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dominerdy's review against another edition
Love this book, but my re-read got side tracked by all my Libby holds coming in at once
ceciliabereadin's review against another edition
Read about and remember nothing, don’t care enough to reread
fedak's review against another edition
2.0
Went into this one with high expectations given the awards and high reviews, came away fairly disappointed
- There is little in the way of character development, backstory, or arc. You learn nothing about the protagonist beyond her childhood dream of wanting to travel to the capital. The supporting characters are similarly one dimensional and the romance subplot is undeveloped.
- This is billed as a "world building" narrative- but there is absolutely nothing interesting about the setting. It could easily have been set in the capital city of any other historical or fictional empire.
- While this doesn't pretend to be hard sci-fi- there's numerous items that push the bounds of plausibility of a society that has mastered interstellar travel. Communication by physical mail. Medical screening at the port that would miss a brain implant. Encryption by cipher. Etc. (And all of those have material impact on the plot)
- The one interesting plot device (having the protagonist be able to access the memories of her predecessors) is abandoned in the first few chapters. The murder mystery that is teased (i.e. having the protagonist solve the murder with a stale copy of the victim's memories floating around in her head) is never developed and would have made for a much better story.
- And this bothered me more than it probably should have: but almost every dialog with the protagonist results in the other person commenting on or praising her for what a master orator/diplomat she is- when she has barely mumbled more than 3 sentences since meeting the person.
- There is little in the way of character development, backstory, or arc. You learn nothing about the protagonist beyond her childhood dream of wanting to travel to the capital. The supporting characters are similarly one dimensional and the romance subplot is undeveloped.
- This is billed as a "world building" narrative- but there is absolutely nothing interesting about the setting. It could easily have been set in the capital city of any other historical or fictional empire.
- While this doesn't pretend to be hard sci-fi- there's numerous items that push the bounds of plausibility of a society that has mastered interstellar travel. Communication by physical mail. Medical screening at the port that would miss a brain implant. Encryption by cipher. Etc. (And all of those have material impact on the plot)
- The one interesting plot device (having the protagonist be able to access the memories of her predecessors) is abandoned in the first few chapters. The murder mystery that is teased (i.e. having the protagonist solve the murder with a stale copy of the victim's memories floating around in her head) is never developed and would have made for a much better story.
- And this bothered me more than it probably should have: but almost every dialog with the protagonist results in the other person commenting on or praising her for what a master orator/diplomat she is- when she has barely mumbled more than 3 sentences since meeting the person.
amandasupak's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
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
5.0
Named characters: 77 (OMG this book has an index with every character and a little blurb about them in case you don’t remember who they are. Also if the author talks about a character you have not heard about in a while she will catch you up real fast without breaking the pace of the story. Please, why can’t every fiction book do this!!)
Audiobook note: I highly recommend the audiobook reading because some of these names are crazy hard to pronounce!
Audiobook note: I highly recommend the audiobook reading because some of these names are crazy hard to pronounce!
I loved everything about this book! It deserved a Hugo win in 2020 for sure. It was an epic empire spanning science fiction, the writing is beautiful, there is lots of discussion about consciousness, memory and brain/technology interfaces (including imago technology and the cloudhooks that the emprie uses), the main characters are great, and the world building is sooooooo good. I loved the idea that the main empire is based on the Aztecs, who love poetry and all have goofy names which are a combination of a number and a noun like three azalea. It felt foreign and futuristic while also not being completely incomprehensible. It was giving the Culture Series by Iain Banks vibes in the best way!
Spoiler discussion of the story
I love how the story is from Mahit’s perspective. She’s lived her whole life on a space station and she has spent her childhood learning about the empire, wishing she could be one of them. She gets her chance when she gets picked to be the ambassador and is flown to the empire post-haste after the last ambassador (Yskandr) died mysteriously. But to her advantage she has an implant (called an imago) of the memories of Yskandr, but they suddenly stop working shortly after she arrives at the empire. She spends a lot of the book trying to discover who murdered Yskandr, figuring out if she can trust her cultural liaison three seagrass, how to fix her imago, and understanding the power structure of the empire as it’s starting to fracture with riots and unrest. The book ends with the her implanting the imago of the dead Yskandr in her head, the emperor Six direction killing himself and passing the torch onto one of his advisors Nineteen Adze to quell the riots, and a lurking alien attacking planets just out of empire space.
gaymie90's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
4.75
lorebug's review against another edition
5.0
wow this is the most immersive sci-fi i've read in a long time and the characters are so rich. i loved them. three seagrass is my favorite though i adore her curiosity. the prose was breathtaking i highlighted practically the whole book. arkady martine has this uncanny ability to make even the mundane fascinating. i want to chew on this book it was soo good. i'm excited to see how things are going to get explored in book 2. this is the experience i'm constantly chasing in sci-fi. i don't know why i held off reading this for so long it was a treat i knew i would love (and everyone kept telling me i would love) but i never allowed myself to indulge until now. delayed gratification or whatever
missemleigh's review against another edition
4.0
4.5/5 stars - really fun, immersive. love the (not so) subtle nods to propaganda and patriotism. and great push and pull of mahit’s struggle to reconcile her cultural identity(s) and the new assimilated world shes in. great book to get me out of a 3 fucking month reading drought.
ladythana's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
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? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Police brutality
Moderate: Suicide, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Blood, Colonisation, and Classism
Minor: War and Gun violence
hb_bookworm's review against another edition
5.0
a knockout!! very intrigued and impressed by the world building here, and absolutely fell in love with Mahit. can't wait to see what happens next in the series!