In the follow-up to her stunning debut, Arkady Martine throws us back into the Teixcalaan Empire in her latest book, A Desolation Called Peace.
Mahit Dzmare is back on Lsel Station, trying to adjust to having two imagos in her head while coming to terms with the fact that one of the Councillors is likely trying to kill her. She’s also still dealing with the trauma from the political upheaval of her last post where she barely survived. But on the edge of the Empire, near Lsel Station, a deadly alien armada is discovered.
Fleet Captain Nine Hibiscus is facing not just this mysterious armada but insubordination among her ranks. With no way to communicate with this new species, she sends a peculiar request for a diplomatic envoy. Which Three Seagrass gladly answers, with one stipulation: that she is able to work with Mahit once more.
Reunited on a warship and facing an alien being that communicates far differently than anything they’ve ever encountered; they learn that one wrong move and the alien fleet with attack. And likely win. The fate of Teixcalaan is in their hands.
A Memory Called Empire was a stunning debut. The story was so immersive and imaginative that ended on a bittersweet yet satisfying note that made readers yearn for more. They got everything they hoped for and more in A Desolation Called Peace.
There are many similarities in structure between the two books. Martine has expanded the scope of the world, giving us a broader understanding of the Teixcalaan Empire through location and character perspective with four difference narratives, Mahit, Three Seagrass, Nine Hibiscus, and the Emperor’s young clone, Eight Antidote.
The format remains the same, with snippets of interplanetary communications, news reports, diary entries, and so on at the beginning of each chapter. All hinting at what we can expect and yet, elusive and slippery in exactly the way politics are, even in this expanded galactic future. We also still get the interludes, offering glimpses into other characters and situations building in the background that threaten to dismantle everything the characters are working toward. It’s a masterclass in tension, presenting storylines that weave closer and closer until the threads meet in the last third of the book. The result is complex and layered, but easy to follow as we are allowed to understand each thread on their own before they’re brought together.
Where A Memory Called Empire was mainly in the center of the Teixcalaan Empire, A Desolation Called Peace is set in multiple locations. We are back in the heart of the Empire, but we also get to see the inner workings of Lsel Station, a glimpse at an outpost planet, and the tense setting of a warship on the front lines of a budding war. Within each narrative, the themes of empire, culture, and language are explored, and while those were present in the first book, here they are given new perspectives with larger consequences. The implication of immersed technology is raised in much greater detail. It’s a clever juxtaposition between connective neurotechnology and a hive mind, and the cascade of similarities and differences that unfold within the story are stunning and brilliant.
These themes are consistent throughout both books, and are threaded into each character, giving us different viewpoints and raising different questions. The characters struggle in various ways with identity and belonging. None of them fit entirely or wholly in the Empire they love, and yet they’re still uncertain. The dynamics between this uncertainty clashes when we throw in gigantic, potential world devastation level consequences into the mix, with an added layer of political machinations driven by questionable morals. Choices have consequences, from decisions made individually to orders that could annihilate a species. Nothing is clear, though, as we find in current reality. Answers have both good and bad repercussions, making it difficult to know definitively which route is right. And while these questions and conflicts have an uncomfortable resemblance to the ones we face today, it only highlights how difficult they really are.
Martine’s writing is impressive on every level. She has created not just characters with an endless depth of emotion and nuance, but warring factions within a bloated government that mirror our most complex governments today. It’s a testament to her skill as a writer that she has created a world so different in so many ways, but it is still understandable and recognisable in all the ways that matter. Every detail is stunning, creative, and vivid, and the plot is accessible and compulsive.
While it’s possible to read and likely even understand the plot and world without reading A Memory Called Empire, it’s not something I would recommend. Martine has a way of making expansive plots easy to follow along, but there will be texture, details, and nuance missed. Will it ruin the experience? Maybe not. Martine herself has indicated that this is a universe, after all, not simply a series. But reading them out of order will change the experience at the very least, and this is a world where science fiction readers will want the best possible experience.
A Desolation Called Peace is a smart and devious book, where plot twists take us in unexpected directions and clues are planted so subtly, they promise to be a delight when rereading. And that’s a guarantee for anyone who loved the first book. This is a series fans will want to read again and again, finding new clues and hints each time. It reads like a classic sci-fi novel with the prose of a literary masterpiece. It’s a series that spans galaxies, but the system is both thrust into the future but is also plucked from the past. The characters struggle with fundamental human truths that have plagued us since our evolution. It’s rich, expansive, and immersive, and will appeal to a wide range of science fiction and literary fans.
A Desolation Called Peace is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore.
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Synopsis | Goodreads
An alien armada lurks on the edges of Teixcalaanli space. No one can communicate with it, no one can destroy it, and Fleet Captain Nine Hibiscus is running out of options.
In a desperate attempt at diplomacy with the mysterious invaders, the fleet captain has sent for a diplomatic envoy. Now Mahit Dzmare and Three Seagrass—still reeling from the recent upheaval in the Empire—face the impossible task of trying to communicate with a hostile entity.
Whether they succeed or fail could change the fate of Teixcalaan forever.
