Reading Wednesday

Just finished:  A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine. I really liked this one and I will absolutely read the sequel. The worldbuilding is just gorgeous, from the Aztec-inspired empire built on intrigue and poetry, to the claustrophobic but fiercely independent station that wastes nothing, including the ashes and memories of its dead. It's well-written, with rich, dense prose and tighter plotting than I'm used to seeing from Tor. If I have a complaint, it's that the character work felt a little weak by comparison to everything else. Part of the point was that Mahit's personality, by virtue of the way her culture works, is somewhat underdeveloped, but I still didn't get a sense of who she was in the ways that her character needed to be for the story to work. But still, I found it really engaging and want to spend more time in the world.

Currently reading: Nothing, but I'll start The Hidden Palace tonight and am greatly looking forward to it.