Another Hugo nominee. A new ambassador from a large, independent, space station is needed for a giant and very powerful Teixcalaanli Empire, which is a cultured place, so cultured poetry is used for everyday letters. When the new Ambassador, Mahit Dzmare, arrives it turns out that the old one has died from an “allergic reaction”. Mahit was supposed to have the memories of the older ambassador implanted in her mind (the common practice at the station to prevent the loss of important and vital skills and information), but, for some reason, the memory capture is badly outdated. And what makes it worse is that it soon stops working at all. At the same time, the supposedly peaceful Teixcalaanli Empire is apparently headed towards civil unrest and perhaps a civil war, as the succession of the elderly, and possibly soon dying, emperor is uncertain. Some forces of the empire are using expansionism to smooth internal unrest, and that might threaten the independence of the space station. At the same time, there is an important piece of information that the space station has to offer to the empire. The ambassador is needed more than ever, and being unable to function in her role might be extremely dangerous.
A pretty interesting book, with some similarities in the plot (and writing style) with that of The Machineries of Empire Series by Yoon Ha Lee - both used the mind/memory recordings in an interesting way, and even the writing felt somewhat similar. The first part was a little slow and hard to get through, as not much background was given. The format of the story mostly relied on dialogue, which is a writing style I am not a fan of; so, even though the book wasn’t bad, it won’t be my top choice, especially as the nominees seem to be very good this year, but if it happens to win, I would be totally ok with that.
462 pp.
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