A Memory Called Empire (Teixcalaan, 1) Paperback – February 25, 2020

A Memory Called Empire (AMCE) is a wonderful work of speculative fiction. But first, two disclaimers:1) You might not appreciate or care for the type of story being told here. While you’re certainly entitled to your own opinion, I strongly urge you to challenge yourself and dig deep. Read the pronunciation guide, try and understand the cultural differences in play, look for the subtleties.I promise that this is an amazing book, even if it doesn’t sync with your usual tastes.2) Despite being entirely different from each other, I couldn’t help but compare AMCE with Seth Dickinson’s “The Traitor Baru Cormorant”. If you like Dickinson, then I think you will love Arkady Martine. However, I will say now that I think AMCE is even more masterful than the gut-wrenching Baru Cormorant. Not that it’s a competition.So, onto the review. What AMCE has that so many other great works of speculative fiction don’t have is a great, careful attention to the emotional balance of the characters. The protagonist, Mahit Dzmare is constantly questioning why she feels or thinks a certain way, but it never feels overdone. Similarly, Mahit pays very close attention to the emotions of the people she interacts with, but more importantly, she is laser-focused on how the inhabitants of the glorious empire treat her. The author very delicately balances her work with a constant sense of ulterior motive. Does this person like me? Or do they want me to fail?It was a really powerful reading experience for me because I pretty much live with an exactly opposite state of mind: I almost always assume the best of intentions from everyone and I’m taken by surprise when I find out that someone was playing the political game. My somewhat innocent mental state is almost assuredly guided by my privileges and it’s something I’ve been working on.Mahit does not possess the same privileges. She very obviously comes across as a foreigner to all of the imperial citizens she meets. Her careful steps taken throughout the story feels like watching someone tiptoe past a sleeping lion.So clearly, Martine, the author, knows her stuff about emotions and cultural interactions. She also really nails the pacing for this book. Most chapters clock in at around 15-20ish pages and each is filled with political intrigue, subtle character development, and beautiful, poetic prose. Individual chapters from this novel could be submitted into poetry or short fiction contests and they would probably win on their own.I found the premise, climax, and ending to all be very satisfying and refreshing. There’s is a LOT baked into this story that is worth your attention. We have a masterclass author worthy of her accolades for this unbelievable debut novel filled with rich and multi-layered characters and powerful prose. I can almost guarantee that even if you don’t love the book, you WILL learn something, perhaps even about yourself; a feature that all Hugo award-winning works should be capable of.

I enjoyed the book. Really I did. There were some things I did not like, though.CharacterThe characters were pretty good. The main character, Mahit, was well defined and was consistent throughout, which, for me is the most important. Some of the side characters were decidedly less consistent. Three Seagrass was a shining example of an inconsistent character.The Teixcalaanlitzlim or whatever were themselves wildly inconsistent. The author portrayed them as a people that never showed emotion, and yet they showed emotion throughout the whole book. The moment towards the end when Three Seagrass breaks down in tears should have been a powerful moment of emotion, but Three Seagrass, and all the Teixcalaanli were prone to emotion. Excitement, humor, sadness, happiness, etc. I think the impassivity should have been stressed more throughout the book, or left out entirely.SettingThe setting was well defined. The world felt real and was easy to be immersed in. Teixcalaan felt like earth. It may have been intended that way. So the story felt like an alien coming to earth, rather than a human visiting an alien world. It was different and I liked that.One thing the really bothered me. I have often read stories like this in which children are bred and families are not a thing. As if in some ultra progressive future the family unit will be rendered obsolete and antiquated. I get why some people may not want to have families themselves, but the idea that all of society would decide that families are unnecessary and instead leave the perpetuation of the species to a laboratory is absurd,unrealistic, and immersion breaking. I don't care if a book is conservative or progressive, there are other progressive elements to this book that don't bother me, but this one does.PlotVery intriguing. I loved a science fiction story that was really a political thriller rather than any grand, sweeping epic. What we had was a nation on the brink of a civil war, and I thought that was pretty cool. The plot was the right speed. It wasn't fast moving like a Dan Brown novel, but it wasn't super slow either. I never felt the book dragged. The intrigue was clever and the foreshadowing was proper. Well done.The problem I had here, however, was one of foundation. The imago issue surfaces way too quickly. We don't really get a chance to see the imago Mahit before it is taken away. Then the author tries telling us how jarring it is that the imago is gone, but we don't feel that because we had only a few pages while it was there. For the absence of the imago to be properly impactful, we first needed to see more of what it was like to have the imago functioning properly. The loss of this tool, which the author constantly tells us the whole rest of the novel is a big deal, didn't feel like a big deal. It felt more like the author wanted it to be a big deal. Also one more issue that involves spoilers.SPOILER ISSUE BELOWNear the beginning, Mahit tells us old Yskander's imago would be useless because it had been recording 3 months of brain decay, and that anything useful would have been corrupted by that. Fast forward the the final third of the book and that point is conveniently forgotten when she decides to replace her implant with old Yskander's. The fact that there was three months of decay on the imago doesn't come up as even a potential problem. It's simply never mentioned. That's a pretty big oversight.

I really enjoyed the idea development. Not often a new approach is found in science fiction writing. Characters were relatable. Thanks for a fun read. Thanks for good ideas

A surprising take on the clash of cultural perspectives, personality appraisals, the mutual horror and seduction of loving and hating an empire and its figures, language, and flowers. Superficial at times, particularly with technology, economy, and others, and sci-fi light all over, but at the same time wrapped in the precise levels of strangeness, emotion, and revelation.

A swamp can look so inviting but if you do not know that it is dangerous and that you must always pay attention you will be in serious trouble. This book captures the swamp of political intrigue wonderfully

It took a chapter or three for me to get into this - but from then on it had me. Arkady built a culture, a mode of communication that was challenging but fascinating. Loved it, and thoroughly enjoyed getting to know the character. I look forward to finding book 2.

Great plot and world development but gave up the will to read a couple of times and thought of returning... It's like the author consciously decided that only my most dedicated readers should make it to the end... Was hoping for a gift for completing it but was disappointed...