A Memory Called Empire (Teixcalaan #1)

Winner of the 2020 Hugo Award for Best Novel
A Locus, and Nebula Award nominee for 2019
A Best Book of 2019: Library Journal, Polygon, Den of Geek
An NPR Favorite Book of 2019
A Guardian Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Book of 2019 and "Not the Booker Prize" Nominee

Ambassador Mahit Dzmare arrives in the center of the multi-system Teixcalaanli Empire only to discover that her predecessor, the previous ambassador from their small but fiercely independent mining Station, has died. But no one will admit that his death wasn't an accident — or that Mahit might be next to die, during a time of political instability in the highest echelons of the imperial court.

Now, Mahit must discover who is behind the murder, rescue herself, and save her Station from Teixcalaan's unceasing expansion — all while navigating an alien culture that is all too seductive, engaging in intrigues of her own, and hiding a deadly technological secret--one that might spell the end of her Station and her way of life — or rescue it from annihilation.

“A mesmerizing debut...it left me utterly dazzled.” The New York Times Book Review

"[A] gorgeously crafted diplomatic space opera...Readers will eagerly away the planned sequels to this impressive debut." Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Politics and personalities blend with an immersive setting and beautiful prose in a debut that weaves threads of identity, assimilation, technology, and culture to offer an exceedingly well-done sf political thriller." Library Journal (starred review)

"This is both an epic and a human story, successful in the mode of Ann Leckie and Yoon Ha Lee. A confident beginning with the promise of future installments that can't come quickly enough." Kirkus (starred review)

"Interesting, detailed, lavish." The Wall Street Journal

"[An] all around brilliant space opera, I absolutely love it." Ann Leckie, author of Ancillary Justice

"In A Memory Called Empire, Arkady Martine smuggles you into her interstellar diplomatic pouch, and takes you on the most thrilling ride ever." Charlie Jane Anders, author of All the Birds in the Sky

“Daring, beautiful, immersive, and often profound.” Malka Older, author of Infomocracy

“I very much enjoyed it and look forward to what Martine does next.” Martha Wells, author of The Murderbot Diaries

Arkady Martine (she/her) is the Hugo Award-winning author of A Memory Called Empire. She is a speculative fiction writer and, as Dr. AnnaLinden Weller, a historian of the Byzantine Empire and a city planner. Under both names, she writes about border politics, rhetoric, propaganda, and the edges of the world. Arkady grew up in New York City and, after some time in Turkey, Canada, and Sweden, lives in Santa Fe with her wife, the author Vivian Shaw.