A Memory Called Empire - Arkady Martine

⭐ 7.5/10

(Originally written by Magdalene)

I can know that this book was great while also acknowledging that it was not for me. It's pretty hard sci-fi, with great world-building, and mostly revolving around politics, which is where it lost me. But I'm trying to read all of the Hugo nominees, and I had no problem getting through it on audio.

Mahit is sent to be an ambassador from a small satellite colony to the big Teixcalaanli Empire after her predecessor winds up dead, and she needs to figure out what happened to him, and also deal with a lot of unrest.

The dedication was to anyone who has ever "fallen in love with a culture that was devouring their own", and that was something I really appreciated about this book. Mahit absolutely loves Teixcalaanli culture, and desperately wants to understand and be a part of it all. But they're the universe super-power, and the center of all culture, and they look down on anyone who is from somewhere else. It's only once she's there that she realizes she truly loves her home planet as well. Adjusting to another culture, even though she has studied it intensively, was also really fascinating, and really well done.

Also, on Mahit's planet, most people get an imago, where you get the knowledge and memories of their predecessor implanted into their brain, which is mostly used to make them better at their jobs. But that brings up lots of questions of individuality, and immortality, and things like that. Also very interesting.

So there was a lot to appreciate, but I felt lost a lot of the time, because politics just don't stick in my brain. I don't think it'd be a problem for most. It reminded me a lot of Dune, and people who like that kind of thing would love this as well.