A Memory Called Empire

A Memory Called Empire
Arkady Martine, 2019

Hugo winner - 2020

Premise: The new ambassador from Lsel Station steps off of her transport and into more intrigue and moral conundrums than expected. 

When was the last time I read something this fun, this exciting, this thoughtful, this inventive? It's been a while. This is an absolutely stellar sci-fi, complete with great characters, fascinating setting, and deep thoughts about identity (personal and political); in short, a classically great work of science fiction. 

I loved all the characters. Mahit is smart, relatable, overwhelmed by the situation, insecure at times, and wrestling with the tension between her principles and her practical position. Just a great main character. The mysteries around the previous ambassador and the internal empire politics kept me guessing in the best way.

A lot of the plot tension in the book concerns internal Texicalaan star empire politics and how they affect both the desire for Mahit's home station to remain independent, and the perceived benefits of said empire. How much of Lsel Station would remain if it were taken over, and what is proximity to the empire already doing to its culture? This is neatly paralleled with the practice on Lsel Station of sharing memories down the generations (with special neuroscience) to maintain skills and knowledge. The Texicalaani see such a practice as practically immoral, and cannot comprehend how the people from Lsel understand their own identities. 

The book is a lot about Mahit being alone in a culture that she loves and that she studied, but it will never be her culture. And then she has to investigate the murder of her predecessor and decide how to react to an imperial coup attempt. I loved the adventure, but I'll also be thinking about it for a while. The best Hugo winners have been like that. 

5 Stars - An Awesome Book