Mahit Dzmare is young but has been chosen as the new ambassador from Lsel to the empire capital, Teixcalaan. The current ambassador stopped communicating with Lsel several months ago and Mahit's first job is to determine why. When she arrives she discovers immediately that he is dead, perhaps murdered.
This is a dangerous time to have arrived on Teixcalaan. The Emperor is aging and it is clear he is not healthy. What will happen to the Empire when he passes on? There is a group of advisors and a ninety percent clone who will rule then but the clone is only ten and the advisors are all maneuvering already to have the most power.

Soon Mahit finds herself drawn into the politics of her new assignment. She is given an aide, Three Seaglass, to explain what is occurring and help her. But Mahit is the victim of sabotage and soon finds herself caught up in a revolution, imprisonment and people trying their best to manipulate her. Her space station has developed technology that the Teixcalaans desire for themselves and then there is the horde of aliens threatening the entire empire. Can such a young ambassador find her way to a resolution?

This is a debut novel that was an amazing success. Along with other accolades, it won the 2020 Hugo Award For Best Novel and is the first in the Teixcalaan series. The novel is full of apt characterizations, political intrigue, a hint of romance and layers upon layers of deceit and spying. This book is recommended for science fiction readers.

A MEMORY CALLED EMPIRE is Book 1 of
Teixcalaan, an award-winning novel: intellectual Science Fiction with a Byzantine coloration. The Empire rules, indeed the language holds only one word for "world," the word for "Empire." The newest ambassador from a tiny asteroid station must learn to balance the social politics of Empire while solving the murder of the prior ambassador, whose personality she carries as an imago in her brain stem, and preventing her own assassination.

This book was absolutely incredible -- thrilled I had a chance to start reading it before release. Possibly one of the best science fiction books ever!

A very interesting and exciting book. I enjoyed having early access. I hope to see more from this author.

This book is difficult to review. I say that because I am not sure I have ever read anything quite like it.
Like any good far future sci-fi, this starts with a spaceship leaving a station. We quickly find out about a multiple-system-spanning empire and that the station is a plucky independent nation on the outskirts if that empire. The main character is Mahit, the new ambassador from the station to the empire. Mahit is steeped in empire culture and language and must quickly move from barbarian outsider to well-connected insider or risk losing all she holds dear.
The thing that makes this sci-fi/political-drama unusual is the detailed way the writer focuses on the language of the empire snd how it contrasts with the language of the station the ambassador originates from. The imperial language is ideographic (like Chinese- at least in my head) and everything and is usually rendered in poetic forms. I can honestly say that I have not read so much about poetic forms and meter since college. The author is issuing this to show that language and culture define and inform each other and that one cannot truly know a language without being touched by the culture it comes from.
My complaints are mainly from missing some of the hard-sci-fi elements. Why are there different varieties of human when the empire originated on one planet (where did the off planet humans come from)? What ARE jumpgates? What are the mysterious alien ships? I want these answers. The book is not about such things though. These are merely place-settings, accepted parts of the reality the book it set in and thus nothing to be considered at all by the characters in the book. Since this book does not scream "sequel" or "first in series" by its rhythm (actually a bit refreshing) I will likely never know.
If you enjoy language, political intrigue, and sci-fi, you would enjoy this book.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book. #netgalley #amemorycalledempire

For some reason I'm having a difficult time writing this review. I did really enjoy reading this book, though. I liked the attention to language and its relation to culture. I liked the recognizably Byzantine idea of a barbarian from a far-flung land coming to the center of empire and being knowingly seduced by that empire.

The book wasn't quite as dense as I was expecting it to be. I was expecting double and triple crossing political intrigue, a vast cast of characters that I'd have to keep track of, and characters who were all smarter than me. But this book is about one person (Mahit) and her journey, and the focus stays on her and those who interact directly with her. Mahit makes some allies and even perhaps some friends, but isn't permitted too much access into Teixcalaan, which means city, world, center, maybe even universe.

To be fair, people start committing violent and subtle deeds to discourage and get rid of Mahit almost as soon as she touches down on the imperial planetary seat. I was really looking forward to seeing how her imago worked and was disappointed that it was sidelined for much of the book. How different cultures perceive the utility and morality of different technologies and how certain tech is reserved as privilege or leverage was an interesting part of the book.

I'm very interested to see what happens next.

Mahit Dzmare has been sent from her home on Lsel Station to replace the Station’s ambassador to the empire of Teixcalaan. Her predecessor, Yskandr Aghavn, has been murdered and now it’s up to Mahit to keep her home station from being swallowed up by the Empire.

Now, imagine the great Empire of Teixcalaan as like the galactic French and British Empires of the 19th century combined with modern American culture and its tendency to show up and force everyone else’s culture into the background. That’s Teixcalaan. Teixcalaan is massive and constantly consuming other planets, stations, star systems, etc. in its wake. Sometimes, these other planets and stations let themselves be consumed willingly because, hey, it’s Teixcalaan, why not? Teixcalaanli literature and culture is considered to be a cut above everything - knowing how to speak Teixcalaanli and reading Teixcalaanli poetry and literature on a place like Lsel station makes you “cultured.” The feeling is decidedly not mutual: in Teixcalaan, anyone who isn’t Teixcalaani is considered a barbarian. Mahit, as the fricking ambassador from Lsel is frequently referred to as a barbarian.

And, since this is an epic Space Opera, let me clarify: the Teixcalaani are human. The people on Lsel station are all human. There are some aliens referred to in A Memory Called Empire but all the main characters are human. Though the Teixcalaani consider themselves to be the standard for actual human. They’re kind of dickish that way.

Alright back to Mahit. On Lsel station they have this super-nifty-cool tech called an “imago” which is a lot like the Flame from that CW show The 100, a show that is so bad that I absolutely love it and never miss an episode. Anyway, an imago is a cybernetic implant containing the memory of a specific person. A person with an imago basically has a whole other person in their head who can talk to them and such. Lsel station has been preserving the memories of multiple generations this way. Normally, receiving an imago is a whole long process involving a lot of psychotherapy, but Mahit had to get hers in a rush due to the whole sudden opening in the Teixcalaani ambassador position. Mahit’s imago is that of her predecessor, Yskandr Aghavn. Kind of. See, the last time Yskandr Aghavn uploaded his memory into the imago system was 15 years ago. So, in her head, Mahit has a version of her predecessor that’s 15 years out of date. Useful! If all this is confusing (and for me, it was a bit at first, but you get used to it real quick) just imagine the imago of young Yskandr is Colin Hanks and the older, more experienced, and now very dead Yskandr as Tom Hanks.

Seriously, picture it just like that, it really helps.

As I was saying, Mahit is stuck with Colin Hanks while the Empire had been dealing with Tom - so she has little to no idea what older Yskandr up to this whole time on Teixcalaan. Her Yskandr had only been working on Teicalaan for a few years - older Yskandr was there for two decades. What did he do to get murdered? Are the people who killed him going to want to get Mahit, too?

Also not helping: the moment young Yskandr sees (though Mahit’s eyes), his own older self in the form of a dead body, he promptly freaks out and Mahit’s imago fizzles out. Now she’s alone in her own head on a new planet with people who maybe want to kill her and her only source of diplomatic info, however outdated, gone. Somehow, Mahit has to maintain her station’s independence from the ever-expanding Empire while solving the murder of Tom Hanks Yskandr while somehow, hopefully, not getting murdered herself. With no functioning implanted neurotech to guide her through the process. Mahit’s only friend seems to be Three Seagrass, her Teixcalaani cultural liaison, but can she be trusted? Can anyone in the Empire be trusted?

Holy crap, A Memory Called Empire is absolutely epic. It’s got everything you could want in a Space Opera: small-time station holding its own against the Big Mean Empire, political intrigue, a murder mystery, a potential civil war, an Imperial succession crisis, and poetry analysis! Ok, that last one I’m more “meh” on - Martine goes to great lengths to describe Teixcalaan’s long history of complex poetic symbolism, but all it did for me was give me some horrible college flashbacks. Martine’s writing style is a bit dense, which is not surprising as in real life, Martine herself is a historian and a scholar and generally someone who sounds way smarter than me. She has a doctorate for cryin’ out loud! I just have a lowly Master’s. But if you’re not big into a kind of academic style of fiction writing, you might find A Memory Called Empire a bit daunting. I can’t really complain too much - as with most of the books I review here, I read an Advanced Reader’s Copy, which isn’t a finished book, so maybe the final round of edits will cut down on some of the sections where things tend to drag.

I had heard a lot of good things about Arkady Martine's A Memory Called Empire. I had gotten burnt buy over-hyped books before, so I did my best to reign in on my expectations when I started to read it.

I loved the author's world building and the story's relatable characters. Martine's prose is very pleasant and flowing. My penchant for sci-fi & fantasy books with strong political intrigue and bureaucracy made it easy for me to five-star this book.

I'm looking forward to reading the next installment.

Before picking up A Memory Called Empire, I had heard nothing but wonderful things about it. Ultimately, it didn't disappoint, but it took me several false starts before I was really able to get into the book. I place the blame squarely on the prologue, which is dense and throws you into the deep end of Martine's complex worldbuilding without a lifejacket. On the 5th or 6th try, when I finally got past the first few chapters and had a feel for the world and the characters, it was hard to put down.

The story revolves around a central mystery, but I wouldn't come here for the twists and turns. It was the lyrical writing and the complex, vivid worldbuilding that left an impression. It's a slow-burn kind of book, one that leaves you with the sense of having visited a strange new place. And isn't that a huge part of the appeal of speculative fiction?

Very much enjoyed reading this, so much so I bought a copy and look forward to reading again in the near future, when time and backlogs permit.

Last year, I read a debut author’s space opera that was hyped by many as the Next Big Thing. Comparisons to Dune were explicitly made. The text showed that the author clearly was writing in conversation with Dune, trying to catch that magic about a big broad space opera by focusing on the life and times of a protagonist destined to have an enormous impact on their universe. But for me, that novel fell down on a number of fronts and was an enormous disappointment.

This is not that book. This book steps into those shoes, attempting to capture that Dune magic, and walks miles in them. And for me, it succeeds where that other novel failed. This is A Memory Called Empire by debut novelist Arkady Martine. A Memory Called Empire is a dazzling space opera involving a Byzantine plot that immerses the reader in a fully realized world with a cast of interesting characters.

A Memory called Empire follows the story of an ambassador named Mahit from the small space station Lsel who travels to the heart of a galactic Empire to replace her predecessor. Her predecessor, it so happens, has perished in the course of his duties — a murder, in fact. In trying to find out who killed her predecessor, Mahit gets wrapped up in the tendrils of Imperial politics, with the fate of not only her home, but also the entire empire on the line.

If you aren’t going to headhop around, focus on characters in a traditional narrative manner, and stay with the protagonist throughout, you need a central figure to hang your story on. Enter Mahit, an ambassador from tiny Lsel Station (population 30,000 souls). Even though she has studied the language, customs, and society of the Station’s huge neighbor, she is in for one hell of a culture shock. Luckily for Mahit, she has a cultural liaison in the personage of Three Seagrass (Teixcalaani names are composed of a number, and a noun). Together, Three Seagrass, Seagrass’ longtime friend Twelve Azalea, and Mahit make a trio who set out to tackle the novel’s pressing plot problems.

What happened to the previous ambassador that they needed to send for a new one? Can Mahit keep the station from being absorbed by the Empire? And can she survive what looks like to be the opening moves in a civil war? Additionally, Mahit, like her predecessor Yskandr, is swept up in the orbits of very powerful people — and subsequently becomes a target herself. The author does a great job at developing Mahit as a character and at developing her story. This allows Mahit to resonate and play off of her two companions. It’s a classic way to introduce readers to that rich world mentioned above, and it works. Mahit definitely goes through changes by the time we get to the end of the novel.

Let’s talk about that rich world. The action takes place on a planet simply called “City.” That is, after all, what it IS. City is the home capital planet of the Teixcalaan Empire. The planet is an ecumenopolis, a city that spans a world, just like Trantor in Asimov’s Foundation series or Coruscant in the Star Wars universe. A city as a planet gives this novel a far future urban aesthetic, and it feels grounded and familiar. This is not a Blade Runner or Fifth Element style city of air cars; this is a city of subways, rail transportation, and varying urban densities. Frankly, as an expat New Yorker, I could see the City as New York, from the dense heart of Manhattan to the hills of Staten Island and networks of public transportation as the primary way people get around. The Palace, a central sprawling structure at the center of the city, is in and of itself almost a city on its own, showing a fractal quality to the world that Martine has built.

At a high level, the politics and social structure of the world that the author creates can be summed up as “The Byzantine Empire, in Space!” This dovetails with the author’s training as an expert on the Byzantine Empire, which comes through the details of her created world. The world that she creates features ornate and complicated politics and a highly literate and literary culture obsessed with allusions, poetry, wordplay, and beauty. The inhabitants of the City have an omphalos sort of viewpoint: the city is OF COURSE the center of the entire universe; why would you even think otherwise? The empire is full of deadly and sharp bureaucratic maneuverings. Their schemes and intrigue fill the novel and provide most of the plot elements that drive the narrative. This is not a space opera that has giant space fleets with silicon ray weapons blowing up planets. However, this is a novel where the characters actions could very well propel fleets across star systems. Or their actions might cause a planet sized city to roil in protests and violence.

The novel also does interesting things with languages, translation, transmission of knowledge, technology and lots more. Having a main character from outside of the empire, for whom their language and culture is not native, gives us an outside-in perspective on the concepts of the empire, how its language works, and how someone not raised in it might come to understand the nuances of its language and culture. I didn’t even mention that Lsel Station has neural technology allowing for the transmission of whole personalities that the Empire does not have. This is a technology that has a major impact not only on Mahit’s life (and on the narrative), but also on the idea that technology could transform the Empire as well. This technology, as it turns out, is a major strand of the plot. Above and beyond having a Space Opera setting, this neural technology — its implications and its uses — is among the most speculative elements the novel has to offer. And in a tribute to the worldbuilding, it makes sense why Lsel Station needs and makes use of this neural technology. Worldbuilding informs technology which both inform plot, and they all inform character and back around again.

The writing is amazingly excellent for a first time novelist, and I can see how the author poured blood, sweat, and effort down to the line level to make all of these elements support each other. Too many space opera narratives I have read have rely on walls of words to support the superstructure. The novel is thick, but it is also intricate, fractal in its complexity, and infused with the ethos of the novel and the culture of the empire. There are bits of poetry here, given the poetry-mad citizens of the Empire. Every chapter has epigrams to bring more information to the reader than the tight POV on Mahit will allow. That tight third person limited focus on Mahit does distinguish it from Dune and its endless headhopping (and I think that the Empire depicted that way would be impossible to really render effectively).

About the only negative thing I really have to say against the novel is that the external threat seems a little too distant. That thread is more present and problematic in the aforementioned epigrams than it does to Mahit — or even as a threat to the Empire itself. This may be a function of the very Byzantine concept of “The City is the World” that the novel embodies. All that truly matters is within the City. But putting that aside, everything else in this novel just is incredibly immersive. While following Mahit’s journey into the city, I had the same feeling I got when I first read Dune in the 1980’s, Jaran in the 1990’s, or Pandora’s Star in the 2000’s. That is to say, the feeling of immersion into big wide space opera, interesting and well developed cultures. Language, food, idiosyncracies and peculiarities of culture, and much more create a complete and well realized world.

So, in the tradition of the culture of City and the Teixcalaani, I offer a humble verse:

A Memory Called Empire achieves a Trompe-l’œil effect

An immersion of the reader into it’s world, most potent affect

A completely realized world, a full view around with no defect

A City, a world, an Empire Martine brings the reader within.

That immersiveness makes me imagine that I, too, could step into the Empire and find it entirely real in all directions around me. Even when I am now as a reader am far more interested in character and theme than I used to be, completely enrobing worldbuilding in a novel gets me every time. I fell deeply into this novel because of its worldbuilding, and I stayed for its intricate plot, its well done characters, and its wonderful writing.

Well done, Arkady, Well done.

Written by Paul Weimer

I really loved this book, but it's definitely not for everyone. People who love Ancillary Justice and the intricacy of language and translation might very much join me on the "omg this was so good!!" train.
I also loved the main character Mahit and the main secondary character Three Seagrasses (awesome structures of names in this sci-fi novel), and following them navigating court intrigues and politics was a pleasure.

A quote I loved:
"and you thought, At last there are words for how I feel, and they aren't even in my own language."
💘

There's so much more to discuss and to love about this book but at the moment I'm studying for exams so I'll just stop there.

"A Memory Called Empire" an enjoyable novel brought down by some bad pacing and a rather abrupt ending. It probably could have used some additional tweaking just to fix up the pacing and maybe to make the ending less abrupt. Hopefully any future sequels could even out how abrupt the ending felt.

4.5 stars, rounding up for a thoroughly enjoyable novel. Strong hints of the magic I got reading Ancillary Justice and an extremely engaging world. Pacing uneven at times, and the end was a bit too pat, but I look forward to seeing the author’s next efforts.

I loved this book and its worldbuilding right up until it ended, at which point I felt thrown off and disappointed; I went back and looked to see whether I actually had been reading a novella instead of a novel, was how abrupt the ending seemed. I bet this will be a great book to read when the series is complete and published, but it felt like a long setup - a very good long setup - with not quite enough payoff in terms of the plot and stakes to feel “finished” as a novel. I’m looking forward to the sequel.

This review is based solely on the preview provided for review. This book starts like a car warming up in the morning, You know it's on and going places, you just have to wait for it to warm up. And it worth the wait! After reading the sample, I went out and purchased the book, which of course I cannot review here. But, it was worth the buy.

It starts off slow and kind of dense, but once the action begins, it's hard to resist the story as it drives forward. It reads as a true epic, one that makes you feel the world really has been reshaped as you read it. Would recommend.

Honestly, this is a hard one for me to place. There was so much I loved and so much I'm not too sure about. I think that ultimately this is a reread for me so I can make up my mind about some things. I'll update my review then.

Too much deep message & not enough story. The AI was more about the authors point of view & not about plot.

In an unusual progression, teasing this kind of book is interesting possibility. Like perhaps “The Martian” as a way to refine the story, this is not a bad perception though the aspect of formatting in the manuscript is definitely off. That said, “A Memory Called Empire” [Arkady Martine/Tor] has the beginnings of an interesting story that brings to mind both the political elements of the “Star Wars” prequels and some of the inner working technology of “Minority Report”. The narrative follows a new ambassador coming down to the city center of the universe which is ruled by a specific kind of society where rules and speech are dictated with certain word use and prose, perhaps as a push to a higher form of consciousness. The lead character Mahit recently has been placed as ambassador for her government after the loss of the one before her. What makes this interesting is that a back up of his consciousness is implanted in her brain through a brain stem “imago” which blends their knowledge. A scandal in terms of what happened before he is found dead builds both inside and outside her head. When she and her local liaison begin to investigate, connections start to unravel. Despite a shaky first few chapters, the story engages she cause of the relationship between the liaison and the new ambassador. However, the essence of world beyond a texture of colors and structures hasn’t quite been fully formed yet but an interesting start.

B

By Tim Wassberg