Are you ready for a space opera? I hope so! For June we're reading A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine. This is her debut novel, and it won the Hugo for Best Novel in 2020, as well as the Compton Crook Award for Best First Novel. It was also a finalist for the Nebula, Locus, and Arthur C Clarke Awards. She didn't stop there however. The sequel, A Desolation Called Peace, won the 2022 Hugo, as well as being a finalist again for the Nebula and Locus Awards. This meetup is just for the first book.
Where to find the book (as of this writing on 4/19/24:
Hard Copies:
Delaware County Libraries - 4 of 6 copies available
Free Library of Philadelphia - 0 of 6 copies available (2 holds)
Montgomery County Libraries - 15 of 16 copies available
eBooks:
DCL - 0 copies
FLP - 0 of 12 copies available (6 holds)
MCL - They have it, but I'm not a member so I can't see details
Audiobooks:
DCL - 2 of 2 copies available
FLP - 0 copies
MCL - 0 copies
Also available to purchase from all major booksellers in all formats.
Summary:
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.
462 pages, 15h 42m
Pub March 26, 2019