Since this book won the Hugo Award for Best Novel for 2020, I’ll take that to mean that I’m finally current on new science-fiction releases. Another problem I’ve been having recently is that even as I continue to read at least one traditionally published science-fiction or fantasy novel a month, I’ve been liking them a lot less than the web serials or even the random fanfiction which I read a ton of. Here at last is a novel that I solidly liked and would recommend, even though I think it is closer to being space opera than science-fiction. Admirable work by new writer Arkady Martine.

In a setting in which humans have spread throughout space and encountered aliens, the dominant polity is the powerful Teixcalaanli Empire. Meanwhile Lsel Station is an independent space habitat focused primarily on mining that fears being annexed by the empire. When the empire informs Lsel that their previous ambassador is deceased and a replacement is required, Mahit Dzmare is the chosen successor. Lsel secretly possesses a technology that lets them record the experiences and memories of their people via a brain implant so that they are made available to their successors. As such Mahit has the memories of the previous ambassador Yskander Aghavn but it is 15 years out of date as that is how long he has not returned home. When she arrives, Mahit is assigned a Teixcalaanli cultural liaison and assistant Three Seagrass and quickly determines that Yskander was murdered. She also learns that he was extremely close to the reigning Teixcalaanli emperor Six Direction and perhaps partially due to this interference, the empire is on the verge of a civil war.

Almost immediately upon starting to read this novel, it is quickly evident where this novel’s strength and hence the author’s interest lies. The Teixcalaanli Empire is a military superpower of course but more relevant here is that it is a cultural power as well that influences and assimilates all other cultures it encounters into itself. Considerable attention is paid to describe just how sophisticated the Teixcalaanli language is and how no one not born into the culture can properly understand their literature and poetry. This is made especially poignant here as Mahit, and of course Yskander before her, as she was selected to be his successor only because their views are so compatible, can be a candidate because of her own aptitude at the language born out of genuine love for the culture. Being present in the capital homeworld of the empire, which in their arrogance they simply call the City, she is overwhelmed by its beauty and splendor and is constantly reminded that no matter how much she has studied the language and culture, she is and always will be a mere barbarian. At the same time, she must somehow find a way to ensure the continued independence of Lsel Station despite their utter powerlessness in the face of the immense empire.

As a result the worldbuilding here is almost completely focused on the Teixcalaanli culture, which is obviously inspired by the Aztecs. We have their unusual system of names for people consisting of a number followed by a noun, with subtleties in the meaning of such names that even Mahit is unable to fully grasp, there’s how the emperor is raised through public acclamation, there’s political sparring through poetry competitions, and there are the blood rituals to profess loyalty. Of course we also have such details like how the Sunlit who act as the City’s police force are apparently controlled by an AI, how the Teixcalaanli all carry devices called cloudhooks which allow them to interact with the City’s AI, how interstellar travel is possible through jump gates and how contact with aliens is nothing new, etc. But the novel’s dramatic focus lies entirely on the cultural richness of the Teixcalaanli while treating the technology and the aliens as incidental to the story the author is trying to tell.

That’s fine of course and I love a good political intrigue as much as anyone. I also can’t fault the novel for exploring fascinating themes about personal identity, what with Mahit having to absorb Yskander’s memories into herself and what the Teixcalaanli emperor plans to do with Lsel technology, on top of the themes of a culture’s identity in danger of being erased by a more powerful and sophisticated culture next door. But I do have problems with how the rest of the worldbuilding detail feels so incongruous with the setting. For example, the much vaunted cloudhooks seem positively mundane compared to what modern smartphones can already do and it strains the novel’s credibility that Mahit is unable to receive ambassadorial messages because they are physical objects called infofiches. One scene has the group of would-be revolutionaries evade the authorities by boarding a regional train, relying on the fact the state enforcers will be stymied because they haven’t bought tickets! I mean, seriously? Unfortunately quite a lot of the intrigue in this book basically amounts to this kind of penny-ante skullduggery. So much for the all-seeing AI-mediated panopticon of the City.

That’s why I think this is best thought of as being space opera with the technology and starships and aliens being there for flavor rather than carefully constructed pieces of a coherent wider world. I think this is a problem for science-fiction in general because the real technological capabilities of modern nation-states are outstripping the ability of writers to intelligently incorporate them into stories and find plausible ways for protagonists to overcome them. Writers inevitably end up watering down those capabilities so much. I’m reminded of an excellent film that I’ve watched recently, Woman at War, which aptly demonstrates that there’s only so much that any one can do when the full force of a modern state turns its attention to you. This is why the nation of Iceland is so scary in that film while the Teixcalaanli Empire here is so hyped up but feels so ineffectual as an antagonist.

I have some general problems with the novel’s structure as well. There’s not enough information about the political system of the Teixcalaanli to explain why a military leader like One Lightning can credibly mount a coup against the emperor. I also have difficulty understanding why Twelve Azalea does so much to help Mahit and what Eight Loop has been doing. It’s just so odd that Mahit has so many scenes with Nineteen Adze but doesn’t meet Eight Loop at all even though she is clearly doing her own thing behind the scenes. Finally the book never gets around to explaining what’s up with the Sunlit or answering questions like who was responsible for the bomb Mahit got caught up in. Maybe this will be addressed in the sequels but it feels unsatisfying to leave it like that. They feel like omissions rather than plot hooks as the hints for future books seem to be more about the impending alien invasion.

Now all this might make this sound like it’s a bad book but it isn’t. This probably one of my favorite traditionally published novels that I’ve read in months. It’s solidly written and as an exploration of the themes the writer is truly interested in, about identity and cultural subsumption, it’s actually pretty great. But on the bits that the writer isn’t an expert in and doesn’t feel to care too much about, it is weak and as such it can’t be considered to be a great science-fiction book. At this point, I’m not sure if I’m going to read the sequels. I have serious qualms about the worldbuilding but at the same time, it seems that this really is the best science-fiction that is being written right now?