Ambassador Mahit Dzmare arrives in the center of the multi-system Teixcalaanli Empire only to discover that her predecessor, the previous ambassador from their small but fiercely independent mining Station, has died. But no one will admit that his death wasn't an accident—or that Mahit might be next to die, during a time of political instability in the highest echelons of the imperial court.
Now, Mahit must discover who is behind the murder, rescue herself, and save her Station from Teixcalaan's unceasing expansion—all while navigating an alien culture that is all too seductive, engaging in intrigues of her own, and hiding a deadly technological secret—one that might spell the end of her Station and her way of life—or rescue it from annihilation.
This one had a Dune feel to it. Planets, Space Stations, alien threats, Artificial Intelligence running an entire City, neurological implants, a murder mystery and political intrigues. The pace was slower than I'm used to but it managed to keep me interested enough to pick up the book at every opportunity I had. It's heavy on world building but it is executed in a very clever way through the eyes of the protagonist Mahit Dzmare. She goes to the City at the heart of the Empire of Teixcalaan as an Ambassador to her original home, the Lsel Station. Teixcalaan's culture and language is heavily influenced by poetry being a sophisticated place with lots of social norms. This book has that intellectual appeal without being boring.
The slow-burning love-child of House of Cards and The Expanse
4 stars
If I'm honest I first picked up this book because of the image on the cover but once I picked up the book I remained interested and the aesthetic remained pretty cool throughout and gave me vibes from the "Coup" and "The Resistance" board games.
The book really focuses in a lot on the political manoeuvrers of the central character Mahit and her allies (and enemies). There's a fair amount of political theatre and description of Mahit's internal monologue which reminded me of House of Cards. The world building meant that the plot does take a little while to really get going but once it does get going, there's a fair amount to be excited about. The last few chapters were pretty gripping and more reminiscent of something like The Expanse.
There is a lot of description of the culture and language used in the Teixcalaanli Empire which for me, …
If I'm honest I first picked up this book because of the image on the cover but once I picked up the book I remained interested and the aesthetic remained pretty cool throughout and gave me vibes from the "Coup" and "The Resistance" board games.
The book really focuses in a lot on the political manoeuvrers of the central character Mahit and her allies (and enemies). There's a fair amount of political theatre and description of Mahit's internal monologue which reminded me of House of Cards. The world building meant that the plot does take a little while to really get going but once it does get going, there's a fair amount to be excited about. The last few chapters were pretty gripping and more reminiscent of something like The Expanse.
There is a lot of description of the culture and language used in the Teixcalaanli Empire which for me, really teetered on the precipice between detailed world-building and self-absorbed. I'm not really in to poetry - which is a huge part of Teixcalaanli culture so maybe that explains why I didn't really get on board with certain aspects of the world building but the descriptions of the technology, city, space vessels etc were well done.
Overall a solid, captivating sci-fi read if you can get on board with some of the slower descriptive parts of the book.
I experienced this as an enjoyable palace intrigue like some other reviewers, but I didn't really find it particularly insightful on "assimilation and language and the seduction and horror of empire" (quote taken from the author's acknowledgments section). It's an interesting world and I'm looking forward to reading the sequel, but I can't say my mind was blown.
Небезынтересная в принципе книга, жалко только ебучая нудятина.
Главное что каждые пять страниц находится на грани оформления какой-то явно интересной мысли и уже открывает рот, но потом махает рукой и такая НО МЫ ВСЁ ЕЩЁ НЕ РАЗГАДАЛИ КТО И ЗАЧЕМ УБИЛ НЕСЧАСТНОГО!
А там в общем-то с самого начала понятно, что несчастного убили вообще все дружно, хоть и с тяжёлым сердцем, потому что тот конечно был душа компании но выёбывался чрезмерно, и в этом ноль интереса и загадки.
Не на том акцент, словом, декорации интересные, а без дела стоят.
I loved this. All the questions about what’s a barbarian and what makes empires and invasions, not to mention a world built around poetry and allusions, not to mention the intrigues and friendships and romances—just a big yes to it all. (As a side note, ugh titling reviews is hard)
I quite enjoyed this book! A fun narrative about a young diplomat from a remote space station who finds herself appointed ambassador to a Big Evil Empire. The book takes place in the imperial capital and thematically does the whole "man, giant empires really do suck a lot" thing, and does it well. The one Big Weird Sci Fi idea (basically multiple people cohabiting in one brain) is pretty cool and also the author manages to portray it without being offensive to people with, say, dissociative identity disorder. I feel like it dragged a bit at the end and sort of fizzled out, and ultimately I found myself reading a book set on the main character's home space station than at the heart of this big scary empire. I live in a big scary empire so it all seemed pretty standard to me. Still, totally recommend the read.
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!
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.
Reminded me of Ann Leckie's Radch Empire, with the focus on culture clashes, and the upper class. Otherwise, a very different book. I really liked the sci-fi concept that distinguishes the main character's culture as well.
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.
