Won the 2020 Hugo for Best Novel.
Ambassador Mahit Dzmare is posted far from her mining station home, to the Empire's glorious capital. 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.
Mahit must navigate the capital's deadly halls of power, while hunting the killer. She must also somehow stop the Empire from annexing her fiercely independent colony. As she sinks deeper into this seductive yet unfamiliar culture, 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 all from annihilation.
A wonderful book - characters, cultures, language, memory... there's a lot to love.
I split time reading and listening to this, but starting with the audiobook didn't work well for me. I kept forgetting foreign words and names because I couldn't visualize them, so I had to abort and start over with the text.
If I were to read this again, I'd start with the pronunciation guide in the back as a quick primer. Then read at least enough to marinate in all the new words - asekreta, ezuazuacat, Teixcalaanlitzlim, etc. The character index is a useful reference too (which thankfully seems to avoid plot spoilers). Once I got used to this world's names and terms, I found the narration quite good.
This Hugo Award winning and Nebula nominee for 2019 is a big book about an ambassador sent to a territory hungry empire, trying to stave off annexation. The previous ambassador died suddenly (murder?), and so that is another thing she gets to work on. All Lsel natives (a satellite nation) have an imago implanted, which is the memory of 1 or more previous generations. In this case, Ambassador Mahit Dzmare got the imago from the previous ambassador, albeit 15 years out of date.
So she goes to Teixcalaan and tries to figure it all out. This is an ancient empire, defined by ever growing annexations and she is trying to keep Lsel out of the maws of this hunger empire.
So first off, this is not a "space opera", despite the claims from multiple blurbs, including one on the front cover by [a:Ann Leckie|3365457|Ann Leckie|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1402526383p2/3365457.jpg]. I am not sure what …
This Hugo Award winning and Nebula nominee for 2019 is a big book about an ambassador sent to a territory hungry empire, trying to stave off annexation. The previous ambassador died suddenly (murder?), and so that is another thing she gets to work on. All Lsel natives (a satellite nation) have an imago implanted, which is the memory of 1 or more previous generations. In this case, Ambassador Mahit Dzmare got the imago from the previous ambassador, albeit 15 years out of date.
So she goes to Teixcalaan and tries to figure it all out. This is an ancient empire, defined by ever growing annexations and she is trying to keep Lsel out of the maws of this hunger empire.
So first off, this is not a "space opera", despite the claims from multiple blurbs, including one on the front cover by [a:Ann Leckie|3365457|Ann Leckie|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1402526383p2/3365457.jpg]. I am not sure what their definition of "space opera" is, but mine includes hopping across planets and/or the galaxy and/or galaxies, full of action and derring do. There is none of that in this book. Virtually all the action takes place on the city planet of Teixcalaan and for much of the book, Mahit is a velvet handcuffed prisoner.
Now there is plenty of political intrigue, as she tries to figure out how to keep Lsel out of the claws of the Teixcalaani. She plays various factions off against each, and deals with the Emperor himself a few times. But far ranging and full of action it is not.
But it does have some great characters. Mahit is a wonder, as is her local attache, Three Seagrass (the names of all the Teixcalaani are a number and a noun). The two woman play off each other wonderfully and their growing friendship is a cool part of the book, despite what may seem like Three Seagrass' competing loyalties. Mahit's internal discussions are interesting, deep and emotional and she is an easy character to really get into and love.
Plenty happens, and there is some action that goes on, although Mahit is mostly just a passenger in these cases. The dialogue between her and her imago is fun to eavesdrop on as well.
But it went on for a very long time, nearly 500 pages. I ran out of steam a few times, but chugged on to the ending. It is also definitely a book one, because the real nemesis to both Teixcalaan and Lsel barely made a showing, so I am sure we are due for a real reckoning soon. I enjoyed it, but it is like a 3.5 star book for me. Given its current high rating, which I find unreasonable, I am going to mark it down to the 3 star book, mostly because it is not a space opera!
Arkady Martine är författarpseudonym för AnnaLinden Weller som doktorerade på ämnet Bysans 2014 med uppsatsen Imagining Pre-Modern Empire: Byzantine Imperial Agents Outside the Metropole.
De kunskaperna märks i boken, en rymdopera med karaktärer just utanför imperiets centrum. Även författarens språkliga kunskaper speglar lite av bokens känsla.
Välgrundad paranoia och mindre välgrundad paranoia, osäkerheter, svårigheter. En viktig beståndsdel som gör att jag tycker läsningen blir mer fascinerande än enbart en beskrivning av politisk dramatik tycker jag är teman som på olika sätt går in i varandra: Självreflektion/självkännedom, inre röst, mentalisering, identitet, kultur, "vem är jag?". Det är inte så svårt att tänka sig att sådant kan samspela med politiska skeenden och skiften.
Boken tilldelades alldeles nyligen 2020 års Hugopriset för bästa science fiction-roman. Välförtjänt.
Extremely thought-provoking speculative fiction in the vein of Asimov and Bova, but with better drawn and more diverse characters (There are actually women in this book! They occupy leadership positions!). Highly recommended.
Solid, could standalone, less strange/alien than anticipated, themes of memory and AI. Borrowing friends thoughts, a mix of cozy mystery and palace intrigue and galaxy-spanning... and yet so interior.
A very compelling Space Opera. There's imperial intrigue, neuro-tech hijinks, and above all a tension between cultural appreciation and cultural colonialism. There are obvious parallels in style to Ann Leckie or Max Gladstone but Martine has a strong voice of her own that comes through in Mahit, that reflects someone who is both in love with, but also desperately trying to avoid being consumed by, a tenacious cultural empire.
