A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine
Publisher – Tor Uk
Published – Out Now
Price – £8.99 paper back £4.99 kindle eBook
An alien terror could spell our end.
An alien threat lurks on the edges of Teixcalaanli space. No one can communicate with it, no one can destroy it, and Fleet Captain Nine Hibiscus is supposed to win a war against it.
In a desperate attempt to find a diplomatic solution, the fleet captain has sent for an envoy to contact the mysterious invaders. Now Mahit Dzmare and Three Seagrass – both still reeling from the recent upheaval in the Empire – face an impossible task: they must attempt to negotiate with a hostile entity, without inadvertently triggering the destruction of themselves and the Empire.
Whether they succeed or fail could change the face of Teixcalaan forever.
Warning The first in the duology A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine is excellent and this review will contain some spoilers if you’ve not read it first!
Space Opera we tend to think about the scale and how what we read probably sounds to a soundtrack to impress upon us vast empires, vistas and huge SFX. But the concept of an opera is often less explored; the use of characters, settings and the musical dialogues and motifs to create the whole. Arkady Martine in their excellent A Desolation Called Peace creates a book that uses everything within it to explore the concept of communication between people, factions, empires and aliens to create one of the most impressive reads of my year so far.
In the previous novel the Teixcalaanli Empire narrowly avoided civil war and being led by an immortal empire. A new Emperor is on the throne and thanks to the work of the outsider Ambassador Mahit Dzamere (who so wished to be part of the Empire) and her liaison Three Seagrass there is now also a war brewing outside the Empire with aliens who have begun infringing upon the space near to Mahit’s home of Lsel Station. This new threat is able to appear in space without warning; have exceptionally good tactics and when they meet people on planets there is massive bloodshed. This may be a threat the Empire cannot contain. Three Seagrass is sent to explore if there is any way of breaking through to their enemy and she whisks away Mahit to assist (not quite willingly). In their way is an alien who appears not to have a language; a space fleet command filled with suspicion; political infighting on both their homes and a young Emperor in waiting starting to navigate the dangers of ruling themselves under the watchful eye of the current incumbent.
A warning from the start. There will be space battles but they’re often very brief and not the centrepieces other books make them to be. This tale is in many ways a slow burn for at least two thirds of the tale gently weaving in various threads to tell an epic tale of when two vast empires came into conflict and an attempt to reach an understanding will either result in a form of peace or a vast amount of bloodshed on a scale that is hard to imagine. I loved it deeply but those who like fast flowing action and find books that dwell instead on character and also intricate plotting (probably dismissing it as ‘literary’) will be best to find something more pyrotechnic. Those of you who like me do love these things will find much more to enjoy!
What really works for me is the various conflicts that run through the story. Various plots focus on different key pairings of either individuals or factions and their initial lack of understanding of what the other wants. At the macro level it is the two empires with the powerful, ancient, and sometimes historically war-focused Teixcalaanli Empire - a place where language itself has evolved to be a weapon/tool to help people understand things and also help an empire conquer hearts and minds that is now faced with an alien who appears not to have any of those things – just apparent all stopping war. Martine does give us glimpses of the alien mind and approach and it is gloriously other – something initially hard to understand not just their worldview but knowing what they can be capable of. Even though Teixcalaanli isn’t human either it is something using concepts that are a lot more familiar to us so the humans as always tend to be where we empathise. As the two sides seem remote the threat of war feels very very real, and the story is full of times when language is not enough to prevent a war.
Powering all of this plot though are myriad smaller battles within the Teixcalaani space. The most familiar to readers of the first book is Mahit and Three Seagrass who in the first book were a powerful force, grew very close to one another but Mahit found the Empire she worshipped from afar was both more political and dangerous than she ever expected plus she found as being an outsider she realised she would never truly be accepted as one of them – even by the woman she has grown to love who is Three Seagrass and in many ways represents all of the above too. Three Seagrass ambitious, sarcastic, and always looking at the angles finds though that Mehit is showing that it is possible to be more than the barbarian she always thinks she is. At the start their relationship is shattered and their aim is in working together to stop a war also to find a better way to talk to each other.
Complementing this are various other key battles. We meet the fleet commander Nine Hibiscus a soldier so dangerous and inspiring much loyalty has been sent out to the frontline to fight and possibly to meet her death. An equally ambitious and loyal leader named Sixteen Moonrise starts to question her authority. Each has their view of what the other is up to, and can they find a mutual understanding in the world of politics and war that is the Empire and to achieve their own aims they both see Mahit and Seagrass as threats or opportunities to exploit. While back in the heart of the Empire that itself is rebuilding itself after a near civil war we get to meet the new Emperor Nineteen Adze and her future successor the young clone Eight Antidote. Antidote is unaware of what their predecessor managed to avoid and he has a increasing understanding of how the Empire’s factions works and find that in particular the War faction is keen to bring him into their side. Worth noting in each interaction the subtext is equally as important as what is actually said which makes for an interesting reading experience and reflects that rarely do words alone happen in any discussion be it romance or trying to negotiate a war.
This myriad of conflicts allows us to explore the main factions that power the Empire that also tend to be in subtle conflict with each other at the same time vying for power. Now the threat of war both excites them and makes us each question what the correct next step is. While this section is all intrigue rather than fighting the moves made here have huge ramifications across the light years of space around it. There are no villains here just different viewpoints and exploring the consequences of each and trying to make each other understand their opposing numbers can lead to either triumph or failure.
Reading this book is like watching myriad dances or singers crossing paths or merging notes; importantly either in harmony or conflict with one another which makes the wider story work rather beautifully. Everything is commentary or reflections of the bigger story at all levels. Ambition, love, power and war are all motivations within our character’s hearts, and each serves a purpose. By the end we understand all the characters a little more – some will find joy and others will face death, but the outcomes are uncertain until the last minute. There is a growing question of when does the individual move into the wider population. Our concept of Us and Them – empire citizen versus Barbarian; soldier versus spy; alien versus human is shown to be down to the concepts we refuse to accept the other is capable of understanding and subtly this all becomes clear to show often the barriers are not simply a failure in language but our own ability to grow and change ourselves in order to accept or even understand another viewpoint and what it means to us when we finally can do so.
A Desolation Called Peace is a quiet yet powerful space opera that builds upon A Memory Called Empire to give the reader a lot to chew upon. A message just as useful to our own loud and often argumentative times. A reading highpoint and I cannot wait to see what Martine has in store for us next! Strongly recommended!
