A Memory Called Empire

December 1, 2018

Ambassador Mahit Dzmare arrives at the City, center of the multisystem Teixcalaanli Empire, rushed, because her predecessor has been out of contact. Those in Mahit's position are set up with imago machines: tiny chips imbedded in their nervous systems that contain the memories and responses of the previous incumbents. However, Mahit's imago of the former ambassador is more than a decade old, and what's worse, the ambassador is now dead and her connection to even that outdated version disappears. Now floundering in an alien culture with only her studies and an assigned assistant to guide her, Mahit must discover the truth behind her colleague's death and the secrets of the last years of his life, as well as attempt to save her independent station from being absorbed by the Teixcalaan. VERDICT Politics and personalities blend with an immersive setting and beautiful prose in a debut that weaves threads of identity, assimilation, technology, and culture to offer an exceedingly well-done sf political thriller.--Kristi Chadwick, Massachusetts Lib. Syst., Northampton

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 1, 2019

The Lsel Ambassador, Mahit Dzmare, arrives for her first assignment to Teixcalaan, only to discover that her predecessor is dead and the technology used on Lsel that could allow her to communicate with him is not working. It doesn't take her long to figure out that sabotage and murder are likely involved. With the help of her Teixcalaan Guide, Three Seagrass; some newfound allies; and her own abilities, Mahit navigates a political minefield. Revolution from within the Empire begins even as a new threat looms over her home of Lsel. Mahit must protect her home at all costs, in this complex world in which poetry is the language of history, culture, and communication. This is a complicated and dense space opera that may take teens some time to get into. But mature lovers of science fiction who are ready to make the jump from Robert Heinlein, Frank Herbert, or Andre Norton have much to enjoy here. VERDICT For avid sci-fi fans.-Connie Williams, Petaluma Public Library, CA

Copyright 2019 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from February 1, 2019
A scholar of Byzantine history brings all her knowledge of intricate political maneuvering to bear in her debut space opera.The fiercely independent space station of Lsel conserves the knowledge of its small population by recording the memory and personality of every valuable citizen in an imago machine and implanting it in a psychologically compatible person, melding the two personas into one. When the powerful empire of Teixcalaan demands a new ambassador, Lsel sends Mahit Dzmare, hastily integrated with an imago the current ambassador, Yskandr Aghavn, left behind on his last visit home, 15 years ago. Once arrived at the Empire's capital city-planet, the Jewel of the World, Mahit faces the double loss of Yskandr: Sabotage by her own people destroys the younger Yskandr copy within her, and she learns that the older original was murdered a few months ago. Bereft of the experienced knowledge of her predecessor, she will have to rely on all she knows of the sophisticated and complex Teixcalaanli society as she struggles to trace the actions that led Yskandr to his tragic end and to ensure Lsel's safety during a fierce and multistranded battle for the imperial succession. Martine offers a fascinating depiction of a civilization that uses poetry and literary allusion as propaganda and whose citizens bear lovely and sometimes-humorous names like Three Seagrass, Five Portico, and Six Helicopter but that can kill with a flower and possesses the military power to impose its delicately and dangerously mannered society across the galaxy. Love and sex are an integral aspect of and a thing apart from the nuanced and dangerous politicking. This is both an epic and a human story, successful in the mode of Ann Leckie and Yoon Ha Lee.A confident beginning with the promise of future installments that can't come quickly enough.

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