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  • A Memory Called Empire

  • By: Arkady Martine
  • Narrated by: Amy Landon
  • Length: 15 hrs and 37 mins
  • 4.2 out of 5 stars (183 ratings)

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A Memory Called Empire

By: Arkady Martine
Narrated by: Amy Landon
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Publisher's Summary

Winner of the 2020 Hugo Award for Best Novel

Shortlisted for the 2020 Arthur C. Clarke Award

Shortlisted for the 2019 Goodreads Choice Awards

In a war of lies she seeks the truth.... 

Ambassador Mahit Dzmare travels to the Teixcalaanli Empire’s interstellar capital, eager to take up her new post. Yet when she arrives, she discovers her predecessor was murdered. But no one will admit his death wasn’t accidental – and she might be next.

Now Mahit must navigate the capital’s enticing yet deadly halls of power, to discover dangerous truths. And while she hunts for the killer, Mahit must somehow prevent the rapacious Empire from annexing her home: a small, fiercely independent mining station. As she sinks deeper into an alien culture that is all too seductive, Mahit engages in intrigues of her own. For she’s hiding an extraordinary technological secret, one which might destroy her station and its way of life. Or it might save them from annihilation.

A Memory Called Empire is followed by A Desolation Called Peace in the Teixcalaan duology.

©2019 Arkady Martine (P)2019 Macmillan Digital Audio

Critic Reviews

"A riveting story of character interplay and politics, this audiobook features the cool, calm narration of Amy Landon. Incredibly dialogue-driven, this story requires Landon to distinguish important nuances between characters with her word emphasis and pronunciation. She does so in a way that allows listeners to become engaged with the story and easily follow the political maneuverings. Her smooth delivery combined with Martine's story makes this sci-fi audiobook perfect to absorb one's attention." (AudioFile)

"A Memory Called Empire perfectly balances action and intrigue with matters of empire and identity. All-round brilliant space opera, I absolutely loved it." (Ann Leckie, author of Ancillary Justice)

"Contender for debut of the year." (SFX Magazine)

What listeners say about A Memory Called Empire

Average Customer Ratings
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  • Overall
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    4 out of 5 stars

A storming sea, a journey, galaxic in scale

Depth, like the ocean,
A storm blinds truth and fiction,
Safe port found at dawn.

In spirit of the stories deep literary and cultural uniqueness comparing with other space operas, I wrote the above haiku. Arkady wrote a solid and unique book 1. Amy did a solid narration of the story.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A poignant examination of “In-Betweenness”

I wish this was the text we had studied in my university course on Colonialism. A brilliant examination of the seductive cultural influence of empire, in the shape of a fast-paced political thriller. This is my third time listening to it, and each time it gets more nuanced and I notice more imagery and metaphor. A delight, if you like reading quality literature that lets you use your brain. The narrator does a wonderful job bringing the characters to life and giving Mahit a vivid and well rounded presence.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Ponderously slow

Too little over too long. Bad science. Big plot holes. Flat peripheral characters. But I did finish it.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

SUPERB. A supernova in the arms of the sky.

Loved every moment of this book. Well except when it ended - I need more!

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Brilliant book let down by a choppy audio track

It’s a lot like having audio from your old Tom Tom gps. The book might be good. It’s hard to get past the narrator for me. It’s possibly a bit of editing too.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Long winded

Though the narration was good I found the prose to heavy going for my taste.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Immersive

A very real universe populated by very believable characters in an engaging story. Starts off by being intriguing and becomes a real page turner

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Interesting, Surprising, and Exciting

Interesting, surprising, and exciting from start to finish. Full of most compelling characters, political maneuvering and intruige, and questions of what constitutes the self, this story had pits in my stomach, fear in my blood, and smiles on my face.

In addition, Amy Landon does an excellent job at narration, though she does sound somewhat synthetic early on. It's something you get used to, and once you start to get a sense of her sheer range of voices, her narration is something I easily got lost in.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Original and interesting

Love the story and my only criticism is that the galaxy had live TV but uses physical media that takes months to deliver for personal communications. And a prevailing lack of surveillance that should come with a City AI.

The narrator needs to learn the pronunciation of a few words like “Lagrange Point” and “indictment.”

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Implausible science, mediocre poetry

Don't know why I finished this. The characters left me cold. The notion of implanting memories in a mechanical device runs contrary to neuroscience. The AI is far fetched. Nothing against poetry, but far too much of it, and not very good.

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