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A review by mattpatt
A Desolation Called Peace: A Texicalaan Novel 2 by Arkady Martine
4.0
A Memory Called Empire was one of my favourite books of last year, so I snatched at A Desolation Called Peace as soon as I could. This was another excellent book - with the ambit enlarged from domestic and international space politics to now also include military politics. The way technology changes us, the way we react to outsiders, the way different starting points lead to different beliefs are all explored well here.
I just kind of wish Mahit hadn't been such a downer for most of the book. I guess the self-loathing inside-loving outsider character is important to be represented, and not everything needs to be written to my tastes, but she annoyed me. Also, the book didn't have much in the way of recap, so being dropped back into those politics 18 months later took a little work to remember (for those of us without imago machines!).
I just kind of wish Mahit hadn't been such a downer for most of the book. I guess the self-loathing inside-loving outsider character is important to be represented, and not everything needs to be written to my tastes, but she annoyed me. Also, the book didn't have much in the way of recap, so being dropped back into those politics 18 months later took a little work to remember (for those of us without imago machines!).