A review by beaconatnight
A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine

reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

On paper A Memory Called Empire ticks all of my boxes. A Star Wars-inspired space opera whose narrative follows a murder-mystery plot in a potentially hostile environment. Our investigative protagonist functions simultaneously as ambassador in an imperial society of Roman complexity and dominance.

Even more than in other fictional murder investigations, information is key. Ambassador Mahit Dzmare had been fascinated with the Teixcalaanli Empire her whole life. She learned its language which is essentially different from her own, learned its poetry by heart, and learned about its history and ideologies. Yet, she quickly has to accept that her concepts and ideas are not sufficient to confidently navigate the realities encounters.

Luckily, she is not alone. After her arrival to the Empire's planet-spanning capital, she's met by a cultural advisor called Three Seagrass (very amusing names, by the way). She poses as friend and Mahit has to trust someone. But every move requires strategic decisions based on hypothetical readings of the situations.

Originally, her main objective might have been to figure out what happened to her predecessor who served as Lsel Station's ambassador to the Teixcalaanli Empire for almost two decades before his untimely death. Naturally, she has to ask what Yskander did and who killed him, and why. But Yskander sure had very close ties to Teixcalaan's highest ranks, and maybe her real mission is to prevent the Empire's annexation of their home planet.

Above I've said that information was key, and this now brings me to the novel's unique selling point. Lsel Station has one powerful technology the Empire doesn't know about. A so-called imago-machine neurologically implanted into her head allows Mahit to access Yskander's memories of his own experiences on Teixcalaan.

Not only that, his consciousness subsists in her own mind. The two are destined to become one unified mental entity within Mahit's body. What makes this an even more intriguing premise, it's not Yskander's in his most recent state. His memories and experiences are 15 years old, so to say outdated since his digital transfer.

How much can a person change in 15 years? Our current self is the result of aims and ideals more or less in flux. Our knowledge reflects changing external circumstances and our social relationships are constantly shifting. It's so awesome to read how Mahit brings her own understanding of Yskander into perspective as she enters relationships with other players of this complex environment of political scheming.

Relationships with people she only just met, yet as Mahit-cum-Yskander she may have known them intimately in the (her?) past. High-concept science fiction is not necessarily known for depth in characters, and Arkady Martine too to some extent works with genre tropes. But it's still a lot of fun to figure out how things really stand.

The novel is written by an academic, so expect some exposition. A Dialog or two reflects on the philosophical, ethical, and social implications of substrate-independent minds. This mode of conversation comes natural to characters who are capable to decipher secret messages encoded in poetry by pop-cultural means.

I still have to admit that I didn't feel very connected to the characters as characters. They are interesting enough to drive the plot forward, but I didn't find them particularly memorable. I cannot really say why the novel is lacking for me in this respect, the personalities are written well enough and I can see why others do like and think of them. I was more interested in the overall events than I was in what happens to them.

Mahit is able to look between the cracks and slowly realizes that the Teixcalaanli society is at the verge of a new era. The Emperor is planning his succession while other forces strive for power. Terrorism and subversive activities attest instability. We discover that the city has a consciousness of its own and is in control of the police force to deal with the problems at hand. I would have liked to learn more of the institutional backdrop, but I enjoyed how the story increasingly reads like an espionage thriller.

It's easy to see why A Memory Called Empire is praised by many as one of their favorite science-fiction publications of the past couple of years. It strikes a great balance between forward-thinking depth and page-turning direction.