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purplatypus's review against another edition
adventurous
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? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical content, Xenophobia, Murder, Violence, and Death
Moderate: Grief, War, Blood, Colonisation, Gun violence, Suicide, Terminal illness, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Alcohol, Pregnancy, and Classism
cleo_reads's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
4.5
I enjoyed this immersive space opera so much. Not sure why it took me so long to read it. There’s a very low key Sapphic romance (between an ambassador from a independent space station and her liaison in the capital planet of a giant space empire) but the focus is on the political intrigue.
The world building is really interesting and detailed, although there were a couple things that pulled me out of the story - like one of the characters heating food in a microwave oven and using a plastic water bottle, even though the rest of their technology seems different from ours.
The world building is really interesting and detailed, although there were a couple things that pulled me out of the story - like one of the characters heating food in a microwave oven and using a plastic water bottle, even though the rest of their technology seems different from ours.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Murder
Minor: Violence
ahpyrnetbcure's review
adventurous
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
First Hugo winner I didn't like. Prose was too boring, had to switch to audiobook, where it was better. Still finished it, political ending was satisfying, MC endings were not.
I didn't feel like MCs were proactive or in control at all. Things just kinda happen to them. When they do make decisions it feels like its on whim, unexpected even after hundreds of pages with them.
Danger to them is often imagined and rarely made real. When it is real it comes out of nowhere (and not in a good "life is unexpected" kind of way).
Tech is not interesting except for imago. I guess I like pretty far-out SciFi, this didn't deliver there. Imago is good though.
There is lots of gayness in this book (which is a pro in my opinion), but doesn't show its hand in force until near the end.
Does its worldbuilding in asides mostly, not in dialogue or through actions. I did not like this.
Much too slow until end. For a world obsessed with poetry and stories, its own story is very unsatisfying, very uncoordinated.
I didn't feel like MCs were proactive or in control at all. Things just kinda happen to them. When they do make decisions it feels like its on whim, unexpected even after hundreds of pages with them.
Danger to them is often imagined and rarely made real. When it is real it comes out of nowhere (and not in a good "life is unexpected" kind of way).
Tech is not interesting except for imago. I guess I like pretty far-out SciFi, this didn't deliver there. Imago is good though.
There is lots of gayness in this book (which is a pro in my opinion), but doesn't show its hand in force until near the end.
Does its worldbuilding in asides mostly, not in dialogue or through actions. I did not like this.
Much too slow until end. For a world obsessed with poetry and stories, its own story is very unsatisfying, very uncoordinated.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Murder, Violence, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Racism
slburg's review
challenging
mysterious
tense
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? No
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Xenophobia
Moderate: Classism, Violence, and Colonisation
Minor: Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder
bisexualwentworth's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
I loved this book. It says so much about language and imperialism and memory, and it does all of that amidst fabulous worldbuilding and compelling characters. I loved Mahit and Three Seagrass and I had so many feelings and thoughts about everyone and everything else. I wanted a bit more from some of the political aspects, but that may well come in the sequel.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Death, Gun violence, Colonisation, and Gore
onthesamepage's review against another edition
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
The Empire, the world. One and the same. And if they were not yet so: make them so, for this is the right and correct will of the stars.
I put off this book for a long time because, based on how people were talking about it, I expected it to be a pretty complex hard scifi. But it really isn't. I would say it is hard scifi, but I was surprised by how readable it was. The concepts are all adequately explained without it feeling like infodumping. There are a lot of new terms, and there is a comprehensive glossary that explains all of them, but I honestly never referred to it. Everything I needed to know was explained within the text, or easy enough to guess from the context.
I think it also helps that the story engine is familiar and simple: a murder mystery instead of something that relies on knowledge of the world to understand. And through the investigation into the murder of an ambassador, we discover how the empire works, and what the politics entail. I thought it was incredibly effective.
So perfectly imperial, to have messages made of light and encrypted with poetry, and require a physical object for propriety’s sake. Such a waste of resources. Time and energy and material. She could wish it didn’t delight her.
The concept of the imago-machines was a really good hook, and it also served to immediately make me feel sympathy for Mahit, who finds herself in the midst of the political games set up by her now murdered predecessor, without the tools she expected to have on hand to deal with it. It's easy to care about her and Yskandr, as well as Three Seagrass and Twelve Azalea, whose existing friendship, complete with cute nicknames and banter, made them easy to like.
Even though they are colonisers.
Empire was empire— the part that seduced and the part that clamped down, jaws like a vise, and shook a planet until its neck was broken and it died.
I think that's the only thing that was really lacking for me in this story. Both Mahit and Yskandr have a love for Teixcalaan, even though they know that the Empire will always want to expand, and consume everything in its path. The Empire considers them to be barbarians, which they are fully aware of, but it doesn't change their desire to belong there and be part of the empire instead of falling outside of it. I was hoping for more pushback against colonisation—there are parts that hint at it, and it's not that Mahit isn't aware of it, which makes her personal struggle interesting and compelling. It's something I hope the author explores more in the sequel.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Xenophobia, Death, Suicide, and Colonisation
Minor: Murder
quarkie's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
The major themes I took from this book were: an exploration of how cultures may differently define the "self", the feelings associated with accepting or rejecting a colonizing culture (as well as being accepted by or being rejected by that culture), and how quickly alliances and motivations can change based on changing circumstances and relationships.
What I liked: I thought the concepts of imago machines and a poetry-based political system were fascinating. I wanted to keep reading in order to find out more about the world. The characters were all written to be strong and individual.
What I didn't like: I'm not sure if it's because I wasn't paying close enough attention, but I found the plot to be a bit incoherent at times. I couldn't isolate the precise motivations of each character, as they seemed to be changing over time. Some plot points would come up, and then never come up again, or come up at a point where they no longer really matter since the situation had since changed. Maybe this was on purpose, to reflect the changing political circumstances, but it led to a slightly less-than-satisfying read. The main character kept coming back to two main points (her missing imago machine and her relationship with the Teixcalaani culture) so often that it felt a bit ham-fisted.
Overall, I think it's an interesting concept that could have been executed slightly better. Still a wholly worth-while read.
What I liked: I thought the concepts of imago machines and a poetry-based political system were fascinating. I wanted to keep reading in order to find out more about the world. The characters were all written to be strong and individual.
What I didn't like: I'm not sure if it's because I wasn't paying close enough attention, but I found the plot to be a bit incoherent at times. I couldn't isolate the precise motivations of each character, as they seemed to be changing over time. Some plot points would come up, and then never come up again, or come up at a point where they no longer really matter since the situation had since changed. Maybe this was on purpose, to reflect the changing political circumstances, but it led to a slightly less-than-satisfying read. The main character kept coming back to two main points (her missing imago machine and her relationship with the Teixcalaani culture) so often that it felt a bit ham-fisted.
Overall, I think it's an interesting concept that could have been executed slightly better. Still a wholly worth-while read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Suicide, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Violence, Terminal illness, Murder, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, War, and Grief
Minor: Alcohol
existentialhell's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
reflective
tense
fast-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
5.0
The horror and humanity of empire, and what loving it can do to its prey. And what the prey can do to the empire. Read it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Self harm, Medical trauma, Police brutality, Racism, War, Medical content, Xenophobia, Murder, Death, Violence, Suicide, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Colonisation
alainral's review
Soft DNF. The worldbuilding is strong but the political intrigue was exhausting to read when I really wasn't in the mood for it, and pacing was a bit slow for my already strained attention span.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Xenophobia, and Confinement
Moderate: Death, Murder, Violence, Colonisation, and Mass/school shootings
peregrinwho's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide and Xenophobia
Moderate: Colonisation and Violence
Minor: Death, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail