The Sagely Fox

Watching, Learning, Thinking

(Teixcalaan 1) A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine Review

  Reviewed 01/15/2021  

“I could have told her the truth,” Mahit said. “Here I am, new to the City, being led astray by my own cultural liaison and a stray courtier.”
Twelve Azalea folded his hands together in front of his chest. “We could have told her the truth,” he said. “Her friend, the dead Ambassador, has mysterious and probably illegal neurological implants.”
“How nice for us, that everyone lies,” Three Seagrass said cheerfully.
“Cultural exchange by mutually beneficial deception,” said Mahit.
She lifted one shoulder in a shrug.

(Teixcalaan 1) A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine

My thoughts on Review spoilers, and ratings may be relevant before you venture below --- the spoiler line ---. Click the [Back] button there to return here if you take a look. This Review 1150± words

Narrator: Amy Landon, Thank you for your excellent performance!

My Rating:

I pre-reviewed this having finished 70+% of it. I had issues but this novel being a Hugo winner I assumed things would really turn around.

Today, less than a week later I'm mildly recommending this 2020 Hugo Award winning novel! A 3.5 star science fiction/thriller/suspense novel.

With this one... two things threw me off. My glowing "pre-reviews", which I've deleted. And reviews I read, which I routinely try to ignore. They were all glowing with praise, excitement, maybe even some worship. I do try to ignore other reviews, but really, let's be honest. When we grossly disagree, do we really want to stir the pot, so to speak?

The things I wish I did straight up in every review is say, "good/bad" this genre, (fantasy, gnomes & vampires), sci-fi epic expansionists, or so forth. I recommend or not, maybe something I thought cool or that sucked. That way in a sentence or two you can largely make up your mind, if you trust me, to add it to a list or scrap it for later. Then I try to be consistent with babble, but fail miserably. (BTW, I did take my own advice on this and have since tried...)

First thing I messed up on this novel was thinking "Hugos" mean something. I recall thinking J. D. Powers Awards meant something then read some article where they were selling me that McDonald's was the best restaurant in the USA.

I can buy some of that dream-logic..., but McDonald's is the best restaurant in USA like this is a Hugo winner. I read the other Hugo nominees except Gideon the Ninth. The rest, including one I mistakenly thought was a Hugo nominee were all better than this one. All considerably better. Actually, I only remember Middlegame roughly, the idea of The Light Brigade was fun in concept. I was gender confused on that tidal locked world where they lived between "night and day" (which was a physics nightmare BTW) and why am I always gender confused with new novels. Did teachers start playing with the English language again?

Then I thought "The Nothing Within" by Andy Giesler should win the Hugo only to discover it wasn't even nominated.

Okay, I tried to paraphrase the whole book and failed.

Young Ambassador Mahit Dzmare of Parzrawantlak Sector, also known as Lsel station is urgently sent off to "the Super Power" of space, Teixcalaan, where the Emperor is quite aged and Mahit's predecessor ambassador has mysteriously died.

Much of this background has to be 'set-up'. So the first half the novel is pretty much: "Hi, here's the players, here's what the young "nobody" knows, but has to figure out.... In this room we've isolated all the players, or suspects, depending on what kind of novel you think you're reading.... In a mockery of the Clue Board Game-not their real names. There's Colonel Mustard, Mrs. White, Professor Plum, Mrs. Peacock, Mr. Green and so forth.

Mahit is happy about getting the job. She has always been fascinated with the "great power" Teixcalaan. And the poem-fashion-thing, and other such things young impressionable brilliant protagonists from far far away are always interested in.

Lsel Station has technology, unknown to other human colonies, including Teixcalaan, that is essentially a journal of their previous employee in computer form wired into their mind. Having always been a space based race of miners, explorers, and generally a space fairing people, this ancient but proprietary "memory" technology is essential to survival, living in space stations and in space ships for the people of Parzrawanklak Sector. (aka Lsel Station)

The idea and concept are bizarre to Teixcalaanals, but they aren't supposed to know about it anyway. I mean, think about it. I think that's the point of the novel maybe. Here's people who are shoving dead people's memories into their heads with technology.... old technology who are "barbarians" sending ambassadors to folks who make poems integral to their entire fashion industry.

Now to be fair, for me a "haircut" is shaving my head... & getting dressed is a hassle of finding some sweats I haven't spilled something on. I know what poems are. I like them when they rhyme. Beyond that if it is related to fashion, I need professional assistance, like a seeing eye dog. I do have an embarrassingly high IQ but that just seems to mean I am prone to be crazy or eccentric. Both usually with too much OCD.

So Mahit's malfunctioning "memory-journal-implant" is decades out of date, so she was screwed before she ever left Lsel. Now she has Seagrass growing on her. 3 Seagrass, precisely. She's the liaison from Teixcalaan who crawls up Mahit's butt the minute she arrives and sticks there like a tick.

50 pages later you can't decide if they're friends, enemies, or whether they should kill each other or see if they can sneak into a Romance novel where at least you're thinking about sex all the time.

Okay then, everything clear now?

Generally:
Pre-Reading. The spoiler blurb and Hugo Nomination put this book on my "to read list", along with all the other Hugo nominees. I've read nearly all but this Hugo Nominee. Since it won the Hugo, I'm now forced to put it high on my list for this year.

With such high praise, how could I NOT like it? (I've been critiquing manuscripts for decades, so let me count the ways...? No really, hope it's great.)

My Notable Notes:
Some books are meant to be read alone and without distraction. This one I attempted to read on audio book while doing menial tasks. While, I rarely loose what is going on while multitasking, I do believe I miss multiple subtle nuances that are relevant to raise this from an average book to a Hugo winner. I hope to read AND listen further to see if any of this grows on me more significantly (Ch10 9 hours, 55 minutes read. 49% or 8:00.05 remains)....

73% I want to add some comments that were in my notes but are unrelated to the book. I will add these comments "post conclusion".

Likes and Dislikes:
Pre-Read: ONE BIG Like: NO DRM. Also one big "Thank you" to Arkady, McMillan, Tom Doherty (personally) Arkady's agent, editor, and whoever suggested or insisted on "A Glossary of Persons, Places, and Objects" on behalf of old science fiction fans with failing memories. These things are important to some of us who get distracted at times.

At the 53% point in the book you might assume you'd be burning through the pages like crazy. If you are, it's not the same book I read. This is a "dislike" column for me, but if I can make you laugh I'll address it in my "Technical" section.

Like: At 73%... I actually did fall asleep trying to go "one more chapter." So the bad news is... you need to know all that boring stuff in the first 50% of the book for the great exciting stuff to be great and exciting later. So, roll with it. It looks like it will be worth the read. I'll be recommending this one. But at the 73% done point I would NOT be recommending this one for the Hugo. We'll see. I am sincerely trying to stay awake for the next chapter because it has become interesting enought that I want to know what is going to happen NEXT.

One more "like" I can mention, even though I have not concluded the book. Arkady, not her real name, I love gossip, does great at picking up subtle interpersonal relationship type things. These are the kind of things that serotonin amped out lovers usually notice. Or extremely well trained observers... like Navy SEALS about to kill you... they would notice this too.

One example: When you're in a crowd with someone, a party, gatherings, whatever, and you squeeze the person's hand who you are with...

You may be lovers, you may be friends. You may be out for the first time enjoying a show. The point is that slight gesture may have had 100 meanings or none on either side of the squeeze. Did they squeeze back? Depending on the circumstances, what might that have meant?

My one big like with Arkady in relation to this is, it took me inside some characters in ways I may not have otherwise gone. I congratulate her on that. It is a rare talent that can be used (or abused) by authors. Arkady used it well.

The Technical:
This section is a remnant of my years of doing critiques on manuscripts. It used to be of unpublished or indie authors... but since "Amazon", I think everyone could use some unsolicited critique from time to time.

Pre-Reading: This is a Tom Doherty Imprint. Not likely to be much "critique" here that wasn't fixed before I saw the book.

At 73% I'm thinking Tom might have published this book, but I suspect it would have been a hard sell. It starts fair enough with a mystery to keep the reader involved, but then it really drags on - and the mystery isn't terribly compelling to keep the reading involved.

Here's an example how you can be boring for 4± chapters (not 50% of a book).

First line: "Tuesday was a fine California day, full of sunshine and promise, until Harry Lyon had to shoot someone at lunch." - Dragon Tears by Dean Koontz.

The next "forever" describes Harry's OCD behavior, his partner's opposite of OCD personality etc. which are all, at least, interesting, just in their personality conflict & having to work together.

Point is - half a book being largely boring is never okay.

Conclusion
Preludes usually suck. This one does. Not in hindsight, but it does you no good to read it until Mahit is doing crazy desperate things in Teixcalaan, trying desperately to figure out just what in space has landed her in such an insane situation.

Then frankly, after finishing the book, I'm still wondering who sold the "prelude idea" to the publisher.

I mention this because at 73% I went back and re-read the prelude. (First time I read and listened to it simultaneously, while eating.) I went back because, why would I read 50% of a book that was boring me senseless? I have 500-1000 unread books that I know are good, another 6 series I want to re-read. So I had to ask myself, why did I hang in so long, did I catch something unconsciously that kept me hanging on?

I believe I did. In the Prelude. It was so subtle and apparently so unrelated to anything that seemed to be going on, I promptly forgot it. So in conclusion. It does start slow, but pay attention anyway.

If for this ONE spoiler. The prelude, probably the interludes as well, are important. At 73% I'm not even 100% sure why, but I've read a small library of books and have a feel for such things.

Congratulations on the Hugo to Ms. Martine and her friend Ms. Weller, to McMillan, Tom Doherty for his contribution to fantastic fiction.

POST CONCLUSION:
Yep, spoilers here... Even with nearly nothing left in this book, I was sure it would be salvaged since it won the Hugo.

I now have a different opinion on Hugos. All the nominees I did read, I would have awarded above this one, including one I thought was nominated but actually wasn't.

Hugo hasn't done itself any favors selecting this novel as a winner. It was a good nomination!. It is not the first time they missed when they had so many better options. I am, in fact, happy Ms. Martine won the award. Despite my trashing of the novel. She did so some remarkable "artistry" and mentionable craft works worthy of the award. While the novel is not pornographic it has hints of "sensuality" that would make a romance novelist blush. But I think that's just really good writing by Arkady.

So, what went wrong? I don't know precisely. Had I been her editor I may have pushed her away from the names she gave people. "8 helicopter?" One guy I liked, and related to, and who was murdered by the bored author, was named something like "17 toilet paper", which is, I think, the limit during a flu season, (cough, cold virus, cough) they are calling a covid pandemic. "Seagrass " wasn't bloody happy about that mess one bit!

"Three Seagrass " was a primary character, who I had mixed feelings about. I grew to like her. When 17 something gets lead poisonings in a rather intense scene, bleeding arterial blood (usually noted by the high oxygen and iron content making it appear bright crimson). I had no response.

I get it, I know there should be a response. I liked him, he was a lot like me. More than most the other characters. Makes me wonder, "Do I not give a shit?" "Am I a psychopath?"

Truth is I can't watch Lifetime movies. They're addictive and I always end up bawling like a baby, so I doubt it's "me not caring or being a psychopath... although I have confessed to being a genius which seems to come built in with a whole host of personality quirks.

This is a review of the ebook: 27 Chapters, 449 pages, and the audiobook: 100% lasting 15 hours, 36 minutes, & 45 seconds

Additional related links, likely mentioned earlier.

• Arkady Martine' s Website
• Amy Landon.Thank you for your excellent performance.