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A Memory Called Empire

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A Memory Called Empire

By: Arkady Martine
Narrated by: Amy Landon
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About this listen

Winner of the Hugo Award for Best Novel

'I absolutely loved it' – Ann Leckie, author of Ancillary Justice

In a war of lies, she seeks the truth. An epic, queer space opera, A Memory Called Empire is the astonishing debut novel from Arkady Martine.

Ambassador Mahit Dzmare travels to the Teixcalaanli Empire’s interstellar capital, eager to take up her new post. Yet when she arrives, she discovers her predecessor was murdered. But no one will admit his death wasn’t accidental – and she might be next.

Now Mahit must navigate the capital’s enticing yet deadly halls of power, to discover dangerous truths. And, while she hunts for the killer, Mahit must somehow prevent the rapacious Empire from annexing her home: a small, fiercely independent mining station.

As she sinks deeper into an alien culture that is all too seductive, Mahit engages in intrigues of her own. For she is hiding an extraordinary technological secret – one which might destroy her station and its way of life. Or it might save them from annihilation.

A Memory Called Empire is the first in the Teixcalaan duology. It is followed by A Desolation Called Peace.

‘Contender for debut of the year’ - SFX Magazine

Shortlisted for the 2020 Arthur C. Clarke Award

Shortlisted for the 2019 Goodreads Choice Awards

Perfect for those who loved Ann Leckie's epic space opera Ancillary Justice, Tamsyn Muir's Gideon the Ninth and Iain M. Banks’s Culture novels.

©2019 Arkady Martine (P)2019 Macmillan Digital Audio Military Science Fiction Space Opera Fiction

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Critic reviews

Stunning sci-fi debut. An ambassador from a small space station has to survive in the capital of a galactic empire where everyone seems to want her dead. Add in a great will-they-won’t-they wlw romantic interest. Awesome (Rick Riordan)
Arkady is one of the best new voices in speculative fiction (Adrian Tchaikovsky, author of Lords of Uncreation)
A cutting, beautiful, human adventure about cultural exchange, identity, and intrigue. The best SF novel I’ve read in the last five years (Yoon Ha Lee, author of the Machineries of Empire series)
An intricate, layered tale of empire, personal ambition, political obligations and interstellar intrigue. Vivid and delightfully inventive (Aliette de Bodard, author of A Fire Born of Exile)
An elegant and accomplished example of the subgenre of subtle scheming with a background of stars. A delightful read. I couldn’t put it down (Jo Walton)
An exceptional first novel recommended for fans of Cherryh, Leckie, Banks, and Asimov (Elizabeth Bear)
A cunningly plotted, richly imagined tale of interstellar intrigue that does something new with space opera (Ken MacLeod)

"A riveting story of character interplay and politics, this audiobook features the cool, calm narration of Amy Landon. Incredibly dialogue-driven, this story requires Landon to distinguish important nuances between characters with her word emphasis and pronunciation. She does so in a way that allows listeners to become engaged with the story and easily follow the political maneuverings. Her smooth delivery combined with Martine's story makes this sci-fi audiobook perfect to absorb one's attention." (AudioFile)
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I can't honestly believe how terrible terrible terrible the narrator is. It's like having a book read by a text-to-speech software.
I had to find a physical copy the book in order to finish it and it is a good book but the narration is appalling beyond words. How can this person get work as a narrator it's a huge mystery! A real shame, as I suffer from severe migraines which affect my vision and I rely on audiobooks for 'reading'

Is this read by text-to-speech software?

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Really superb and on par with recent greats like ancillary justice, the expanse series.

Features palace intrigue and politics, contains several surprises and a small bit of romance.

Exceptional start to this space opera series

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what seems like a good story is difficult to follow due to the poor narration.

as said by other reviers; sounds too much like siri with weird inflections and keeps. missing the end of. her sentences.

too little variation in different characters' voices makes it hard to tell who's talking.

Really have to concentrate to try to follow the story which is not what I want from an audiobook.

poor narration

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A number of reviews I read criticised the narration of this book. I was concerned about that so listened to sample first and heard no issues. Having listened to the whole book I’m puzzled about different perceptions of what we hear. What was to me a coolly narrated story, but still expressive with each character having their own voice, was to others quite mechanical. I can only suggest that if you are concerned you too listen to a sample.

As far as the story itself was concerned; after the initial impression of information overload I was drawn in and definitely would want to read any sequels, which I’m sure will be forthcoming, there being a number of threads left loose to be picked up later without damaging the plot of this book. Two societies are shown ,but the space station society is only seen in its role as a contrast to the planet base empire. Will we see more of it next time, or learn more of the city’s algorithm?

Engaging and well narrated

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The story was brilliant and thoroughly enjoyable and all the characters were so interesting. I thought the sci-fi technology aspects were very cleverly and thoughtfully done and the cultural elements were really rich as well. The author created a fascinating world and described it so poetically. I can't wait for the next installment! It was read very well so that the characters were easy to distinguish and the emotion came through very powerfully. It is good to see sci-fi with such a strong cast of believable female characters leading the story. It had plenty of intrigue, politics, action, suspense and surprises!

Astonishingly good!

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I don’t mind slow drama, but the story unfolds too slowly for me and the naming conventions for people and places is a distraction.

Description feels like it gets in the way of feeling empathy for the main characters.

The narrator doesn’t feel invested in the story, though oration style is a personal thing.

Either way, after 5 hours, or a third of the book - I’ve had to return the audiobook.

Excessively descriptive.

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This took no time at all for me to finish, I could barely put it down. The world, the characters, the plot, all great - complex, but not too much to get bogged down, and fast-paced without feeling rushed.

I had no issue with the narration as some reviews have mentioned. I felt the tone fit the sci-fi theme of the text and also the emotionless culture of Texcalaan. This also allowed characters to speak notably in a foreign or emotional way in comparison, so it really worked for thr story in my opinion.

A brilliant, original story

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How do you measure how much love a book? Is it by how much you can't bear to put it down, and you take every opportunity to listen to a few more words or read a few more sentences, or by how much you miss the characters when the book ends, or because you fancy one of them just a bit.

I felt with this book that I lived the characters lives for a time, that I strode the pavements and corridors of the city with them.

The world the author created had depth, complexity and a great verisimilitude. I could not have lived this story more and the boundary between the imagined and the actual became permeable, and I was briefly unsure which was more subjectively ‘real’. I gasped aloud at one point, and laughed at others, causing my family to look askance more than once.

I felt early on it may become predictable, and I would tick off the necessary plot points as they occurred, but actually it surprised me, right up to the denouement, sometimes in ways that were unwelcome as I didn’t wish those events of my friends. And at the end I wept, in relief, in sorrow and in a single dashed hope.

I split my reading between the Kindle edition and the Audio Book, the clipped tones and flawless delivery of Amy Landon very well suited to this novel, and when it came to the last pages, I wanted them to be in her voice.

This is a rare gem of a book. Read it, savour it, love it and look forward very much to the sequel, and future works from this author.

A rare gem

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Strongly recommend to fans of space opera. One of the finest of have every read. The performance is also just perfect.

Simply fabulous

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i really enjoyed the political intrigue and the discussions around wanted to be accepted by the oppressor. The world building is reach and interesting and the writing phenomenal.

I was put off by the very monotone narration.

Engaging political intrigue

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