A Memory Called Empire

Hardcover, 464 pages

Published March 26, 2019 by Tor Books.

ISBN:
978-1-250-18643-0
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OCLC Number:
1031915717

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4 stars (9 reviews)

Ambassador Mahit Dzmare arrives in the center of the multi-system Teixcalaanli Empire only to discover that her predecessor, the previous ambassador from their small but fiercely independent mining Station, has died. But no one will admit that his death wasn't an accident—or that Mahit might be next to die, during a time of political instability in the highest echelons of the imperial court.

Now, Mahit must discover who is behind the murder, rescue herself, and save her Station from Teixcalaan's unceasing expansion—all while navigating an alien culture that is all too seductive, engaging in intrigues of her own, and hiding a deadly technological secret—one that might spell the end of her Station and her way of life—or rescue it from annihilation.

8 editions

Goodreads Review of A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine

4 stars

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 Well, an outdated version of him.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 …

Politics as war by other means

4 stars

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 …

Review of 'A Memory Called Empire' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

On of the best sci-fi novels I've read in some time. Accomplishes the stellar feat of making a story which takes part almost entirely within a single city feel like it has galaxy spanning consequences. Reads as much like medieval court intrigue as it does full on space opera, and is all the better for it.

The last big space opera I read was Saga of the Seven Suns, and while that is a huge story full of fantastic imagination, I enjoyed the writing style of this novel so much more.

Can't wait to read the followup, and hopefully many more to come. Bravo.

An absolute joy

5 stars

I'm so pleased with A Memory Called Empire. It's rare to have a pairing of both a really rich, engrossing world and characters that I cared about so much. It felt like not a decision or phrasing was done without careful consideration. I could feel the pull Mahit felt between her home and the empire, and her exhaustion as the book stretched on. An absolute force and I can't wait to read the next one.

The slow-burning love-child of House of Cards and The Expanse

4 stars

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, …

Politics and spaceships

4 stars

What if, the Federation wasn't this big happy family and the humans weren't in charge but were only some minor part of some larger alien empire?

I enjoyed this book, it has a lot of politics; if you found the scenes in The Expanse around the earth parliament annoying, this book is not for you.

It also explains in an entertaining way how tricky being a Galatic Empire is, even (or perhaps because) you have the ships with the Big Guns.

It was entertaining

No rating

I experienced this as an enjoyable palace intrigue like some other reviewers, but I didn't really find it particularly insightful on "assimilation and language and the seduction and horror of empire" (quote taken from the author's acknowledgments section). It's an interesting world and I'm looking forward to reading the sequel, but I can't say my mind was blown.

Fun political intrigue

4 stars

I quite enjoyed this book! A fun narrative about a young diplomat from a remote space station who finds herself appointed ambassador to a Big Evil Empire. The book takes place in the imperial capital and thematically does the whole "man, giant empires really do suck a lot" thing, and does it well. The one Big Weird Sci Fi idea (basically multiple people cohabiting in one brain) is pretty cool and also the author manages to portray it without being offensive to people with, say, dissociative identity disorder. I feel like it dragged a bit at the end and sort of fizzled out, and ultimately I found myself reading a book set on the main character's home space station than at the heart of this big scary empire. I live in a big scary empire so it all seemed pretty standard to me. Still, totally recommend the read.