Isa’s Reviews > A Memory Called Empire > Status Update

I was going to rhetorically ask 'where's the next Arkady Martine book' but apparently she's doing environmental non-profit work in New Mexico so like. I'm happy to reread this

I'm so soft and so excited for the last two (?) chapters

I fucking love Yskandr I'm so glad he's back

Not chapter 15 confirming that Twelve Azalea is short while I've been imagining him as just. astonishingly tall... it's not fair let me have this

This is such a philosophically fascinating book; first of all on the topic of philosophy of mind ("How wide is the concept of you?") but most of all on philosophy of language, and how language structures the way we think and view the world. Incredibly cleve

WHY is Twelve Azalea not a more prominent character :((
The whole war twist kind of caught me off guard but I think that's my fault because the whole point of it is that it's supposed to be vague

I'm also intrigued by the way Martine builds up the Teixcalaanli language and its nuances. I googled her and apparently she did postdoctoral research on Byzantine imperialism, and it shows in incredibly fascinating ways

I love all of the characters, but I'm especially endeared by Three Seagrass and Twelve Azalea and their friendship. I'm not super bothered by the fact that a lot of this has been telling instead of showing but I hope that the pace will pick up a bit after chapter 7.