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booksthatburn's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
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
*I received a free review copy as part of 2022 Hugo awards voting.
A DESOLATION CALLED PEACE is a collision of cultures bleeding into war, trying to find the bounds of personhood in more than flesh and bone.
The plot follows several parallel threads, centering on various characters. I love Twenty Cicada’s storyline. He’s one of my favorite characters, followed closely by Eight Antidote. Mahit and Three Seagrass are working together again, this time to find a way to communicate with the aliens whose proximity Mahit had used as leverage in the previous book. The worldbuilding focuses on intra-empire politics as much as it focuses on the empire’s communications with Mahit and with the aliens. It balances stress and war with levity and intimacy, exploring connections and communication as characters with conflicting methods and competing aims collide.
This answers a few things left hanging from the first book, showing the next steps without closing much off. There’s a new storyline involving aliens which is almost entirely new (the existence of those aliens was pivotal in Mahit’s big move at the end of A MEMORY CALLED EMPIRE). A few major things involving those aliens are both introduced and resolved. It specifically leaves aspects of Mahit’s relationships to other characters to be resolved later, but with substantial changes from how they were at the start of the book. Some of narrators are the same, with the addition of a new perspective between sections. I don’t think Eight Antidote was a narrator last time, if he was it was brief, but he, Mahit, and Three Seagrass are all narrators this time.
This story likely wouldn’t make sense to anyone who hadn’t read the first book. Because Mahit was on her first journey as an ambassador last time, A MEMORY CALLED EMPIRE had a lot of exposition which could fit naturally into that story. A DESOLATION CALLED PEACE is therefore (assuming one read the first book) free to focus on building up descriptions of the fleet, the Shards, and the aliens, leaving the Empire and its basic details to be shown but more rarely explained.
The ending utterly devastated me, wrapping up the main story and leaving me sated, but promising more in the vast future now made possible by the resolution.
A DESOLATION CALLED PEACE is a collision of cultures bleeding into war, trying to find the bounds of personhood in more than flesh and bone.
The plot follows several parallel threads, centering on various characters. I love Twenty Cicada’s storyline. He’s one of my favorite characters, followed closely by Eight Antidote. Mahit and Three Seagrass are working together again, this time to find a way to communicate with the aliens whose proximity Mahit had used as leverage in the previous book. The worldbuilding focuses on intra-empire politics as much as it focuses on the empire’s communications with Mahit and with the aliens. It balances stress and war with levity and intimacy, exploring connections and communication as characters with conflicting methods and competing aims collide.
This answers a few things left hanging from the first book, showing the next steps without closing much off. There’s a new storyline involving aliens which is almost entirely new (the existence of those aliens was pivotal in Mahit’s big move at the end of A MEMORY CALLED EMPIRE). A few major things involving those aliens are both introduced and resolved. It specifically leaves aspects of Mahit’s relationships to other characters to be resolved later, but with substantial changes from how they were at the start of the book. Some of narrators are the same, with the addition of a new perspective between sections. I don’t think Eight Antidote was a narrator last time, if he was it was brief, but he, Mahit, and Three Seagrass are all narrators this time.
This story likely wouldn’t make sense to anyone who hadn’t read the first book. Because Mahit was on her first journey as an ambassador last time, A MEMORY CALLED EMPIRE had a lot of exposition which could fit naturally into that story. A DESOLATION CALLED PEACE is therefore (assuming one read the first book) free to focus on building up descriptions of the fleet, the Shards, and the aliens, leaving the Empire and its basic details to be shown but more rarely explained.
The ending utterly devastated me, wrapping up the main story and leaving me sated, but promising more in the vast future now made possible by the resolution.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Medical content, Death, Grief, Blood, Gore, Medical trauma, and War
Moderate: Cursing, Colonisation, Violence, Genocide, Fire/Fire injury, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, and Vomit
Minor: Suicide, Ableism, and Self harm
tangleroot_eli's review
adventurous
challenging
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
I enjoyed A Memory Called Empire, and this book blew it out of the danged water. The world-building was even richer, the characters more distinct, the perspectives more tightly controlled, and the intrigue more intriguing. Basically, Martine took everything she did well in Book 1 and did it even better here. Gosh I hope there's more.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Xenophobia, Colonisation, and War
Moderate: Death, Vomit, and Injury/Injury detail
minervacerridwen's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
reflective
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? It's complicated
5.0
What a ride!
I would definitely recommend this duology if you like political intrigue, compelling characters, and in particular a hilarious queer poet-diplomat entangled with your space opera. I felt the plot in "A Desolation Called Peace" was stronger than in the first book, and I absolutely love that we got to see Eight Antidote's point of view. With the characters who were already in the spotlight in "A Memory Called Empire" it felt great to reconnect. I'm very happy to have liked "A Memory Called Empire" so much that I decided to pick this one up immediately.
The only downside, if I have to name any, still is that this world's view on gender is barely addressed, but it didn't feel as relevant as it did in the first book, where the worldbuilding was still happening more actively. There seemed to be one character with they/them pronouns at the very end of the story (unless Cure simply couldn't make out their gender), which only served to make me more curious about that little aspect - but as it didn't reflect on the actual story, it didn't really affect my reading experience. I'll be happy to dive back in if Arkady Martine ever decides to return to Teixcalaan.
I would definitely recommend this duology if you like political intrigue, compelling characters, and in particular a hilarious queer poet-diplomat entangled with your space opera. I felt the plot in "A Desolation Called Peace" was stronger than in the first book, and I absolutely love that we got to see Eight Antidote's point of view. With the characters who were already in the spotlight in "A Memory Called Empire" it felt great to reconnect. I'm very happy to have liked "A Memory Called Empire" so much that I decided to pick this one up immediately.
The only downside, if I have to name any, still is that this world's view on gender is barely addressed, but it didn't feel as relevant as it did in the first book, where the worldbuilding was still happening more actively. There seemed to be one character with they/them pronouns at the very end of the story (unless Cure simply couldn't make out their gender), which only served to make me more curious about that little aspect - but as it didn't reflect on the actual story, it didn't really affect my reading experience. I'll be happy to dive back in if Arkady Martine ever decides to return to Teixcalaan.
Content Warnings
Graphic: War
Moderate: Violence, Vomit, and Xenophobia
Minor: Colonisation and Grief
pineapplesurvivor's review against another edition
adventurous
reflective
tense
slow-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
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Vomit
Minor: Abandonment
readandfindout's review
adventurous
tense
slow-paced
4.0
Style/writing: 4.5 stars
Themes: 4 stars
Characters: 4 stars
Plot: 4 stars
Worldbuilding: 3.5 stars
Themes: 4 stars
Characters: 4 stars
Plot: 4 stars
Worldbuilding: 3.5 stars
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation, Death, Blood, Gore, and War
Moderate: Violence, Medical trauma, Body horror, Xenophobia, Vomit, Genocide, Panic attacks/disorders, and Grief
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
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
trips's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
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? It's complicated
5.0
Amazing continuation of A Memory Called Empire. The plot is a bit slow to start because Martine has a lot of threads going, but once they start converging, things get crazy. This book is though provoking yet easily enjoyable.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Vomit, Medical content, and Genocide
syllareads's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
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? It's complicated
5.0
It felt good to say. To be vicious in her own despair, to display the wound of her desire in full: No, I will not be Teixcalaanli, I am incapable, I know, let me hold the bleeding lips of this injury open for you to see the raw hurt inside.
"A Desolation called Peace" is the second book in the Teixcalaanli-Duology by Arkady Martine and it shattered me to the bone.
Unlike book 1 ("A Memory called Empire") we do not only follow one POV but four: Mahit Dzmare, former Ambassador from Lsel Station, Nine Hibiscus, yaotlek (Fleet captain) to Emperor Nineteen Adze, Three Seagrass, former cultural liaison to one Lsel Ambassador, and Eight Antidote, the 90%-clone of the late Emperor Six Directions, an 11-year-old boy we got to know somewhat in book 1. Out of these four, the only new character is Nine Hibiscus, a soldier through and through who had to make some hard choices over the course of this book which I do not envy her for.
I loved all four of these perspectives. The way they intermingled, glanced at the same concept through different eyes, and minds, and memories, the way they didn't intermingle, the way they scratched and bit and tore at each other, loving and hating and wanting all the time. But the one who stole my heart perhaps the most, especially towards the end, was the perspective of an 11-year-old boy whose innocence was so thoroughly taken from him and who, despite everything, rose to a challenge he would have never seen coming shortly before that.
I cannot adequately explain how much I loved Eight Antidote in this, but I will leave a paragraph here that might do it for me
And if this was what being in the Fleet was really like, he was sorry for wanting it. Sorry for wanting to dance ships into being in a simulation room. Sorry for wanting to solve all the puzzles of command. Sorry for not thinking about how Shard pilots might scream when their fellow pilots died.
If he cried, he'd be overheard.
So he didn't.
I again cannot even begin to think of sentences that would explain how much Martine's prose rips me to shreds so I can only people who liked the first book beg: Please continue this. Some things have changed, it's true, but book 2 is as much a masterpiece as book 1 was, in its own regards.
5 easy, overwhelming, overwhelmed stars.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Vomit
freedryk's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
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? No
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing and Sexual content
Moderate: Body horror, Medical trauma, Violence, and Vomit
Minor: Genocide, Panic attacks/disorders, and Racism