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Jeff Lake

jfflak@bookwyrm.social

Joined 1 year, 7 months ago

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Arkady Martine: A Memory Called Empire (Paperback, 2019) 4 stars

A Memory Called Empire is a 2019 science fiction novel, the debut novel by Arkady …

Review of 'A Memory Called Empire' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

The premise of this book is great: the young new ambassador to an aggressive space empire must try to protect her far weaker culture from colonization while also investigating the mysterious death of her predecessor. Her partner in both endeavors is an out-of-date copy of that predecessor’s mind that is installed in her head.

Neat! A space opera that revolves around diplomacy rather than combat and shows a colonial perspective while also using the contrast of cultures to pose some interesting ideas about identity and community.

Unfortunately the book doesn’t play out this premise very far. The young ambassador Mahit Dzmare, though supposedly tested for aptitude and trained for diplomacy, acts naive and clueless. She spends most of her time as a pawn of various imperial factions, and not even a very valuable one.

She is constantly torn between her loyalty to her home and her infatuation with imperial culture, …

Larry McMurtry: Lonesome Dove (Paperback, 1988, Pocket) 5 stars

Lonesome Dove, by Larry McMurtry, the author of Terms of Endearment, is his long-awaited masterpiece, …

Review of 'Lonesome Dove' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Every word in this book seems to be chosen just perfectly. The writing is simple yet evocative and the characters are unforgettable, especially the leads Gus and Call, aging ex-Texas Rangers who engage in a slightly Quixotic cattle drive from the Rio Grande to semi-mythical Montana.

But the tone not so consistent. A chapter of McMurtry’s irascible cowpokes exchanging wit will be followed by brutal sexual assault, then a passage of high adventure will lead to a shocking description of violence reminiscent of Blood Meridian (or perhaps Bone Tomahawk).

And while the cowpokes of the story are shown with depth and humor, nobody else is. In particular the Indians are either remorseless superhuman savages or pathetic criminals waiting around to be slaughtered.

And slaughtered they are. It’s hard to square the wry iconoclasts that Gus and Call start as with the Terminator-like killing machines they become when they interact with …