I am a big fan of "A Memory Called Empire", which I think is one of the best examples of modern space opera - up there with Ann Leckie and Iain M. Banks.
This is a good sequel, and one that pretty directly leads on from the previous one (the time between them is just a couple of months). The book has many of the strengths of the original - a very personal story that is wound into and transformed by galaxy-spanning implications, because of the way it is bound up in the politics and philosophies of different cultures and inter-stellar civilisations.
The characters are mostly admirable or likeable, and the antagonists have integrity and are themselves respectable for the main. Crucially, this is a discussion of how differences of various kinds are negotiated between individuals and groups of different kinds, and with different forms of power differential. There are no clean lines or easy solutions available to anyone, and this is encountered in ways that are confusing and frustrating in diverse ways for all concerned. It might have been better (though much less interestingly entitled "The Space Between Us").
As an individual book I didn't find this as compelling as the previous one. There are a few reasons for this, mostly to do with the nature of sequels. Whereas the previous book was a single point of view character, and a building of a world from scratch, here we have several new PoV characters, some of whom are new and some known. This of course means less time for development of each. While there is opportuntiy to explore them all more than a single perspective would allow, there's just something about them I found to be a little bit too similar (this is an odd complaint, because there are ways in which they are very different, but it does feel that each speaks in the author's rather than their own voices).
The world building is not as rich as the first too. There is some building out of the great Fleet of the Teixcalaan Empire, but not quite enough for it to really feel like more than a backdrop, as most of the PoV characters are not Fleet. The alien threat similarly are mostly an impetus rather than a main player (much as the rebel One Lightning was in the first).
A romance plays a major role in the plot, and I am rarely invested in romantic plots. Since finishing the book earlier today though, I've come to appreciate just how important and layered that relationship is, and so there is no way that it could be removed or even cut down - the nuances in that relationship are vital to perceiving other aspects of intimacy, power, and difference in other aspects of the story. Nevertheless, my frustrations with one of the characters in particular mean that this just wasn't as compelling as it might be as a main plot of the book.
All in all, still a great space opera, and good story. I will absolutely be looking forward to more from Martine, and will be picking it up when it appears.
