A Memory Called Empire

Andrea Alexander ha recensito A Memory Called Empire di Arkady Martine

Review of 'A Memory Called Empire' on 'Goodreads'

3 stelle

The book is extremely well written and the background in humanities of the writer clearly emerges in the description of the Teixcalaanli culture, its language, its elitist society etc… the first 30/50 pages really gripped me.

The problem was the development of the story. Slow, with VERY LONG explanations about everything… it became very heavy and unengaging. Reaching the end was indeed tough.

In conclusion, great world building and the readers with a background in history, linguistics, and humanities in general can really have a good time recognising how the Author has used the general principles of the subject to create her society.
But those who want a tight, thrilling, fast paced story should probably look elsewhere.

bazpoint@ramblingreaders.org ha recensito A Memory Called Empire di Arkady Martine

Review of 'A Memory Called Empire' on 'Goodreads'

5 stelle

On of the best sci-fi novels I've read in some time. Accomplishes the stellar feat of making a story which takes part almost entirely within a single city feel like it has galaxy spanning consequences. Reads as much like medieval court intrigue as it does full on space opera, and is all the better for it.

The last big space opera I read was Saga of the Seven Suns, and while that is a huge story full of fantastic imagination, I enjoyed the writing style of this novel so much more.

Can't wait to read the followup, and hopefully many more to come. Bravo.

Kadomi@buecher.pnpde.social ha recensito A Memory Called Empire di Arkady Martine

Review of 'A Memory Called Empire' on 'Goodreads'

4 stelle

3.5 stars, really. I wrote this long review and then managed to overwrite it, meh.

In any case, very interesting premise, if you like sci-fi with a bit of whodunnit mixed into it. It's a fascinating look at an old empire from an outsider, and all its intrigues. The sequel should mix things up a bit.

I didn't care for the poetry angles, but overall, would recommend.

James Ravenscroft ha recensito A Memory Called Empire di Arkady Martine

The slow-burning love-child of House of Cards and The Expanse

4 stelle

If I'm honest I first picked up this book because of the image on the cover but once I picked up the book I remained interested and the aesthetic remained pretty cool throughout and gave me vibes from the "Coup" and "The Resistance" board games.

The book really focuses in a lot on the political manoeuvrers of the central character Mahit and her allies (and enemies). There's a fair amount of political theatre and description of Mahit's internal monologue which reminded me of House of Cards. The world building meant that the plot does take a little while to really get going but once it does get going, there's a fair amount to be excited about. The last few chapters were pretty gripping and more reminiscent of something like The Expanse.

There is a lot of description of the culture and language used in the Teixcalaanli Empire which for me, …

If I'm honest I first picked up this book because of the image on the cover but once I picked up the book I remained interested and the aesthetic remained pretty cool throughout and gave me vibes from the "Coup" and "The Resistance" board games.

The book really focuses in a lot on the political manoeuvrers of the central character Mahit and her allies (and enemies). There's a fair amount of political theatre and description of Mahit's internal monologue which reminded me of House of Cards. The world building meant that the plot does take a little while to really get going but once it does get going, there's a fair amount to be excited about. The last few chapters were pretty gripping and more reminiscent of something like The Expanse.

There is a lot of description of the culture and language used in the Teixcalaanli Empire which for me, really teetered on the precipice between detailed world-building and self-absorbed. I'm not really in to poetry - which is a huge part of Teixcalaanli culture so maybe that explains why I didn't really get on board with certain aspects of the world building but the descriptions of the technology, city, space vessels etc were well done.

Overall a solid, captivating sci-fi read if you can get on board with some of the slower descriptive parts of the book.

Ed Landini ha recensito A Memory Called Empire di Arkady Martine

Politics and spaceships

4 stelle

What if, the Federation wasn't this big happy family and the humans weren't in charge but were only some minor part of some larger alien empire?

I enjoyed this book, it has a lot of politics; if you found the scenes in The Expanse around the earth parliament annoying, this book is not for you.

It also explains in an entertaining way how tricky being a Galatic Empire is, even (or perhaps because) you have the ships with the Big Guns.

subcutaneous ha recensito A Memory Called Empire di Arkady Martine

It was entertaining

Nessuna valutazione

I experienced this as an enjoyable palace intrigue like some other reviewers, but I didn't really find it particularly insightful on "assimilation and language and the seduction and horror of empire" (quote taken from the author's acknowledgments section). It's an interesting world and I'm looking forward to reading the sequel, but I can't say my mind was blown.

vonblubba ha recensito A Memory Called Empire di Arkady Martine

Review of 'A Memory Called Empire' on 'Goodreads'

3 stelle

This novel has a few good ideas (e.g. the imago thingy), but is unable to build an interesting plot on them. Also, with the exception of the protagonist, characters feel quite monodimensional and I couldn't feel any empathy for them.
Worldbuilding has a few good points, but in the end it didn't really feel like we were talking about a GALACTIC empire. It felt more like a medieval kingdom, ruled by a handful of people.
Moreover, story unfolds WAY too slowly. Plot is quite simple, it needed some faster pacing in my opinion.
I don't think I'll keep reading this saga.

A Memory Called Empire

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