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A Desolation Called Peace

(Teixcalaan #2)

Arkady Martine (Goodreads Author)

4.35 · Rating details · 82 ratings · 41 reviews

An alien armada lurks on the edges of Teixcalaanli space. No one can communicate with it, no one can destroy it, and Fleet Captain Nine Hibiscus is running out of options.

In a desperate attempt at diplomacy with the mysterious invaders, the fleet captain has sent for a diplomatic envoy. Now Mahit Dzmare and Three Seagrass—still reeling from the recent upheaval in the Empi ...more

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Kindle Edition, 496 pages

Expected publication: March 2nd 2021 by Tor Books

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Dec 10, 2020 carol. rated it it was amazing

Shelves: sci-fi, to-buy-hardcover, arc

I am grateful that Martine's A Desolation Called Peace came my way at the end of 2020 instead of during the middle, when I had a full case of Quarantine Brain™. Some authors write books suited to QB: undemanding, fun, predictable, and about as interesting as chocolate pudding. Martine is almost the exact opposite, in the best way possible. Almost every word feels like it has weight, and it's almost impossible to predict where her starry empire will take the reader.

"'What is it made of?' Three Se I am grateful that Martine's A Desolation Called Peace came my way at the end of 2020 instead of during the middle, when I had a full case of Quarantine Brain™. Some authors write books suited to QB: undemanding, fun, predictable, and about as interesting as chocolate pudding. Martine is almost the exact opposite, in the best way possible. Almost every word feels like it has weight, and it's almost impossible to predict where her starry empire will take the reader.

"'What is it made of?' Three Seagrass asked, and then drank it before he could answer her. It tasted like salt. Like--alcoholic salt, and oceans. There weren't any oceans here. It was fascinating, and also awful, and she was never, ever drinking it again."

A Desolation Called Peace follows up on the events of A Memory Called Empire. Mahit has returned to Lsel Station, and Three Seagrass is working for the Emperor's Information Ministry. These two share the narrative with two new characters: Eight Antidote, an eleven year-old who happens to be the former Emperor's clone and current heir; and Nine Hibiscus, the leader of the squadron seeking to discover what's been eating ships at the edge of 'civilization,' right by Lsel Station.

"Mahit had done fine without her on Lsel, had missed her only as much as she'd missed Teixcalaan, which was enormously and with aching frustration."

As each narrative develops, they slowly begin to intertwine. The plotting felt both well done and largely organic. Early on in the story, Nine Hibiscus engages the aliens and her story has an active tension to it. Marit's conflict is more emotionally insidious and challenging, as she and her imago, Yskandr try to negotiate their way back into Lsel life. Eight Antidote's narrative is an intriguing counterpoint to the adults; his voice is clear, usually not wrought with emotion, and his role as student helps the reader orient themselves to the complexities of the situations and conflicts as well:
"He'd have to remember not to make [that mistake], when he was Emperor. Loyalty wasn't transitive. It didn't move up and down the chain of command smoothly. It could get cut off, or rerouted. Especially if someone else powerful was intervening in the movement of information."

It explores cultural identity, communication, treason, first contact, war crimes, the nature of memory and identity, the nature of experience and self, and love between people of different cultures. And it does this without long, wall o'texts that make readers' eyes start to roll back in their heads. It does it in beautiful, evocative ways, with action and emotion. To say, I 'liked it' is an understatement: it was one of the best books I read in 2020. It's definitely earned a spot on my bookshelf.

"And he could figure out the rest later. He wasn't stupid. He read all kinds of poems."

A note on story order: The story was meant to be told as a duology, so it might be worth trying to read them both reasonably close together. Should you read the first before the second? Yes. Can you get by without it? Probably, but you are going to miss out on some of the complex cultural and interpersonal dynamics of the characters that make the story so rich.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Tor Publicity for an advance e-book for review. The book is scheduled for release on March 2021. Quotes are subject to change and only included to give a flavor of the evocative and lovely writing.

Even more thanks are due to Nataliya and Elena, buddy readers extraordinaire, particularly for help with creation of our dramatis personae. ...more

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Dec 15, 2020 chai ♡ marked it as to-read

Shelves: 2021-releases, adult, adult-sff, fiction

Some of you have yet to read the first book in this series, and it makes my heart weep to think of it.

If you wanna read the book version of “what if I were an ambassador who finds herself hideously lonely in the heart of an empire that’s determined to set its jaws upon itself, and you the political attaché I’m developing a hugely unfortunate crush on... and we we were both girls?” STOP BEING YOUR OWN WORST ENEMY AND READ A MEMORY CALLED EMPIRE ...more

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Sep 25, 2019 Lila is currently reading it

An Anguish Called Waiting... for this novel.

********************
You can read Prelude and first chapter on io9.

That's one helluva opening. ...more

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Dec 04, 2020 Dave rated it it was amazing

Shelves: netgalley-books, x-netgalley-2020-read, science-fiction-all

"A Desolation Called Peace" is ultimately a story about communication between alien cultures, following in the wake of Clarke's 2001 Space Odyssey, Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land and Card's Ender series. It is nevertheless a long and perilous journey to get there. What with unpronounceable civilizations like Teixicalaanli and names of characters such as Nine Hibiscus and Three Seagrass, this novel, like the first one in this series, is a difficult nut to crack. It's dense, rich, thick, an ...more

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Jan 27, 2020 Alice marked it as to-read

Shelves: request

From an interview with NPR:

“The direct sequel (which will tell you both about the scary ring-ships and what Three Seagrass does next) is titled A Desolation Called Peace, which I thoroughly stole from Tacitus. (I was reading Tacitus in a bar in Prague, long story. But it's the best line. Rome makes a desert and calls it peace.)”

Could Arkady Martine be any cooler? I would love to hear this story. Honestly, I’d read her grocery list.

Apparently, this book involves mail fraud, kittens, unwise kissi ...more

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Jan 03, 2021 Katy rated it it was amazing

Shelves: scifi_2021

4.5 stars
A Desolation Called Peace is the follow up to A Memory Called Empire and is a very worthy successor. Filled with just as much intricate politics and intra-government backstabbing as the first, whilst also building on the characters and world, as well as having a very engaging plot throughout – I think I love this book even more than the first!

We are following Mahit and Three Seagrass again, who we meet in book 1 but I feel like it was so much easier in this book to get invested in thei 4.5 stars
A Desolation Called Peace is the follow up to A Memory Called Empire and is a very worthy successor. Filled with just as much intricate politics and intra-government backstabbing as the first, whilst also building on the characters and world, as well as having a very engaging plot throughout – I think I love this book even more than the first!

We are following Mahit and Three Seagrass again, who we meet in book 1 but I feel like it was so much easier in this book to get invested in their story as I already loved them whereas in book one it took me a little while to warm up to them. I also loved getting both their POVs and how that added to their relationship dynamic and the plot. I think it would have been very easy for the author to go in a certain direction with their relationship but I love that she took the time to explore complexities and nuance in their dynamic, especially with Mahit being and Stationer and Three Seagrass being Teixcalaani. Also there was a steamy scene that I was not expecting but it really went there!!!!

We also follow Nine Hibiscus a Teixcalaan fleet commander, who is in charge of the frontlines of the war with a new alien species who they are just making first contact with. I really enjoyed her character and how she was trying to be the best leader she can whilst also having lots of political factions trying to thwart her and having to make some very hard decisions towards the end. I also loved her relationship/friendship with her second in command Twele Cicada, he was also such a great character and I feel like the small bits we got of their friendship really added to the emotional impact at the end of the story. I also loved the fact they had rescue kittens living on their ship from a previous mission – this was such a cute little detail that I was so soft for!!!

We also follow Eight Antidote the heir to the empire and who we met briefly in the previous book. I really loved his storyline and how hard he was trying to learn to be a good leader, whilst still having the navitee and goodness of a child despite understanding the dark political world around him and the reason he was created. I loved his mentorship with the empress (we didn’t get much of her in this book but she is still the hot milf empress of my heart <3).

This book is filled with a lot of similar themes to the first with the idea of the colonising empire eating up all other cultures, but Mahit also feels a love for the empire at the same time. I think this is so well explored, especially with the addition at the beginning of the scenes on Lsel stations and getting to know some of the political players there, and what their true goals are, as we only see a little of that in Memory.
We also explored a first contact storyline with a species that are very hard to communicate with, and this is how Mahit and Three Seagrass end up on the frontlines trying to communicate and establish peace. I loved this storyline, and especially the stuff with the fungi as well as how all the POV storylines tied together towards the end. I also really liked how the interludes has some very clever foreshadowing for certain revelations later in the book.

I love the overall tone of this series, it’s not super action packed sci-fi, instead it’s very political and theme heavy with quite a slow pace, but also somehow manages to be incredibly compelling and engaging throughout. I was not bored a single minute while reading this!! The ending is also not a super explosive battle scene, but I thought it was a perfect ending with the tone of the book and how everything wrapped up and came together, and a great culmination of certain character arcs. I would have liked some more at the end regarding some of the Lsel characters but the end of the book felt very much like there is going to be another book so I think we will probably see that then!

In conclusion a great sequel, filled with plenty of heart and charm and great characters, along with a fascinating world that is so easy to become immersed in! Truly transportive Sci-Fi.
...more

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Jun 23, 2020 Meagan ✊🏼 Blacklivesmatter ✊🏼Blacktranslivesmatter marked it as anticipated-release-tbr

Ah we have a cover 🥰🥰🥰 I can't wait! This will be one of my most anticipated reads for 2021! ...more

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Apr 29, 2019 Amelia marked it as to-read

Kinda can’t wait to get my grubby hands on it

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Dec 13, 2020 Zitong Ren marked it as to-read

i want this to be out now

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Jan 03, 2021 Katy rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

4.5 stars

A Desolation Called Peace is the follow up to A Memory Called Empire and is a very worthy successor. Filled with just as much intricate politics and intra-government backstabbing as the first, whilst also building on the characters and world, as well as having a very engaging plot throughout – I think I love this book even more than the first!

We are following Mahit and Three Seagrass again, who we meet in book 1 but I feel like it was so much easier in this book to get invested in thei 4.5 stars

A Desolation Called Peace is the follow up to A Memory Called Empire and is a very worthy successor. Filled with just as much intricate politics and intra-government backstabbing as the first, whilst also building on the characters and world, as well as having a very engaging plot throughout – I think I love this book even more than the first!

We are following Mahit and Three Seagrass again, who we meet in book 1 but I feel like it was so much easier in this book to get invested in their story as I already loved them whereas in book one it took me a little while to warm up to them. I also loved getting both their POVs and how that added to their relationship dynamic and the plot. I think it would have been very easy for the author to go in a certain direction with their relationship but I love that she took the time to explore complexities and nuance in their dynamic, especially with Mahit being and Stationer and Three Seagrass being Teixcalaani. Also there was a steamy scene that I was not expecting but it really went there!!!! Soft sapphics will always have my heart <3

We also follow Nine Hibiscus a Teixcalaan fleet commander, who is in charge of the frontlines of the war with a new alien species who they are just making first contact with. I really enjoyed her character and how she was trying to be the best leader she can whilst also having lots of political factions trying to thwart her and having to make some very hard decisions towards the end. I also loved her relationship/friendship with her second in command Twele Cicada, he was also such a great character and I feel like the small bits we got of their friendship really added to the emotional impact at the end of the story. I also loved the fact they had rescue kittens living on their ship from a previous mission – this was such a cute little detail that I was so soft for!!!

We also follow Eight Antidote the heir to the empire and who we met briefly in the previous book. I really loved his storyline and how hard he was trying to learn to be a good leader, whilst still having the navitee and goodness of a child despite understanding the dark political world around him and the reason he was created. I loved his mentorship with the empress (we didn’t get much of her in this book but she is still the hot milf empress of my heart <3).

This book is filled with a lot of similar themes to the first with the idea of the colonising empire eating up all other cultures, but Mahit also feels a love for the empire at the same time. I think this is so well explored, especially with the addition at the beginning of the scenes on Lsel stations and getting to know some of the political players there, and what their true goals are, as we only see a little of that in Memory.
We also explored a first contact storyline with a species that are very hard to communicate with, and this is how Mahit and Three Seagrass end up on the frontlines trying to communicate and establish peace. I loved this storyline, and especially the stuff with the fungi as well as how all the POV storylines tied together towards the end. I also really liked how the interludes has some very clever foreshadowing for certain revelations later in the book.

I love the overall tone of this series, it’s not super action packed sci-fi, instead it’s very political and theme heavy with quite a slow pace, but also somehow manages to be incredibly compelling and engaging throughout. I was not bored a single minute while reading this!! The ending is also not a super explosive battle scene, but I thought it was a perfect ending with the tone of the book and how everything wrapped up and came together, and a great culmination of certain character arcs. I would have liked some more at the end regarding some of the Lsel characters but the end of the book felt very much like there is going to be another book so I think we will probably see that then!

In conclusion a great sequel, filled with plenty of heart and charm and great characters, along with a fascinating world that is so easy to become immersed in! Truly transportive Sci-Fi. ...more

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Dec 15, 2020 Peter Tillman rated it it was amazing

Shelves: new-tbp, science-fiction, high-prority, friend-recos, own-copy, favorites, reread-list

Just finished, at 1 AM. Boy, is it good. Space war! Incomprehensible, disgusting aliens! Here's what their language sounds like, to a human:
"A sharp, ugly noise with the intimation of a headache inside it, that ended in a scream that had taste—a foul, oilslick, tongue-coating taste that made her nauseated."

“You don’t need a translator, you need a winnowing barrage,” Captain Twelve Fusion said. “Whatever made that [noise] shouldn’t exist.”

Best novel of 2021! OK, first I've finished this New Year. ...more

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Jun 11, 2020 Acqua marked it as to-read

Shelves: tbr-sequels

It has! a cover!!

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Aug 23, 2020 Jonathan Strahan rated it it was amazing

Shelves: read-2020

I gorged on this continuation of the Teixcalaan story begun in A Memory Called Empire. And it may be because it contains the conclusion to the story, but I loved it even more than I did the first book. I will never not be in love with the relationship between the two principals, but the story as a whole is fabulous. Strongly, strongly recommended. Given this is coming out in 2021, surely a favourite for the 2022 Hugo Awards.

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Dec 02, 2020 Tomislav rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 5-stars, net-galley, science-fiction

It has been my reading experience that sequels to award-winning science fiction novels often do not live up to their predecessor’s reputation. A Desolation Called Peace is Arkady Martine’s 2021 sequel to her 2020 Hugo Award winning space opera, A Memory Called Empire – but defies that pattern. It’s as if she read my comments on book 1, and responded to them. We DO see an exposition of the station culture of Lsel, with its linear integration of generations of prior personalities. We DO see the th It has been my reading experience that sequels to award-winning science fiction novels often do not live up to their predecessor’s reputation. A Desolation Called Peace is Arkady Martine’s 2021 sequel to her 2020 Hugo Award winning space opera, A Memory Called Empire – but defies that pattern. It’s as if she read my comments on book 1, and responded to them. We DO see an exposition of the station culture of Lsel, with its linear integration of generations of prior personalities. We DO see the threat of military conflict in space against appallingly alien aliens. Those aliens were barely introduced in book 1, but the war with them plays a focal point for the power and intrigue plots now. I am now far more impressed with this pair of novels, than I was with the first as a stand-alone.

Readers need to be aware that this is a direct sequel. That means that the same characters are carried forward, and events build on the prior events. The setting is not re-introduced and the prior plot is not recapped. So, I recommend these two novels be read in order, preferably with not too long a time between them.

Importantly, the characters have grown and changed since book 1. Mahit Dzmare is home on Lsel, ejected from Teixcalaan, and unpopular with important figures in the station government she once represented as ambassador. Three Seagrass (Reed) has taken an important job in the Information Ministry, as Envoy to the alien enemy as requested by the war commander Nine Hibiscus. Nineteen Adze is the young new Emperor. Eight Antidote is her 11-year-old heir, second in line to the throne. In the beginning, I felt there was too much time spent on nuances of the relationship between Reed and Mahit, slowing down the exposition of the setting and the action. But all that ground-laying led to enjoyable interacting play-out of multiple layers during the novel’s conclusion. In the very very end, things fell together just a little too neatly – but I found it satisfying anyway. This is highly recommended entertainment, if not particularly literary.

Arkady Martine is the pen-name of American historian and science fiction writer AnnaLinden Weller. I received ebook advance reader copy from Tor Publicity through netgalley in exchange for an honest review. The book is scheduled for release on 2 March 2021. ...more

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Dec 05, 2020 Kopratic rated it it was amazing

4.5 stars. Longer review to come closer to review. e-ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

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Apr 25, 2020 rachel ☾ marked it as radar · review of another edition

Shelves: rep-queer, most-anticipated, releases-2021, adult-lit, science-fiction

#1) A Memory Called Empire ★★★★★

we have a cover!! and it's glorious

Blog • Goodreads • Twitter • Instagram ...more

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Dec 01, 2020 Emma Cathryne rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: adult, beautiful-writing, strong-female-lead, arc, romance-element, good-romance, lgbtq, sci-fi

"A loss for whom? Yskander murmured. Mahit wasn't sure, or couldn't tell him, or he already knew. (A loss for her. For the spaces of language that let a person like her imagine Texicalaan and still be a Stationer. The idea that there might be something other than Teixcalaan, when one said the word for world).

Oh, this was a glorious sucker punch of a novel. It takes the roots sunk into your brain by its predecessor and digs even deeper into the questions that the original story raised. This nove "A loss for whom? Yskander murmured. Mahit wasn't sure, or couldn't tell him, or he already knew. (A loss for her. For the spaces of language that let a person like her imagine Texicalaan and still be a Stationer. The idea that there might be something other than Teixcalaan, when one said the word for world).

Oh, this was a glorious sucker punch of a novel. It takes the roots sunk into your brain by its predecessor and digs even deeper into the questions that the original story raised. This novel is all about tension, about the drawn out agony of moments between cause and effect. Does that mean it has slow moments? Perhaps. But only in service of the greater goal of making you, the reader, deeply resonate with the electrifying undercurrents of meaning.

I grew up in a country of devourers. My nation, much like Texicalaan, spent much of its youth invading, destroying, and eventually absorbing its native peoples and calling these actions freedom and progress. Most of my childhood I passively accepted that mine was the only reality that existed. This novel not only attacks this sense of complacency, but also attacks the broader definiton of what it means to be an individual. Who are you, really, if not a product of the society in which you are raised? How much are you restricted by the bounds of the language you speak? The people who raised you? Where did your values, your morals, your beliefs arise? How much of these do you have to dismantle before you could begin to craft your own identity? And, above all, what does it mean to love the megalithic place that raised you, or that ate you, despite all of its wrongs?

I will be thinking about this duology for a long, long time. It's rare that I get so wrapped up in the existential nature of a science fiction novel that I don't first stop to examine the fabulous characters and relationships. Three Seagrass and Mahit continue to grow both themselves and their relationship in a way that feels painfully raw. Their romance is lovely in part due to the difficult questions it raises for both of them, and the grace (and, occasionally, the honest ugliness) with which they navigate their complicated feelings. I LOVED every scene the two of them were in. Nine Hibiscus and Twelve Cicada were welcome additions to the narration and a fascinating window in to Texicalaani culture, but by FAR my favorite protagonist of this novel was Eight Antidote. His narrative, more so than any other, leaned into questions of identity and agency, made even more compelling by his status as a child with the weight of far too much responsibility on his shoulders. While some of his narration felt beyond his years, Martine also managed to capture the universal anxieties of being a child in a world of adults. Heir apparent to a galaxy-spanning empire or not, everyone gets scared taking the subway alone for the first time.

If this really is the end of Mahit and Three Seagrass; Texicalaan and Lsel Station, I will be sad but not disappointed. What Martine has accomplished with this duology is a monumental feat of character, story, and emotion, and I hope that this world is immortalized in the canon of influential science fiction for many years to come. ...more

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Nov 21, 2020 Reading Reindeer 2021 On Proxima Centauri rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2020_reads, a1-netgalley, a1-i-own-books, 2020_a-z_h-a, 2020_net-galley_edelweiss_reads, 2020_wot-future, november_2020_reads, 2020_wbtm_reading-challenge, all-sci-fi-my-challenge, 2020_arc_apocalypse

A DESOLATION OF PEACE is Book Two of Teixcalaan, the sequel to A MEMORY OF EMPIRE, a carefully-wrought Science Fiction novel starring a strong female protagonist [and the male character whom she retains in her brain stem as an imago], as she continues to navigate the byzantine culture of the Empire, a culture of politely illusory deception and danger.

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Dec 21, 2020 Elena Linville rated it it was amazing

Shelves: absolutely-loved, arcs, must-read, favorites, scifi

Stars: 5 out of 5

First, a necessary disclosure: this is book 2 of a duology, so I would strongly recommend reading book 1 (which I reviewed here) before you jump into this one. Can you read it as a stand alone? Probably... but you will miss out on a lot of context and dramatic events that brought our characters to where they are in this book.

The story picks up two months after the end of the first book. Lsel Station got what they wanted - the Teixcalaan Empire is now at war with the mysterious a Stars: 5 out of 5

First, a necessary disclosure: this is book 2 of a duology, so I would strongly recommend reading book 1 (which I reviewed here) before you jump into this one. Can you read it as a stand alone? Probably... but you will miss out on a lot of context and dramatic events that brought our characters to where they are in this book.

The story picks up two months after the end of the first book. Lsel Station got what they wanted - the Teixcalaan Empire is now at war with the mysterious aliens that had been disappearing their ships in the darkness of the void. Mahit is back on Lsel, but the place she grew up in doesn't feel like home anymore, especially with the secret she is carrying about the sabotage of her imago machine and the unorthodox method she used to repair it.

And back in the City, the new Emperor is now forced to win a war she didn't want, while also fighting the clock and dagger fights with officials of different departments that didn't particularly want her on the throne... like the ministry of War, who she needs to fight this war instead of her.

We get to follow some of the characters that we came to know and love from the first book, like Mahit and Three Seagrass, who end up in the middle of the action once again, trying to find a common ground with an alien species so different that they don't even have a language per se and who don't consider individual deaths as anything of consequence.

We are also introduced to new characters, some of which we briefly saw in the first book, like Eleven Antidote, the 90% clone of the late Emperor. I must admit that I absolutely loved his POV in this book. He is eleven years old, but he is not a typical child. He's been brought up and educated as a clone of the Emperor, so he never had a real childhood. He is also very smart and precautious, and he likes to think things through and solve mysteries. And I loved the courage and determination he showed when he acted to right what he was convinced was a wrong, even though he was going against the orders or the current Emperor by doing so.

Another wonderful new character is Twelve Cicada, who is the second in command to Nine Hibiscus, the fleet commander charged with wining the war against an enemy who can appear in and out of subspace and spit a substance that dissolves ships along with the pilots. I loved the relationship between these two and how they complemented and tempered each other. And I found highly satisfying the fact that Twelve Cicada was the one to find a solution to this conflict in the end.

This book touches several important themes. What exactly is the price of civilization and isolationism? Can you be a person even though you aren't "civilized" in the eyes of your opponent? To Teixacaalisim, everyone else is a barbarian, including other humans, so the encounter with something even more alien has them unsettled and unable to react properly.

Who are you in the end as an individual, when your home station feels like hostile environment, but the Empire you longed to belong to all your life threatens to swallow you whole and kill your individuality? That is the question Mahit grapples with in this book.

And finally, is destroying a whole planet a price an Emperor is willing to pay to maybe end a conflict before it becomes a war of attrition? Or is that an act too atrocious even for Teixcalaan? What legacy do you want to leave for your descendants? That's the problem Eleven Antidote grapples with.

There are multiple layers in this book, so it's hard to address them all without spoilers. My advice is, read this duology. Go by the first book and read that while you wait on the second one to come out in March 2021.

PS: I received an advanced copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. ...more

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Oct 13, 2020 Megan rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: blurbs-and-opinions, arcs, favorites-2020, queerly-beloved, grownup-swords-and-lasers, favorites-2021

Ooooooooohhhh, I just want to fall into this book and keep reading it forever. It's a first contact story that I think fans of Arrival will greatly enjoy; it has a similar slow pacing that pulls you along inexorably despite the density. If you found the political intrigue and maneuvering of A Memory Called Empire delicious, you'll like this sequel, too. It builds on the relationships and decisions of the first book like a verse of poetry playing on the form and rhyme scheme of the previous verse ...more

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Dec 08, 2020 Katie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: net-galley, sci-fi, lgbtq, arc, 2020

5/5 - everything i loved about Memory but better, and one of the few books where rotating POVs never left me bored and wanting to go back. I wanted more for the ending though, it felt too abrupt.

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Jan 01, 2021 julia ☆ [owls reads] marked it as to-read

Shelves: sci-fi, arc

#1 A Memory Called Empire: ★★★★★ | 5 stars ...more

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Dec 10, 2020 Sean E. rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I received an advance copy of A Desolation Called Peace from NetGalley, courtesy of Macmillan-Tor/Forge, in exchange for an honest review. Because the book doesn’t publish until March, I’m going to be a bit more vague than usual in this review. I should also mention that this review contains some oblique spoilers of the first book in the series.

One of the more striking things I recall from my graduate degree in English is Foucault, or at any rate someone quoting Foucault, talking about the conce I received an advance copy of A Desolation Called Peace from NetGalley, courtesy of Macmillan-Tor/Forge, in exchange for an honest review. Because the book doesn’t publish until March, I’m going to be a bit more vague than usual in this review. I should also mention that this review contains some oblique spoilers of the first book in the series.

One of the more striking things I recall from my graduate degree in English is Foucault, or at any rate someone quoting Foucault, talking about the concept of “person.” Quite a bit of injustice and a whole lot of structural violence and oppression boils down to who and what we count as a person – that is, a human who matters. Because if you don’t matter, or if you matter less, then who cares what happens to you?

This thought was reverberating around in my head from beginning to end of Arkady Martine’s exceptional, thought-provoking sequel to last year’s Hugo-winning A Memory Called Empire. That book was about falling in love with a culture that doesn’t love you back. It was about political intrigue, and poetry, and a city that was an also an empire. I loved it a lot.

A Desolation Called Peace plays with similar themes in a different playground. The action has reoriented: in a neat inversion (quite a lot of those, actually), we’re at the edges of the empire, not its center. Instead of court intrigue, we get military conniving. And, in direct contravention of the title, we get a certain kind of war. Or, to put it more precisely, we stand on the knife-edge of one.

Enter Mahit Dzmare and Three Seagrass. Mahit, having returned to Lsel Station at the end of the previous book, faces a delicate political situation. Three Seagrass, having received a promotion, faces some trouble of her own. And, one way or another, they wind their way to a conflict at the edge of Teixcalaanli space, with an alien force that no one understands.

Who or what are these aliens? What do they want? Martine gives you some hints along the way, but there are still moments of terrible surprise: those gut-churning moments when you realize that, like the characters, you understand far less than you think you do. And there are moments of elation, too – of discoveries that tilt the world through the sheer force of Martine’s subtle wording. (I am thinking of one particular moment that prompted me to actually write “Oooh, clever” in my notes.)

Speaking of which, the prose is frequently gorgeous, even poetic. There is one sentence, early on, that practically put me in a state of spontaneous weeping, it was so heartbreakingly beautiful. In deference to the distance of the publication date I won’t be including any direct quotes here, but trust me: there are moments when this prose sings.

What makes all of this work as well as it does – and it works very, very well – is how thoroughly integrated plot, character, and theme are. This is something I often look for and rarely find: everything is connected, like a golden thread linking every disparate element of the story, weaving a whole that’s greater than the sum of its parts. Personhood, freedom, finding home, and being known. These themes are refracted and reflected like glittering shards across every page.

It helps that we are led through this conflict by characters who are both complex and likable. Mahit and Three Seagrass are fun and frustrating together, and they are joined by an assortment of characters – some known, some new – that make reading a delight. There is one character, in particular, who is so delightful and smart and brave that I now want another whole book just about him, please and thank you.

Martine has created a vast and fascinating world, populated with likable but nuanced characters, and filters their conflicts through the lens of some truly affecting and thought-provoking questions. This is science fiction of the highest order. I can’t recommend enough picking this up when it releases in March. ...more

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Dec 05, 2020 Jess rated it it was amazing

Shelves: arc, read-2020

I'm delirious with how much I loved A Desolation Called Peace.
I re-read A Memory Called Empire immediately before starting it, to make sure I was keeping track of everything in my head - and this made it more clear to me that, though a continuation, this book reads quite differently to its predecessor. Firstly, space, and battlefields in space especially, are a vastly different environment than the imperial court. However, it also took me a while to get used to the multiple points of view (I'm g ...more

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Jan 20, 2021 Tsana Dolichva rated it it was amazing

review coming close to release date

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Sep 16, 2020 Adrian rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

A truly remarkable follow up to A Memory Called Empire. The way Martine deals with the big bad from book one who I was so incredibly intrigued by is just so unexpected and refreshing. These books never fail to surprise in their depth of nuance. I love spending time in this universe and with these characters and am sad to have blown through this so quickly!

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Jan 16, 2021 Graculus rated it it was amazing

Shelves: series, science-fiction

It's always a pleasure to see a series improve (in my view, at least) as it goes on - here we have that difficult second novel after A Memory Called Empire and I'm delighted to say that the pacing issues that plagued it for me have been pretty much resolved.

We start this book with our protagonist Mahit Dzmare, ambassador to the Teixcalaan empire, back on Lsel station where she is desperately trying to make sure nobody finds out the entirety of what she's been up to in recent months. Not so It's always a pleasure to see a series improve (in my view, at least) as it goes on - here we have that difficult second novel after A Memory Called Empire and I'm delighted to say that the pacing issues that plagued it for me have been pretty much resolved.

We start this book with our protagonist Mahit Dzmare, ambassador to the Teixcalaan empire, back on Lsel station where she is desperately trying to make sure nobody finds out the entirety of what she's been up to in recent months. Not so much her involvement with the death of the Teixcalaan emperor but more that there was an issue about her implant, the one that allows her to access the memories of her predecessor. At a convenient moment, the aliens that the empire had been warned of in the previous book have turned up on the edge of the empire and the other main character, Three Seagrass, pretty much gives herself the job of going to speak with them and drags Mahit along for the ride.

There are also a couple of other sub-plots going on, one from the point of view of Eight Antidote (clone of the former emperor) who finally hears what he was supposed to be for and another from the fleet commander, Nine Hibiscus, who has all sorts of difficult decisions to make about these aliens alongside a possible insurrection from within the fleet she commands.

All this is handled deftly, with just enough detail to keep the pace of the novel up, and also a few twists in the plot. I'm always delighted when I don't see something coming and there were a couple of places where that happened with this book. The author also does a good job of making supporting characters fleshed out, with Nine Hibiscus' XO being the prime example of this, though he may turn out to have a more important role in any future novels (don't worry, no spoilers as to why!). Definitely 5 stars from me and I can't wait to see where this story goes next, or where this author goes next.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review. ...more

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Jan 02, 2021 Isabelle rated it really liked it

Shelves: netgalley

I absolutely loved the first book of Teixcalaan, so I was very excited to a/ be able to ask for the second book on NetGalley b/ actually get an eARC for it 🙂

The story of A Desolation Called Peace starts a few months after the end of A Memory Called Empire. It is divided into several points of view: Mahit, Three Seagrass, Captain Nine Hibiscus, the Emperor, and the Emperor’s heir, as they navigate a tricky first contact situation with an alien species whose intentions seem more than belligerent. ...more

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Dec 12, 2020 Maddie O. rated it really liked it

I received an ARC of this book via NetGalley.

I didn’t love this book as much as I loved the first one, but that’s a common theme with me and SFF sequels. However, I definitely think it was a worthwhile read and nicely expanded upon the universe that the author created in the first book. I think one of the reasons that I liked this slightly less was that it was more of a space opera than I found the prior novel to be (and less of, though the elements are still there, a story of politics and world ...more

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Dec 31, 2020 Ariel (ariel_reads) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

As the sequel to a Memory Called Empire, A Desolation Called Peace has a very similar feel but the story pushes along in a completely different context than the city planet from book one. The sense of wonder I felt in the first book at how cool it would be to explore the city planet transfers into the sequel as well, where I found myself so fascinated with the politics found at the edge of the Empire. Like the first book, language and poetry find meaning and context within the science-fiction wo ...more

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“I thought you hated them,” Nine Hibiscus said, dryly. “Was all of that complaining about ecosystem disruption for show, then?”
Twenty Cicada looked up at her, and dismissed most of his work holos with the hand that wasn’t petting the small void on his knee. “I do hate them,” he said, smiling. “But this one likes me, and what am I going to do with the things, space them? It’s not their fault they exist.”
She came to sit next to him, knee to knee. There always seemed to be more oxygen in one of Twenty Cicada’s garden rooms. (Not seemed: there was. Plant respiration. She’d checked the readouts once. It was a fractional difference, but real.) The Kauraanian pet lifted its head and opened yellow eyes. It made a noise like a badly tuned stringed instrument, stood, paced in a tight circle on Twenty Cicada’s lap, and settled down again. “I didn’t think you’d space them, Swarm,” she said. “But this is cuddling.”
“It yowls if I don’t,” Twenty Cicada said, perfectly bland, and Nine Hibiscus laughed.” — 0 likes

“On the flagship Weight of the Wheel:
“You’d have to ask medical,” said Two Foam.
“Someone ask medical,” said Mahit. “I can’t talk to anyone. I’m not a citizen.” And she smiled, terrifying and far too beautiful with all those teeth exposed, gesturing to her entire lack of cloudhook.” — 0 likes

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