Book Review:- A Memory Called Empire By Arkady Martin

In the already vast and growing genre of science fiction, A Memory Called Empire is a new, intelligent, and political space opera. Winner of the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 2000, historian and urban planner Arkady Martin's novel is the first in a series called Teixcalan. Its core themes are identity, empire, and culture, and the petty savagery of integration under the auspices of a more glorious interstellar civilization.

  Book Summary  

The novel follows a young girl named Mahit Dizmar, an ambassador sent by the small, independent mining station of Lesal, at the root of the vast and powerful Teixcalanli Empire. Mahit has an imago machine that contains the memories and personality of his former self but when he arrives, the relationship between him and Iskander becomes complicated when the imago system is not working properly and Iskander is no longer there, presumably murdered.

Thrown not into his own world, but into a high-powered political society, Mahit must contend with treacherous politics at court where the shadow of war looms over personal memories and inherited identities within his own soul. The novel's themes explore the nuances of colonialism and the maintenance of culture and belonging.

The account of world-building and empire's fascination with language, poetry, and political ritual is reminiscent of prosopography as a tool used by Martin as a Byzantine historian. The Teixcalanli Empire is seductive and oppressive, which Mahit understands well, first as an outsider and then as a fan of its splendor.

  My review  

A Memory Called Empire is a very intelligent and captivating novel. What I liked most was that Martin uses science fiction not to show off spectacular battles or exciting technological gadgets but to develop a sense of the instability of culture, power, and memory. The protagonist Mahit is an interesting character: he is outwardly secure and inwardly unstable, torn between two worlds. The problems he grapples with with identity, especially the conflict between himself and his predecessor, which lives in his imagination, raise some thoughtful questions about consciousness.

Martin's prose is sophisticated and sharp, and the world of Texcalan feels so real that it's completely understandable how their officials fell in love with poetry and how they manage their infrastructure. In that respect, the book is worth reading - it's not a light read and may require some patience for readers new to science fiction.

  Rating: 9.5/10  

In terms of prose An Empire Called Memory is a contemplative masterpiece of modern science fiction. Elegantly written, politically engaged, and emotionally compelling, it forces you to consider not only the universe, but also language, self-awareness, and the role of the empires we inhabit. It's a great read, highly recommended for those who enjoy intelligent philosophical science fiction.