A Memory Called Empire

by Arkady Martine

A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine is the story of a young diplomat from a ‘provincial’ region of space who makes it to the center of the Teixcalaan Empire to represent her people. Her own region is a nominal vassal state though it retains much independence. This region is important because it is a frontier area where the Empire would like to expand. So the main character, Mahit Dzmare, has outsized importance compared to her role.

She arrives in the capital of the Empire during a crisis moment. There is an ascension dispute among the leading generals, and worse, she’s almost completely blind in the new environment, her precedent having died under suspicious circumstances. So she has no one to inculcate her with the intricacies of palace intrigue and politics.

What’s more, the society of the capital city itself is hostile to foreigners/barbarians. Beyond typical differences of culture and language even the physical attributes of non-citizens are distinct (they are generally much taller and thinner – the effects of zero gravity over generations.) Thus she is a visible minority and resultingly vulnerable if her status is put to question.

The cultural milieu described by Martine is the most interesting part of the book. Readers will be familiar with the age-old themes of Empire and vassal, urban area vs rural. One need just look back to Roman/Western history for that. But the culture of the Teixcalaan Empire is wholly new. The language is poetic with deep roots in the past, where to be a good citizen is to be well versed with literature, history, and poetry. To me, it seems like there is something almost Japanese or Indian in the descriptions of the capital city and its people. Anyway, this first book of the series leaves the reader curious to know more.

However well Martine develops an interesting setting for her book, the enjoyment of reading for me was limited by the themes of sexual discovery, and by the childish banter/flirting between Dzmare and her interpreter. This will no doubt have an appeal to certain readers, perhaps the sexually curious and questioning teenagers who are generally the biggest consumers of sci-fi. For me though, it detracted from the story arc.

This was my most recent foray into contemporary science-fiction. It’s been a long time and I had to peruse the Hugo and Nebula Awards lists just to know what has been published in the last few years. I’m not surprised about the sexual questioning theme, the last time I picked up recent sci-fi it was there as well (the Ancillary series by Leckie.) Often speculative fiction is where cult knowledge or non-mainstream ideas can be passed down to younger generations since without the weight of mainstream society imposing on the discussion it is easier to explore these things. I am surprised at how big this still is though. I guess the culture wars are still going on in America.

Did you read A Memory Called Empire? If so, what did you think? Please leave a comment below.