Reviews

Never really got over that the alien naming system rips off that of the Mycogen peoples in Prelude to foundation by Azimov.

Tried really hard to have a complicated, intricate, mysterious plot but was just really straightforward.

sashapasha's review against another edition

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4.0

At any given time, I need to have on the roster at least one book that allows my brain to relax and take a break from daily stressors. This is not that book.

Our main character Mahit Dzmare is from a small space station community called Lsel Station that is constantly under threat of annexation from the voracious Teixcalaan Empire. After an urgent summons, Mahit is chosen as a diplomat to travel into the heart of Teixcalaan and find out what happened to her predecessor, Yskandr Aghavn. She is thrown into the deep end of the empire’s political intrigue when she discovers that Yskandr was murdered. Cut off from the support she would’ve had after a technological malfunction, Mahit must navigate the treacherous waters and political hotspots of Teixcalaanli society as she attempts to preserve the independence of her station and find out what happened to Yskandr with only a few tentative and potentially suspect allies by her side.

This book is all about the intrigue -- there’s a lot of questioning who can be trusted, what someone means when they say or do something, who the power players are and what their motivations may be, etc.

The world building was interesting. Teixcalaan is a xenophobic society that views poetic verse as the highest form of communication and incorporates it into as many aspects of daily life as possible. This led to some impracticalities that I had difficulty believing in, such as poetic encryption of all messages (decryption was like a poetic word game apparently) and the use of physical messages called “infofiche sticks” (in a society so advanced, it seemed incredibly inconvenient and caused Mahit all kinds of problems). But these oddities aside, it was fun to glimpse Teixcalaanli culture through the eyes of Mahit, who was simultaneously fascinated and frustrated by the language, protocols, and people who viewed her as a barbarian.

The other characters were interesting as well. Yskandr was my favorite, despite the relatively small role he played. Something about his dry humor really appealed to me, as well as the mystery behind his actions.

Nineteen Adze was a close second since she cut a very murky figure and it was never clear whose side she was on or what she was up to.

Spoiler

Not sure I ever really bought her reasons behind her role in Yskandr’s death though.

Would recommend to fans of novel world building and lots of political intrigue.