A Memory Called Empire, by Arkady Martine Synopsis: A diplomat from a space station makes friends with high-level officials of a space empire. Book Review: The book starts with a really interesting situation. The diplomat has the memories and personality of the previous diplomat uploaded into her head, and the two of them have to integrate into a new unified personality. She deals with foreign reflexes and intrusive emotions, and can speak with the old diplomat in her head to a fair extent. It was a delight to read, and I was looking forward to a great rollercoaster of interaction and personality conflicts. Which was good, because with the setting being a boring diplomacy gig in a safe embassy, the action outside her head was pretty dull. And then a few chapters in the uploaded personality & memories are wiped out. Most of the rest of the book is a slog to get through. The stakes are low, we don't really care about the protagonist's mission, and the political intruige is poorly done. The personal assistant that gets assigned to our protagonist seems to be fawningly in love with her and her home station, showing far more loyalty to this stranger than her own people. I assumed she was a very bad double-agent for being so unrealistically loyal, but it turns out she really does just exist to give the protagonist an unswerving ally. Which is a good thing for our protag, because she's a complete idiot. Early on she, her assistant, and a friend play a game of "Let's build trust by telling each other secrets!" The assistant reveals a minor sexual fetish for foreigners. The friend reveals something equally innoculous. Our protag reveals
SF/F Review - A Memory Called Empire
SF/F Review - A Memory Called Empire
SF/F Review - A Memory Called Empire
A Memory Called Empire, by Arkady Martine Synopsis: A diplomat from a space station makes friends with high-level officials of a space empire. Book Review: The book starts with a really interesting situation. The diplomat has the memories and personality of the previous diplomat uploaded into her head, and the two of them have to integrate into a new unified personality. She deals with foreign reflexes and intrusive emotions, and can speak with the old diplomat in her head to a fair extent. It was a delight to read, and I was looking forward to a great rollercoaster of interaction and personality conflicts. Which was good, because with the setting being a boring diplomacy gig in a safe embassy, the action outside her head was pretty dull. And then a few chapters in the uploaded personality & memories are wiped out. Most of the rest of the book is a slog to get through. The stakes are low, we don't really care about the protagonist's mission, and the political intruige is poorly done. The personal assistant that gets assigned to our protagonist seems to be fawningly in love with her and her home station, showing far more loyalty to this stranger than her own people. I assumed she was a very bad double-agent for being so unrealistically loyal, but it turns out she really does just exist to give the protagonist an unswerving ally. Which is a good thing for our protag, because she's a complete idiot. Early on she, her assistant, and a friend play a game of "Let's build trust by telling each other secrets!" The assistant reveals a minor sexual fetish for foreigners. The friend reveals something equally innoculous. Our protag reveals