From the Bookshelf of The Sword and Laser…

A Memory Called Empire (Teixcalaan, #1)

Arkady Martine

Start date: June 1, 2020

Finish date: June 30, 2020

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A Memory Called Empire

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What Members Thought

Dec 29, 2020 Michelle rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2020, science-fiction, kindle, lgbtq, audio, bbbbc, award-winner-hugo, lgbtq-lesbian, lgbtq-bi-pan-omni

4.5 stars

Despite the slow start and almost text book explanations at times (early on) this turned out to be a fantastic read. I love that it explores colonialism, prejudices, and the impact that the ruling culture has on education, art, and personal values.

Not to mention the incredibly sweet romance that I wasn’t expecting at all.

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Nov 16, 2023 Jessica rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction, sean

To be clear, I can see why this novel won so many awards. I can appreciate all the work that clearly went into the creation of the alien cultures. But ultimately it left me a bit cold, so I can't award more than three stars.

I'd say the first 50% of the book was plotted in an extremely deliberate way, and it just moved far too slowly for my taste. There's also some amount of using difficult words when a simpler one would do. For instance: the space station is shaped like a toroid, not a ring. I To be clear, I can see why this novel won so many awards. I can appreciate all the work that clearly went into the creation of the alien cultures. But ultimately it left me a bit cold, so I can't award more than three stars.

I'd say the first 50% of the book was plotted in an extremely deliberate way, and it just moved far too slowly for my taste. There's also some amount of using difficult words when a simpler one would do. For instance: the space station is shaped like a toroid, not a ring. I don't object to beautiful language, but in this case it took me out of the story and felt showy.

Our main character, Mahit, remains a bit of a cypher to us. She loves the culture that she has been sent to as an ambassador, but sadly that's all we learn. The same with the other main characters, who seem to have no back story and simply exist to move the plot along. The most interesting character, the previous ambassador, doesn't make a real appearance until the 60% mark.

The culture was very interesting. I loved the idea of a culture that uses verse to express their important ideas and hide messages. I would have loved even more poetry in the book, because there is surprisingly little. The naming conventions were fun, and I did like the sidekick characters (Twelve Azalea was my favorite). The political plotline seemed to rely very hard on Mahit not knowing anything. If she's such a huge fan of the culture she should have known much more about the main players and the history of the empire than she seemed to. I also found it puzzling that she seemed to have no reports at all from the previous ambassador to rely on, not to mention anyone else from her station to accompany her on this most important mission.

I would recommend this book for fans of political dramas, as that's primarily what this is. It feels more like fantasy than science fiction - just a political fantasy set in space.

My Kindle edition ended around the 90% mark. The rest is a glossary and preview of the second book, just FYI if you use that to gauge reading time!
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