A review by hanarama
A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine

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. 
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