Read A Memory Called Empire Teixcalaan Book 1 Audible Audio Edition Arkady Martine Amy Landon Macmillan Audio Books

Product details Audible Audiobook Listening Length 15 hours and 37 minutes Program Type Audiobook Version Unabridged Publisher Macmillan Audio Audible.com Release Date March 26, 2019 Whispersync for Voice Ready Language English, English ASIN B07PWHQW1F

A Memory Called Empire Teixcalaan Book 1 Audible Audio Edition Arkady Martine Amy Landon Macmillan Audio Books Reviews

• Every year there are a couple dozen speculative fiction/scifi novels that are promoted as 'the next thing' and pushed as if they were the second coming. Of those, with luck, a small handful will actually turn out to be decent reads. Just as an example of hype efforts, when I wrote this review there were 24 reviews posted for this book, only four were verified purchases, the others, I assume were free/promotional copies. ReviewMeta, a site for checking the veracity of reviews, failed the overall review with a Warn in these four categories Unverified Purchases, Incentivized Reviews, Phrase Repetition, and Overlapping Review History and and a Fail in the Suspicious Reviewers category.
  A couple of centuries ago I was in a club to catch the 'band of the moment'. The PR machine had been promoting them overtime and in the last few minutes before they took the stage the joint was electric with anticipation. The place was packed, all the cool kids were there, and when the first guitar riffs rolled across the crowd it was electric. Several songs in I realized they weren't really that good. Looking back I realize they weren't bad, but the 'next thing' they were not. I never really forgave the band after that, I felt betrayed, but the hype machine was just doing its job even if that meant setting unrealistic expectations that were almost impossible for the band to meet. Loading down Arkady Martine's credible debut effort with that level of expectation is almost certainly setting her and us readers up for a fall.
  Rant is over, now on to the review. In the far future a small space station on the fringes of a large empire that threatens their independence, receives word that the station's ambassador to the empire has died and a replacement is requested ASAP. A young, just out of school, graduate is picked for the job. The empire is an ancient one with a depth of culture that (purposely) overawes the small surrounding cultures into feeling like uncultured rustics. Mahit, the new appointee is thoroughly versed in the ins and out of the poetic language and culture that exhibits so much intimidating depth that many of the best and brightest of the surrounding powers dream of being able to go and live what is overwhelmingly considered the seat of civilized society. Mahit shares that dream and nurses a serious inferiority complex throughout the book that interferes with her desire to serve her home. Upon arrival at the capital she finds out that the previous ambassador was almost certainly assassinated, she makes friends, suffers through a couple of assassination attempts upon her own life, and is quickly embroiled in escalating civil insurrection aimed at overthrowing the emperor and installing a contender from one of the several rival factions. To add to that complexity, plans are being made by the empire to invade her home station and attach it to the empire. Circumstances gradually move our heroine from the fringes of the action closer and closer to the very center of the whirlpool that threatens to pull in her, her home, friends, and the whole of the empire. Well drawn appealing characters, especially Mahit and her imperial liaison, Three Seagrass, combined with smooth writing, excellent world building, usually sharp dialogue (minus occasional regressions), and with only vague writing on the infrequent action sequences hindering this excellent read. I look forward to Ms. Martine's next book.
• An interesting story of the new ambassador from a tiny station at the end of the universe who thinks she’s ready for the big time at the center of the empire. She finds her predecessor dead upon her arrival and is lucky to have been assigned a most valuable and useful cultural liaison. The story takes off from there and is best described as “may you live in interesting times“ in one of the most unique empires I’ve come across in my readings.
  
  The author does a good job of creating and populating the empire. From the description of the technology which runs the city to the glimpses of history and current affairs which roils throughout the story to the interesting ability of the tiny station to punch way above its weight in galactic affairs. All in all a most interesting story; without any real clear indication of what the next book might bring.
• One of my favorite flavors in SFF is what I call "bureaucracy porn". Give me competent people competently running a ship, or a government, or a military unit, or a trading house. Give me the minutiae. Let me see how the character interacts with other characters to solve problems. I love it. Books such as The Goblin Emperor, The Outback Stars, Articles of Federation, Traitor Baru Cormorant, all scratch that itch. (edit I can't believe I forgot one of my favorite examples Myke Cole's Fortress Frontier)
  
  A Memory Called Empire does that too. Here we have a brand new ambassador to the largest empire around, an empire that seemingly runs on poetry. While I would have LOVED to see a little bit of the more mundane taskings of the ambassador, empire spanning intrigue gets in the way, and we're immediately thrown into the fire.
  
  Martine's prose was well suited to the Teixcalaan empire, with the dialogue that is full of subtext and allusion. It's also evident that her experience with cultures isn't limited to the US. There is a lot in this book that seems as if the author came at it through different cultural mores that what I'm used to. I understand that creating an "alien world" is part of what SF authors do, but the way that it was gone about doesn't seem to be wholly US/UK derived.
  
  I thought one of the most interesting things about the book, was that though the protagonist is in the middle of a galaxy spanning crisis a planet's civil war, the action always felt intensely closely held and personal. The crisis drove the plot and made the protagonist's decisions necessary, but it's felt more than seen as if just off camera. It enhanced the theme of isoilation throughout the book, and I thought it was incredibly well done.
  
  I enjoyed the book, and will preorder the next one.
• This story captured the sense of an outsider in an alien culture with an intensity I have rarely seen. This reminds me of CJ Cherryh's Foreigner series. There are true aliens who come from a very different mindview and a lone protagonist facing the unexpected world. This series had heart and an ending that truly made the book for me. Lovely writing and well-defined alien societies that were a joy to visit. Elements of humor and thought-provoking in the best possible way with depth and heart.