A Memory Called Empire

Arkady Martine

Mar 2019 · Teixcalaan Book 1 · Macmillan Audio · Narrated by Amy Landon

About this audiobook

Winner of the 2020 Hugo Award for Best Novel
A Locus, and Nebula Award nominee for 2019
A Best Book of 2019: Library Journal, Polygon, Den of Geek
An NPR Favorite Book of 2019
A Guardian Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Book of 2019 and “Not the Booker Prize” Nominee
A Goodreads Biggest SFF Book of 2019 and Goodreads Choice Awards Nominee

"A Memory Called Empire perfectly balances action and intrigue with matters of empire and identity. All around brilliant space opera, I absolutely love it."—Ann Leckie, author of Ancillary Justice

Ambassador Mahit Dzmare arrives in the center of the multi-system Teixcalaanli Empire only to discover that her predecessor, the previous ambassador from their small but fiercely independent mining Station, has died. But no one will admit that his death wasn't an accident—or that Mahit might be next to die, during a time of political instability in the highest echelons of the imperial court.

Now, Mahit must discover who is behind the murder, rescue herself, and save her Station from Teixcalaan's unceasing expansion—all while navigating an alien culture that is all too seductive, engaging in intrigues of her own, and hiding a deadly technological secret—one that might spell the end of her Station and her way of life—or rescue it from annihilation.

A fascinating space opera debut, Arkady Martine's A Memory Called Empire is an interstellar mystery adventure.

"The most thrilling ride ever. This book has everything I love."—Charlie Jane Anders, author of All the Birds in the Sky

Ratings and reviews

I'm not sure I can carry on with this audiobook, as good as the book is supposed to be. I'm an hour in. The narration is horrible, without intonation and with misplaced emphasis of words in sentences, a irritating mellifluou, monotony of tone and cadance that is almost impossilbe to listen to. ' How do the producers not recognize. The same problem exists with Martha Wells Witchking audiobook. The narration is so awful its impossible to listen..

Interesting social and ethnocultural constructs are explored through (and made possible by) a world with some relatively novel science fiction aspects here, somewhat similar to Ursula Le Guin, or even a bit like Issac Asimov.

hard to get into the narrator's voice is really boring and emotionless

About the author

Arkady Martine is a speculative fiction writer and, as Dr. AnnaLinden Weller, a historian of the Byzantine Empire. Under both names, she writes about border politics, rhetoric, propaganda, and the edges of the world. Arkady grew up in New York City and, after some time in Turkey, Canada, and Sweden, lives in Baltimore with her wife, the author Vivian Shaw. She is the author of A Memory Called Empire.