around a succession crisis with the aging emperor and a growing unknown galactic threat, Mahit must move quickly to position herself as a main player so she can do what it takes to protect her people.

I have always really enjoyed extremely political science fiction stories. This book takes it to another level with the intriguing story being set in a beautifully crafted world. With every passing chapter, the Teixcalaanli culture took more shape and grew more vivid, leading me to love it as much as Mahit did. I loved how the tension steadily grew and grew throughout the book, coming to an explosive head that felt satisfying and well-earned. While the story was long and many might argue it was slow paced, I found the backroom machinations to be interesting, and I was never bored while reading this.

Despite being a lover of good world building, at the end of the day, I'm a character reader, and that's where this book missed a bit. While I liked Mahit's character a lot, I think many of the other characters I was supposed to like more than I did, particularly Three Seagrass and Twelve Azaela. I think an attempt was made to really make them likable, but I just wasn't feeling it, so some of the story beats that hit later on in the book that relied on the reader feeling a connection to the characters fell flat for me personally. There were some characters that I liked, like Nineteen Adze and the emperor, but that was more to do with how the story treated them with a level of reverence rather than having them be dynamic characters that cultivated an emotional connection. I really wish the character work here was stronger or it would definitely be a new favorite.

But still, I can't recommend this enough. Especially if you enjoy other political sci fi, like Dune, The Expanse, the Luna series, or the Ancillary series. I'm eager to pick up the next one!

What do you do when your homeland is in the path of an expanding empire, hungry to consume it and draw it into its embrace? That's the central question to this, and it tells a fascinating story of Mahit Dzamare, sent to the imperial capital as an ambassador to try to protect her home, but also to find out what happened to her predecessor. There's a lot of palace intrigue that she has to figure out, but also a wider set of political processes going on outside the confines of the court, and it's good to see a recognition of those political structures and movements in a book like this. Sometimes feels like there's too much going on - I haven't even touched on the Mahit's internal story, as she deals with an outdated copy of her predecessors mind within her own - but it all comes together in a satisfying way. Have already ordered the sequel.

If I'm honest I first picked up this book because of the image on the cover but once I picked up the book I remained interested and the aesthetic remained pretty cool throughout and gave me vibes from the "Coup" and "The Resistance" board games.

The book really focuses in a lot on the political manoeuvrers of the central character Mahit and her allies (and enemies). There's a fair amount of political theatre and description of Mahit's internal monologue which reminded me of House of Cards. The world building meant that the plot does take a little while to really get going but once it does get going, there's a fair amount to be excited about. The last few chapters were pretty gripping and more reminiscent of something like The Expanse.

There is a lot of description of the culture and language used in the Teixcalaanli Empire which for me, really teetered on the precipice between detailed world-building and self-absorbed. I'm not really in to poetry - which is a huge part of Teixcalaanli culture so maybe that explains why I didn't really get on board with certain aspects of the world building but the descriptions of the technology, city, space vessels etc were well done.

Overall a solid, captivating sci-fi read if you can get on board with some of the slower descriptive parts of the book.

I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher.

Arkady Martine dazzles in her debut novel, A Memory Called Empire. This is space opera the way it’s meant to be done—and that is really saying something for me. I tend to love space opera with starships and battles and tactical plans. None of that exists in A Memory Called Empire. Or, perhaps it would be better to say that such exists, but the viewpoint we’re given is quite different. If you love your sci-fi thoughtful, cerebral, but fun and with an engaging and excellent main character, this is the sci-fi novel for you.

One of the things I really loved about A Memory Called Empire is the way it deals with culture and identity. As you might expect for a novel with this sort of title, our main character, Mahit, finds herself an ambassador from a small space station to the great Teixcalaan Empire. What’s truly fascinating about this is we get to see Mahit’s perspective as she arrives at the imperial capital and begins her work as an ambassador. But she’s arriving here as someone who loves the culture of the empire and much of what it represents, while at the same time hating the potential that this empire has to gobble up her own home station and all the culture that it represents. This ebb and flow, push and pull between Mahit’s love for both her homeland and the Teixcalaanli is part of what makes this novel shine. But this clash of cultures isn’t the only aspect of the novel that Martine hits out of the park. One of the unique things about Mahit’s culture is their use of a secret technology known as imago-machines. These small machines, embedded in the nervous system, record memories and endocrine responses and then pass these on to the next person in the imago line. The person who receives this imago is combined with it, forming a sort of hybrid personality. It’s not dissimilar to the dax symbiote from Deep Space Nine, but non-organic. However, this allows Martine not only to show us the external push and pull of cultures on Mahit, but also the internal push and pull as she struggles with finding herself and her identity as the inheritor of an imago line. The internal and external factors here create wonderful foils for one another.

I’ve said all of this and haven’t even touched on the worldbuilding, which is fantastic. Martine gives us a fascinating culture in the Teixcalaan Empire. From the use of numbers and nouns in names (Nineteen Adze, Six Direction) to the importance of poetry in the world, this feels like a refreshingly unique sci-fi world. There is a beauty to the world building, yet a certain brutality lurks just behind the curtain, never far from the conscious thought of both the characters and the reader. Not only is the world building exceptional, but Martine gives us a fully realized main character who genuinely grows throughout the novel. It wouldn’t be wrong to call this character-driven sci-fi.

If there is anything that didn’t connect with me in this novel, I’d say it’s some of the side characters. While some were interesting and provided certain enigmas, I felt like we only rarely received glimpses into their motivations. Not only did this leave me guessing at certain points about what their motivations were—in a way that took me out of the story—it also made it feel as if a few of the side characters were simply walking through actions in service to the narrative. This is largely made up for on the strengths of the characterization of Mahit and in the end did not significantly impact my enjoyment of the novel.

A Memory Called Empire is sure to become a sci-fi masterpiece that stands alongside Asimov, Herbert, Simmons, and other greats of the genre. This is one you absolutely do not want to miss.

4.5/5 stars

5 – I loved this, couldn’t put it down, move it to the top of your TBR pile
4 – I really enjoyed this, add it to the TBR pile
3 – It was ok, depending on your preferences it may be worth your time
2 – I didn’t like this book, it has significant flaws and I can’t recommend it
1 – I loathe this book with a most loathsome loathing