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totallyshelfaware's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Blood, Medical content, and War
Moderate: Colonisation and Xenophobia
Minor: Grief and Genocide
the_tridentarii'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
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Xenophobia
Moderate: Violence, Death, Genocide, Colonisation, War, Panic attacks/disorders, and Medical trauma
Minor: Vomit
cerilouisereads's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
tense
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
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Blood, Death, Gore, Medical content, War, Violence, and Cursing
Moderate: Sexual content and Xenophobia
Minor: Genocide
hanarama's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
The Good:
- Stunning world building
- Multiple, opposing POV
- Complex characters
The Bad:
- POV changes unexpectedly within chapters
- A lot of set up, slow-paced
You Might Like this if You Like:
- First contact stories, eg. The Arrival
- Political Intrigue
- Gradually rising tension from multiple threats
- Non-humanoid aliens
Arkady Martine delivers a really powerful sequel to her excellent debut novel, A Memory Called Empire. The novel picks up about 2-3 months after the events of Memory. The conflicts with the newly discovered non-human aliens has escalated, with Mahit and Three Seagrass finding themselves at the center of the growing danger. Struggling with personal battles in addition to interplanetary ones, the two women must race to bridge the divide between their peoples and the aliens.
This novel expands many of the themes presented in Memory. Most notably, Martine continues to examine the effects of colonialism, both on the colonized and the colonizers. Through Three Seagrass and Mahit, she investigates to power imbalances of romantic relationships between individuals on either side. Martine lets her characters ask if two people in such a relationship can be equal partners, and what does it mean for the colonized partner. Can they ever really turn down the colonizer when their requests are so similar to demands?
Questions of what constitutes "You" and "We" and "Them" pervade all parts of this book. Asking readers to explore these concepts alongside the characters. Many different perspectives are presented through Martine's rich characters.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Colonisation, Death, and Sexual content
bookishjd's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Sexual content, Vomit, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Gore, Grief, and Violence
mandkips's review
challenging
mysterious
tense
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
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Medical content, Sexual content, Body horror, Gore, Xenophobia, and Genocide
nullandvoidlibrary's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Blood, and Medical content
Moderate: Sexual content
aardwyrm's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
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? It's complicated
5.0
As good as the first one! (Would be totally incomprehensible without it. It's that sort of sequel.) The intertwining plots and painstakingly detailed worldbuilding add up to a marvelous and successful balancing act, and the mysterious aliens are menacing and creepy and yet ultimately harmonize with the complicated world. There are a few characters it's fun to hate, but the book does an unusually good job painting portraits of many multilayered antagonists all acting in the best interests of their understanding of the right thing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Medical content
kamreadsandrecs's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
“If we are lucky” indeed. Sometimes we are. Sometimes we aren’t. But we try anyway, try to make ourselves understood to others – and to understand others, in turn. And when the desire to understand and to be understood in turn is genuine, borne from a true desire to comprehend, well— If language is what makes us human, then to know another, and to be known by another, is one of the greatest accomplishments of our species.
Full review here: https://wp.me/p21txV-Ku
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Blood, and Death
idksamiguess's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
reflective
tense
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? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Vomit
Moderate: Genocide, Sexual content, and Xenophobia