Reviews

A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine

laurentined's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Lots more perspectives than in the first book, which was great.
The first contact scenario seems thematically appropriate to explore here, for sure, as Mahit struggles with the empire's definition of personhood and what that means for her.
Given the kind of society they're in contact with though and the war aspect, we wind up mired in the mechanics of language a lot instead of the philosophy of language as explored in the first book. 
Still really great and I think well executed, just not like, exactly what I wanted from this setting and characters though.

wantonjohnson's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

haier's review against another edition

challenging reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0

boreasword's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

saloninareads's review against another edition

dark informative slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No

2.25

druidessie's review against another edition

5.0

Wow, just wow. “A Desolation Called Peace” by Arkady Martine is an amazing read. The first book was really good, but this was even better! Her characters are so good. I especially loved two of the new ones (Twenty Cicada aka Swarm and Nine Hibiscus) and the way Eight Antidote got fleshed out in this book.

Like the first one, it’s a sci-fI political thriller, but the sequel adds a heavy dose of military space opera and a first-contact scenario very reminiscent of the movie Arrival. There’s also a really good reason she included Stanislav Petrov in the dedication. If you don’t know who that is, go look him up and learn about the little known incident which was arguably the closest humanity has ever come to nuclear war.

jayrude's review against another edition

adventurous challenging hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

izzenithal's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

Need to read again— I had expectations for pacing based on the first novel and I think that screwed a bit with my reading experience w this one. Really, really excellent though.

jwolflink3's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

sonialuto's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0