by Chloe Townson
This is the first book all year that the majority of the group could not finish — either because they ran out of time (my bad) or because it wasn’t their jam. There were a handful, however, who did finish and who loved the book so much that they were looking to purchase the second. The conclusion was that A Memory Called Empire was a great book for its genre but that it would not appeal to everyone.
One of the things that the group struggled with was the terminology; the way the characters were named coupled with the heavy political nuance did, at times, make the plot hard to follow. The author, Arkady Martine, is a scholar in Byzantine history from which she pulled much of her inspiration - the naming of the characters, as well as the weight and influence of poetry on politics and every day life. It was interesting to go back and try to pluck out the historical influences of this future world, and to find the modern day equivalents of the political upheaval. The Empire, which believes itself to be the center of the universe and self-proclaiming itself the ‘world’, could have its comparison in America, or Westernisation as a whole.
There were plenty of comparisons to one of last year’s science fiction selections, Winter’s Orbit by Evarina Maxwell. Both novels had a similar vibe — a murder, a race to figure out who committed said murder, and developing relationships between diplomats and their guides. Where Winter’s Orbit focused more on the relationships as the driving force of the plot, A Memory Called Empire focused on politics as the driving force of the plot, with relationships as a secondary factor.
Overall, the group didn’t hate the book and there were a few voices missing due to work or illness that we were interested in hearing. There was an equal balance of love, like, and meh that contributed to a lively discussion. Isn’t it interesting that when everyone loves a book, there’s less to talk about?!
I look forward to seeing everyone for our next meeting — our next book is The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi. And, yes, I have taken note not to give you all heavy 600 page books with only a month between meetings!
Chloe