Reader’s Choice/Sports Ball: because that’ll probably be my waterloo, otherwise!
Will write a better review in a bit but just a quick one off–is this as good as A Memory Called Empire? Perhaps not, there is a bit of impenetrable language (DO YOU SEE WHAT I DID THERE, FOR YOU, THREE SWEETGRASS) that seems difficult for the sake of being difficult BUT I just loved it so much, okay?
I missed two buses because I was so wrapped up in this book, and for the second bus I actually had an alarm set as well.
So now, to come back to this review–the only one, and a mini at that, that managed to break through my anxiety haze of mid-July to now–ages later and without a solid sense of what, exactly, happened.
But it’s not necessary, I feel, because the sentiments that I love the most I recall very well: the endless tug of war Mahit feels between being not Teixcalaani / proud of being a Stationer and so, so desperate to be accepted by Teixcalaan and its denizens (including but not limited to Three Seagrass). As I felt while reading A Memory Called Empire, Martine does such a beautiful job of illustrating Mahit’s inner turmoil. It’s impossible to reconcile. She’s suspected at home (Liesl Station) of harboring too much love for Teixcalaan (and of potentially harboring a corrupted imago, which is absolutely true). She’s forever a barbarian to the Teixcalaan, as Three Seagrass says with heartbreaking (truly) casualness.
You wanted a lesbian love story set in weird space? Set aside your Tamsyn Muir and head straight for Martine. THIS is the cautious, fraught, drawn out, relationship you were looking for, no Jedi mind tricks required. Mahit and Three Seagrass are drawn to one another and hurt one another and forgive one another as they grow to fight the new foe that threatens all of the homes, forming a new joint task force that just might stand a chance.
I know some people disliked the multi-thread plots and the endless literary pretension that runs through all of these novels. These people are wrong, and need to go to Remedial Teixcalaani Appreciation 101. This is a beautiful, breathtaking, byzantine book that grabs your attention and never lets go. I’m both sad and glad that Martine stuck to the duology format–I of course want to read so much more of this world, but it ends at just the right [bittersweet] note.
