While much of AMCE was dedicated to introducing us to this world and learning of the Teixcalaanli Empire through Mahit’s Stationer eyes, A Desolation Called Peace provides a ‘first contact’ scenario. She does not resort to easy ‘evil/good’ dichotomies and repeatedly challenges her characters’ ideas and views. But I liked how bold Arkady is when it came to characterisation. Political scheming abounds within these pages, each character has their agenda, no one is trustworthy or necessarily ‘likeable’. Arkady’s world-building is phenomenal, the stakes are even higher than in AMCE, and we follow multiple characters, most of whom are plotting against one another. A Desolation Called Peace was an exhilarating and wonderfully inventive read. All of this to say that for those worried that A Desolation Called Peace may suffer from ‘second book syndrome, I say, fear no more. In my review, I describe AMCE as a case of ‘great concept, poor execution’ but now I wonder whether I just read it at the wrong time. In fact, I liked A Desolation Called Peace so much so that, when I looked back to my review for A Memory Called Empire, I found much of my criticism unfair. With A Desolation Called Peace Arkady has achieved something quite rare in a sequel. “Trust is not an endlessly renewable resource.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |