A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine

A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine is the sequel to A Memory Called Empire, which I previously read and reviewed and which was last year's Hugo Award-winning novel. While I enjoyed the first book, I enjoyed the sequel even more.

An alien armada lurks on the edges of Teixcalaanli space. No one can communicate with it, no one can destroy it, and Fleet Captain Nine Hibiscus is running out of options. 

In a desperate attempt at diplomacy with the mysterious invaders, the fleet captain has sent for a diplomatic envoy. Now Mahit Dzmare and Three Seagrass—still reeling from the recent upheaval in the Empire—face the impossible task of trying to communicate with a hostile entity. 

Whether they succeed or fail could change the fate of Teixcalaan forever.

The central plot point is the war brewing between the Empire and mysterious aliens, only a few jump gates from Lsel Station. Our protagonists from the first book drag themselves into the thick of things and find themselves face to face with the aliens. Meanwhile, we are also introduced to two new characters — the senior fleet commander on thee front and the eleven-year-old imperial heir — who are both also excellent. I really enjoyed following all their stories and the way they ended up tying together when it came with dealing with an existential threat to human life.

After having done a lot of the heavy lifting with regards to worldbuilding in A Memory Called Empire, Martine is free, in A Desolation Called Peace, to explore other aspects of the world and characters. Some new concepts are introduced, but more of the focus is on characters and events. And while this book does follow some of the key characters from the first book and hinges on events that were set in motion in book one, both books are complete story arcs. You probably shouldn't read them out of order, but the first didn't leave us on a cliffhanger and the second had a lot more peril and a lot less poetry in it.

I really enjoyed A Desolation Called Peace, even more than A Memory Called Empire and I really hope Martine brings us more stories set in this world, even if no novel-length sequels are currently planned. I highly recommend this book to fans of space opera and space intrigue/diplomacy more generally. If you found the first book a bit slow, I think you'll enjoy this instalment more.

5 / 5 stars 

First published: March 2021, Tor Books

Series: Teixcalaan book 2 of 2 (for now)

Format read: eARC

Source: Publisher via NetGalley