SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine: https://t.co/tTwzZWGaRp
— Josh (garik16) (@garik16) February 19, 2021
Short Review: 9 out of 10
1/3
Short Review (cont): The follow up to A Memory Called Empire is tremendous, as Mahit is forced to return to the Teixcalaan as the Empire is threatened by an alien force, and the heir to the throne learns about the machinery of the Empire he will once inherit. Sooo good.
— Josh (garik16) (@garik16) February 19, 2021
2/3
Full Disclosure: This book was read as an e-ARC (Advance Reader Copy) obtained via Netgalley from the publisher in advance of the book's release on March 2, 2021 in exchange for a potential review. I give my word that this did not affect my review in any way - if I felt conflicted in any way, I would simply have declined to review the book.
A Desolation Called Peace is the highly anticipated sequel to last year's Hugo Award winner for Best Novel, A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine. I was one of the few who didn't love A Memory Called Empire (my review is here), but I still found what it was trying to do really interesting: a story about Empire, and language and how impossible it is for an outsider studying its culture or even being nearby from not being consumed by that culture, even as the Empire itself was at the verge of a crisis due to the interaction of the Empire's own leaders and the intricacies of that culture. The problem for me was not its ambitions, but how fast the plot moved, which made it hard for me to truly believe in the power and allure of this Empire as it was presented, and so I was hoping the sequel would improve on this area.
And A Desolation Called Peace does indeed improve into a novel that I really loved, taking its already present themes of Empire and adding further themes of culture, of isolation, of identity and even more for a spin in a novel that's somehow both slower and yet just as thrilling at the same time. The book expands the point of view to a series of other characters, such that the plot essentially is split in three, even as all three deal with the same "crisis" - the confrontation between the Teixcalaanli Empire and a powerful Alien force. And yet the combination of these three viewpoints doesn't muddle the story at all, instead it contributes to a really fascinating story from beginning to end.
-------------------------------------------------Plot Summary-----------------------------------------------------
Out near Lsel Station, the legions of Teixcalaan are facing their greatest threat ever: an alien force with unknown and terrifying technology, which issues transmissions that sound like vomit-inducing screeching harmonies, and without language that can be understood, they seem immune to the Empire's influence. But it is up to Nine Hibiscus, newly appointed Yaotlek (commander) of the six legions sent to face the threat, to figure out a way to defeat the enemy, one which won't result in all their deaths...even as forces within her own command threaten to take matters into their own hands. And so Nine Hibiscus calls for help from the Information Ministry, a request that finds its way to new Undersecretary Three Seagrass.
For Three Seagrass, the request is a relief from the boredom of the Ministry of Information....and perhaps the excuse she needed. For Three Seagrass can think of no one better to help her act as an Envoy to the Aliens than the woman who she fell in love with, the woman whose fall into Teixcalaan helped her stop a civil war, the woman who ran back to her "barbarian" station: Mahit Dzmare.
But since leaving Three Seagrass back in the City, Mahit has found her own problems back on Lsel Station, where powerful councilors who once tried to subtly destroy her still have their own plans for her and her imago-line. And for Mahit, who has consumed herself in Teixcalaan as much as any outsider can, and thus is an outsider even on her own station, the chance to go once again among the people whose culture has compelled her is a simple double edged sword, plunging her towards a place of no return. Assuming of course that Mahit, Three Seagrass and Nine Hibiscus can find a way to resolve the conflict with the aliens without getting themselves killed in the process.
And in The City, Eight Antidote, now sole heir to the greatest Empire there is at eleven years old, wanders Palace-Earth, trying to figure out what he thinks about the strange happenings in the Empire. Taught lessons by a powerful ambitious Undersecretary in the Ministry of War and asked strange questions by the new Emperor, Eight Antidote finds himself enraptured by the conflict out by Lsel Station, and by the presence of Mahit Dzmare, and what it all means.....
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A Desolation Called Peace, unlike its predecessor, expands the story to feature four point of view characters, instead of just following Mahit Dzmare. So we also get Nine Hibiscus, a commander of Teixcalaanli legions who cares for her people and doesn't just immediately leap to destruction as her first choice of action when perhaps a less deadly alternative might suffice, and is loved by her immediate people as a result. We get Three Seagrass, who we only saw from the outside before, who struggles with both her need to do something, her need for Mahit, and her need to understand why Mahit had to leave her in the first place. We still get Mahit of course, who struggles with being even more Teixcalaan-altered in her way of thinking despite it never being possible for her to be Teixcalaanli and finds herself faced with station leaders who have hatreds and dislikes of the Empire that she now represents. And perhaps most interestingly to me, you have Eight Antidote, who at eleven years old is still highly intelligent and thoughtful as he pinballs between powerful authority figures and tries to decide for himself what he really wants the Empire to be.
Each of these characters brings forth their own interesting themes and developments to the story. So with Mahit, you have a continuation of the themes of A Memory Called Empire - how one immersed in the foreign culture of Empire cannot possibly separate themselves from it, and how she cannot say no when it beckons her once more - an inability for consent that makes it impossible for her to give Three Seagrass the love she really wants. But you also see with her how that immersion is seen by the leaders of Lsel Station, who fear it to the point of trying varying but equally dangerous and desperate attempts at enforcing isolation to prevent it from spreading, an isolation that isn't necessarily better than a merging of one's culture with their powerful neighbor. And Mahit's imago conversations with Yskandr only enhance the exploration of these themes.
With Three Seagrass of course, you get the reverse, the person who falls in love with people not of their culture and has to learn to understand how that point of view becomes a problem for an equal relationship with a person like Mahit, who may be beloved but also can't help but feel other in her presence. And then you have Nine Hibiscus, whose need for a solution with the least amount of casualties to her people puts her on the bad side of others in the Empire who would rather make a showing of overwhelming force. And from Nine Hibiscus' point of view we meet her adjutant, Twenty Cicada - also known as swarm - who is a loyal Teixcalaanli, and yet at the same time shows proudly his own side culture and does seemingly what he wants, showing how subcultures can still exist within the Empire. And then there's Eight Antidote, who is my favorite character of all, the young boy entrusted by the Emperor to see what is happening behind the scenes of the Empire - from the power hungry and believers in might over all else to those who simply believe in the use of might to send a powerful message - and to make his own decisions about what he wants the Empire to be, a potentially better Empire that doesn't follow the same methods of its past.
In all of this, I haven't even talked about the plot, because there's so much to talk about with the themes in the story and the fascinating characters, but the plot works a lot better for me here, as we see the alien threat that is seemingly just as scary as the Empire, in that while the Empire is easy to understand and easy to fall in love with, the aliens are unintelligible and clearly inhuman. And there's some themes there as well, and again the slower pacing of them trying to figure out what's going on all the while the legions slowly lose more and more individual ships, really helps carry those out. Still the resolution of the alien threat is probably still the weakest part of the plot - although that isn't saying too much - as the resolution of what the aliens are is perhaps the least original part of everything here. But again, the plot works for me so much better than the first book because its slower pace and complementary themes never really overwhelm the characters and other themes and does retain enough mystery and interest to keep you drawn in.
So yeah, I could easily see A Desolation Called Peace being up for another Hugo Award in 2022. It's the rare example of an expansion of point of views that only adds to the interesting themes and characters, and I am real glad I gave it a shot after being disappointed with the first book.
And in The City, Eight Antidote, now sole heir to the greatest Empire there is at eleven years old, wanders Palace-Earth, trying to figure out what he thinks about the strange happenings in the Empire. Taught lessons by a powerful ambitious Undersecretary in the Ministry of War and asked strange questions by the new Emperor, Eight Antidote finds himself enraptured by the conflict out by Lsel Station, and by the presence of Mahit Dzmare, and what it all means.....
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A Desolation Called Peace, unlike its predecessor, expands the story to feature four point of view characters, instead of just following Mahit Dzmare. So we also get Nine Hibiscus, a commander of Teixcalaanli legions who cares for her people and doesn't just immediately leap to destruction as her first choice of action when perhaps a less deadly alternative might suffice, and is loved by her immediate people as a result. We get Three Seagrass, who we only saw from the outside before, who struggles with both her need to do something, her need for Mahit, and her need to understand why Mahit had to leave her in the first place. We still get Mahit of course, who struggles with being even more Teixcalaan-altered in her way of thinking despite it never being possible for her to be Teixcalaanli and finds herself faced with station leaders who have hatreds and dislikes of the Empire that she now represents. And perhaps most interestingly to me, you have Eight Antidote, who at eleven years old is still highly intelligent and thoughtful as he pinballs between powerful authority figures and tries to decide for himself what he really wants the Empire to be.
Each of these characters brings forth their own interesting themes and developments to the story. So with Mahit, you have a continuation of the themes of A Memory Called Empire - how one immersed in the foreign culture of Empire cannot possibly separate themselves from it, and how she cannot say no when it beckons her once more - an inability for consent that makes it impossible for her to give Three Seagrass the love she really wants. But you also see with her how that immersion is seen by the leaders of Lsel Station, who fear it to the point of trying varying but equally dangerous and desperate attempts at enforcing isolation to prevent it from spreading, an isolation that isn't necessarily better than a merging of one's culture with their powerful neighbor. And Mahit's imago conversations with Yskandr only enhance the exploration of these themes.
With Three Seagrass of course, you get the reverse, the person who falls in love with people not of their culture and has to learn to understand how that point of view becomes a problem for an equal relationship with a person like Mahit, who may be beloved but also can't help but feel other in her presence. And then you have Nine Hibiscus, whose need for a solution with the least amount of casualties to her people puts her on the bad side of others in the Empire who would rather make a showing of overwhelming force. And from Nine Hibiscus' point of view we meet her adjutant, Twenty Cicada - also known as swarm - who is a loyal Teixcalaanli, and yet at the same time shows proudly his own side culture and does seemingly what he wants, showing how subcultures can still exist within the Empire. And then there's Eight Antidote, who is my favorite character of all, the young boy entrusted by the Emperor to see what is happening behind the scenes of the Empire - from the power hungry and believers in might over all else to those who simply believe in the use of might to send a powerful message - and to make his own decisions about what he wants the Empire to be, a potentially better Empire that doesn't follow the same methods of its past.
In all of this, I haven't even talked about the plot, because there's so much to talk about with the themes in the story and the fascinating characters, but the plot works a lot better for me here, as we see the alien threat that is seemingly just as scary as the Empire, in that while the Empire is easy to understand and easy to fall in love with, the aliens are unintelligible and clearly inhuman. And there's some themes there as well, and again the slower pacing of them trying to figure out what's going on all the while the legions slowly lose more and more individual ships, really helps carry those out. Still the resolution of the alien threat is probably still the weakest part of the plot - although that isn't saying too much - as the resolution of what the aliens are is perhaps the least original part of everything here. But again, the plot works for me so much better than the first book because its slower pace and complementary themes never really overwhelm the characters and other themes and does retain enough mystery and interest to keep you drawn in.
So yeah, I could easily see A Desolation Called Peace being up for another Hugo Award in 2022. It's the rare example of an expansion of point of views that only adds to the interesting themes and characters, and I am real glad I gave it a shot after being disappointed with the first book.
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