A Memory Called Empire
by Arkady Martine · first published 2019
76% recommend18% neutral6% critical
Why HN recommends it
Political space opera about an ambassador from a small mining station in a vast, Byzantine-flavored empire. Praised for its worldbuilding, language, intrigue and non-western-centric feel, and easy to read.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
Won the 2020 Hugo for Best Novel. Ambassador Mahit Dzmare is posted far from her mining station home, to the Empire's glorious capital. Yet when she arrives, she discovers her predecessor was murdered. But no-one will admit his death wasn't accidental - and she might be next. Mahit must navigate the capital's deadly halls of power, while hunting the killer. She must also somehow stop the Empire from annexing her fiercely independent colony. As she sinks deeper into this seductive yet unfamiliar culture, Mahit engages in intrigues of her own. For she's hiding an extraordinary technological se
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I read predominantly fiction with some occasional non-fiction thrown in. My two big recommendations from my 2020 reading are (fiction): A Memory Called Empire, by Arkady Martine, 2020 Hugo Winner. It could be loosely described as a SF political thriller and contains some great characters, good ideas and genuine suspense. The future context of the story is based…
on “My Favorite Books 2020” ↗…the year, so most other books were rather light urban fantasy novels. But one other mini-series stood out (potentially going to be a trilogy, but both #1 & #2 can stand alone). Teixcalaan #1 & #2, "A Memory Called Empire" and "A Desolation Called Peace" by Arkady Martine for being very different feeling sci-fi books that are not your typical western-centric fare. Highlights are the language, and that the story feels both…
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2023 and recommend for 2024” ↗…such a delight too, starting with Too Like the Lightning. Beautiful threads of high Rennaisance drama in a interesting speculative future earth. And I keep find myself recommending Arkady Martine's A Memory Called Empire. Amabassador from the independent sparse asteroid mining frontier sent in to the great core of expanding empire. Intrigue & outsiderdom & culture.
on “Ask HN: What are your favorite sci-fi books?” ↗…anything like the current Earth movements their names suggest at a glance. There is some good hard SF but it is 'mundane' in nature (no FTL drives, etc). I really loved Arkady Martine's first book - A Memory Called Empire - (Teixcalaan #1) and liked A Desolation Called Peace (Teixcalaan #2). These are much more speculative and far-future in nature, although the author's background as a historian gives real depth to the…
on “Why the Culture Wins: An Appreciation of Iain M. Banks (2017; by Joseph Heath)” ↗Been sitting in the garden all afternoon reading Arkady Martine’s A Memory Called Empire. So far: terrific. About a quarter the way in. Space opera with political intrigue.
on “Ask HN: What are you reading these days?” ↗> Teixcalaan #1 & #2, "A Memory Called Empire" and "A Desolation Called Peace" by Arkady Martine for being very different feeling sci-fi books that are not your typical western-centric fare. Highlights are the language, and that the story feels both…
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2023 and recommend for 2024” ↗Children of Time (Adrian Tchaikovsky), The Expanse (James S. A. Corey), Broken Earth (N. K. Jemisin), Locked Tomb (Tamsyn Muir), A Memory Called Empire (Arkady Martine), Murderbot (Martha Wells), The Light Brigade (Kameron Hurley), The Wayfarers series (Becky Chambers), and The Calculating Stars (Mary Robinette Kowal) are some of my favorites. Brandon…
on “Nobody Wants to Buy the Future: Why Science Fiction Literature Is Vanishing” ↗…some of the #hopepunk / #solarpunk style books have been really fun. Malka Older's Infomocracy, Emry's A Half Built Garden. I also loved being transported to the space-Byzantines in Arkady Martines's A Memory Called Empire; a reverberation of the past set far in the future. The interwoven Hives & world of Ada Palmer's Too Like The Lightning / Terra Ignota are an incredible backdrop for such a story of many powers of the…
on “Best Sci-Fi and Fantasy Books of the 21st Century (So Far)” ↗…were using to connect their star systems fell apart, and none of the star systems were self sufficient. Also in the genre of "space operas with collapsing empires", I do recommend Arkady Martine's A Memory Called Empire.
on “Murderbot, she wrote” ↗…myself included, seem to be having this problem. The past 20 years of publishing has been weird. Thanks for your response. I enjoy the same kind of sci-fi that you do, so I've got myself a copy of A Memory Called Empire. :-) Thanks again.
on “Murderbot, she wrote” ↗…BookTok, but it's far from dead. Sure, fantasy has "corrupted" the Hugos, but there's plenty of hard science fiction, and science fiction that grapples with societal questions at large. Arkady Martine's Memory Called Empire and Desolation Called Peace, both Hugo winners, are incredibly thoughtful depictions of societies on the verge of disruption from new technology. Ryka Aoki's Light From Uncommon Stars, a 2022 Hugo nominee,…
on “Science Fiction Is Dying. Long Live Post Sci-Fi?” ↗I can recommend A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine. Heartily recommend in fact. And if you're like me, always looking for a series to fill the time, I can recomend the Solar Clipper series by Nathan Lowell. It's nothing dramatic,…
on “Ask HN: What sci fi books are you reading now?” ↗I'm reading A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine, it's the sequel to A Memory Called Empire. I'm enjoying it!
on “Ask HN: What are you reading?” ↗…(p:122) +; Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (p:227) +; The Time Machine by H.G. Wells (p:118) Science Fiction: The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin (p:399); All Systems Red by Martha Wells (p:144) +; A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine (p:462) +; A Psalm built for the Wild by Becky Chambers (p:160); Dune by Frank Herbert (p:658); Foundation by Isaac Asimov (p:244); The Martian by Andy Weir (p:384) +; The Forever War…
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2022 and recommend for 2023” ↗…star fortress -- and her attempt to improve the chances of success by having the mind of a dead undefeated war-criminal general loaded into her head. Space opera / military sci-fi. Arkady Martine's "A Memory Called Empire" (won Hugo best novel in 2020). A tiny independent station sends a replacement diplomat into the heart of a neighboring empire, in an attempt to direct the empire's attention elsewhere and maintain independent…
on “Ask HN: What are your favorite sci-fi books?” ↗