Some people think the point of a sci-fi novel is to be adapted into a TV show or movie, and there are many such novels that have made the jump from page to screen, like the excellent 3 Body Problem on Netflix.
But sometimes, the best thing for a great sci-fi book is to leave it on the page. Such is the case with this modern classic.
Get into the Teixcalaan series
Hard to pronounce, wonderful to read
The Teixcalaan series is made up of two books: A Memory Called Empire, published in 2019; and A Desolation Called Peace, published in 2021. Already, you may have already noticed that author Arkady Martine has a way with language. That will stand out as you read the synopsis.
A Memory Called Empire introduces us to Mahit Dzmare, who lives in the independent republic of Lsel Station. She is named the new ambassador to the Teixcalaanli Empire, a vast colonial power that controls thousands of solar systems and colonized worlds. She is replacing former ambassador Yskandr Aghavn, who died under possibly mysterious circumstances.
Mahit finds herself treated like a barbarian when she arrives in the Empire, and slowly gets to know denizens like Three Seagrass, Twelve Azalea, and even Emperor Six Direction. You may be wondering why the people of Teixcalaan are named like that, with a number and a noun as their first and last names. Arkady Martine is a historian by trade, and she worked hard to make the different cultures in her book series feel distinct and rooted in linguistic reality. The practice of naming people like this originated among the indigenous Mesoamerican Mixtec people. The Teixcalaanli Empire is also influenced by the Byzantine Empire, while the culture and history of Lsel Station take cues from the Armenian Kingdom of Ani.
This kind of grounding helps these books feel rich, lived-in, and layered in a way that a lot of space operas do not. There’s a tactile sense of reality to the worldbuilding.
Why A Memory Called Empire shouldn’t be adapted to the screen
Or at least, not unless the author is confident it could be done right
But the series isn’t all about high-minded worldbuilding. In the second book, A Desolation Called Peace, both the Teixcalaanli Empire and Lsel Station are dealing with a threat from an alien species, although the Teixcalaanli Empire has much more to lose. That disparity comes into play in the story. Mahit Dzmare accompanies members of the Empire as they make first contact, but she’s under orders to sabotage so the war between the aliens the Teixcalaanli Empire is prolonged, the logic being that if the Teixcalaanli are fighting this invasive threat, they won’t be able to follow through with their original plan to annex Lsel.
Both books have elegant prose, tight pacing, and intriguing dilemmas the characters have to play out. These novels are thematically resonant without being overly showy about it. The interplay between the Teixcalaanli Empire and Lsel Station brings up all kinds of questions about colonialism, how institutional memory guides society, and how language influences societies. All of those topics are there to explore, but if you just want to enjoy an exciting story with action, scheming, and romance, you can do that too.
The Teixcalaan series is good enough to be adapted to the screen, either as a TV show or a movie, but after having seen so many good book series adapted poorly, the safer option would be to let this series be. Sometimes, it’s better to leave things in their original form rather than risk ruining them.
Substitutes
Why adapt A Memory Called Empire when these shows exist?
There are plenty of other sci-fi shows worth watching right now, and some of them hit a few of the same notes that Martine’s books do. The most obvious point of comparison is Foundation, an Apple TV series that adapts Isaac Asimov’s legendary sci-fi series about a giant galactic empire in decline. In that series, the Galactic Empire is ruled by a series of three clones of the same original person; one is always young, the other middle-aged, the other old. The Teixcalaanli Empire is ruled in a similar way, with a genetically similar (but not identical) clone replacing each emperor after they die.
Another series with similar ideas is Star Trek, which has had many shows and movies over the decades. Without giving away too much, the aliens in the Teixcalaan series have a collective consciousness that recalls the Borg. That conflict is resolved in a surprising and fascinating way.
Get to reading
Both A Memory Called Empire and A Desolation Called Peace won the Hugo Award for Best Novel, and both deserved it. This is a dense, compelling series that deserves more fans than it has.
And if Hollywood comes calling, they better make sure that they adapt the series with all of its subtlety and intricacy intact. In the meantime, if you finish Martine’s books and want more, there are plenty of other great sci-fi novels out there to enjoy.
- Release Date
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September 23, 2021
- Network
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Apple TV+
- Showrunner
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David S. Goyer
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Ella-Rae Smith
Queen Sareth I of Cloud Dominion