Book Review | A Memory Called Empire

Title: A Memory Called Empire
Author: Arkady Martine
Published: 23rd January 2020
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
Genre: Sci-fi, Space opera,
Series: Teixcalaan #1

Rating: 4/5 stars

In a war of lies she seeks the truth . . .

Ambassador Mahit Dzmare travels to the Teixcalaanli Empire’s interstellar capital, eager to take up her new post. Yet when she arrives, she discovers her predecessor was murdered. But no one will admit his death wasn’t accidental – and she might be next.

Now Mahit must navigate the capital’s enticing yet deadly halls of power, to discover dangerous truths. And while she hunts for the killer, Mahit must somehow prevent the rapacious Empire from annexing her home: a small, fiercely independent mining station.

As she sinks deeper into an alien culture that is all too seductive, Mahit engages in intrigues of her own. For she’s hiding an extraordinary technological secret, one which might destroy her station and its way of life. Or it might save them from annihilation. -Waterstones

My Review

I was lucky enough to receive a copy of A Memory Called Empire from Pan Macmillan before the publication date last year. However, I just didn’t get around to reading it. Sorry Pan Mac! But, when the sequel was due to be released, it gave me the push I needed to pick it up.

I was a little bit reluctant to pick this novel up, simply because I had heard from a few others online that it is quite a complicated sci-fi novel, and I don’t have all that much experience reading heavy science fiction novels. I was worried that it would be too much for my teeny tiny brain to cope with. This book is complicated! It has a lot of information in it, and there was an awful lot of info to try and keep salient in my head while reading. Added to this the fact that the names of every character are more than one word long, and are odd names to boot, and my brain was working overtime. As a result of this, it took me quite a long time to read this novel, and actually I think it reduced my enjoyment of it.

I was hoping for a rip-roaring science fiction novel, which I got to a degree, but it all felt too distant for me. It felt to me that so much time was spent describing things and setting up the world that the actual story suffered.

Our main character is called Mahit. She is the new ambassador for her small space station in the Empire. When she arrives to take up her new role she discovers that the previous Ambassador was murdered. Mahit has to quickly become accustomed to a new world, try and uncover what happened to the previous Ambassador, and survive herself. I liked Mahit a lot. She is fun and sarcastic, and doesn’t take herself too seriously. I enjoyed her narrative voice, and I thought she was well crafted by the author. Mahit is assisted on the Empire by Three Seagrass, a government official, and I really enjoyed their relationship.

Despite the information overload, Martine does manage to cram a lot of action into A Memory Called Empire. It is a tense read which keeps the reader guessing throughout. However, the sheer difficulty and quantity of information being thrown at the reader stopped me from fully enjoying this novel.

Buy A Memory Called Empire from Waterstones here

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