At first blush I was intimidated by this book. Complicated vocabulary. Unfamiliar terminology. A naming convention I wanted to call byzantine but which is actually Mesoamerican. A Memory Called Empire is not a book to float through half awake; I re-read the first few pages several times to acclimatize myself and then suddenly found I had finished forty pages and forgotten about lunch. Martine took a little known event from ancient history (she goes in to greater detail in the link above and I highly recommend reading that short article), dragged it forwards thousands of years and set it in space to boot, and retained all the immediate believability of one small culture trying to keep a much larger one from consuming it whole. The small culture is Lsel, a space station on the edge of the powerful Teixcalaanli empire (yes, A Memory Called Empire includes a glossary and pronunciation guide). Lsel’s newest ambassador to Teixcalaan, Mahit Dzmare, has arrived at the Teixcalaanli capital for her first day on the job and been greeted with: the suspicious death of her predecessor, the complete refusal to acknowledge said suspiciousness*, utter blindness to the possibility that Mahit could be in danger, and the irritating, smug self-satisfaction of the dominant, biased Teixcalaanlitzlim. Convinced everyone else is a barbarian and blind to their own stains, the Teixcalaanlitzlim welcome Mahit, provided she is able to perform their culture to their standards. A Memory Called Empire is a beautifully crafted piece of writing. I loved the nuance Martine put in to Mahit wrestling with her love of Teixcalaanli culture and her love of her home; with living out her childhood dream while discovering that that dream may not be what she wants anymore. As sometimes happens. The story is also incredibly relevant to much of what is happening in the world today, minus our…germ problem. I’m giving content warnings for domestic terrorism, gun violence, poisoning, and unlicensed (consensual) surgery.
*suspiciosity isn’t a word either, apparently.
Tree Slices 
I’ll be reading this one someday. I think that one of the many benefits to living in a time of huge, global change is the opportunities all of the changes offer us. I think you, who are truly a word-smith, should be allowed to craft new words as you see fit. Why not? I am adding “suspiciosity” to my new words dictionary. That’s two of us now. We discussed Catcher in the Rye at book club. I’d never read it and I loved it. I was fascinated by the unreliable narrator and narrative. Have you read it? Next, A Tale of Two Cities, which, of course, I’m loving. I’ll be leading the book discussion for this in June.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I read Catcher in the Rye in high school but really didn’t enjoy it, mainly because I thought the main character was a jerk and I have a tough time putting that aside. I’ve read a few books with unreliable narrators and typically really like them. And A Tale of Two Cities was quite enjoyable. I bet that will be a great discussion!
LikeLike