A Desolation Called Peace, by Arkady Martine

 Read the second of the Teixcalaanli books by Arkady Martine, nom d' plume of AnnaLinden Weller, a history professor. Her first was A Memory Called Empire, one of my favorite reads last year. I re-read it (chose it for the family book club, on purpose) before reading #2. 

Spoilers:

Three Seagrass and Mahit Dzmare are friends. Really good friends! Even though they only have known each other for one week. (First book.) But, that one week was quite eventful. They got blowed up. Mahit was poisoned. Almost stabbed. A lot happened, so of course it would end in a kiss. 

In the second book, their relationship went beyond. In just a few days. After a fight. Sure that happens. Could happen quick. It did happen quick, and frankly I didn't have any issue with it. Martine's sex scene would never be submitted to Bad Sex in Fiction, certainly. It was fine. It wasn't graphic like Fourth Wing. (Thank God.) The scene was done and was great. (I'm a hot-blooded American male; I have no issue with gay sex, lesbian or male. I read The Liar and had no issue, trust me.) But once it was over, it was over. I think it didn't need to be said (several times) how one character was recently inside the other character. A bit overmuch.

But that's really it. My wife wasn't as big a fan of A Memory Called Empire as I was, so she won't be reading this one. But I liked it. What I like about Martine is her world-building. Some could (and have) complain about all the female characters in her books. Most all the main players are. The fleet admiral-equivalent was female. The Minister of War, female. The emperor, female. Both main characters, female. Lots of females. Who cares. The characters were great. 

The story, also. I love Eight Antidote. He'll be a good emperor I think. (Shall we see in Teixcalaan book #3?) The Shard pilot, the Shard trick was intriguing. Especially its communicating faster than jumpgates. 

The fungi angle is interesting. My wife (award-winning author herself) is working a short story now where mushrooms are integral, so I had to tell her all about the fungus among...not us, till the end. 

I could hear the author a bit too much. Was she saying something about Hiroshima? Before I was even half through the first book I wondered: I bet she's married to a woman.* I didn't look into it. After the first book I looked her up enough to see she's a history prof (I really think Teixcalaan is based on Incan or Aztec empires). That's it. And I was right! This book, #2, I heard the author more. Her comment, when Three Seagrass said "...people of my gender and sex" I thought, Oh, here we go. But nothing again for a while. Until she had a they/them character. Le sigh... Thankfully, that character was in for a paragraph or three. And at about 90% on the Kindle. Unlike the fifth The Expanse book which had a they character for way too long. Listen to readers: That pronoun crap is going to become dated very soon. Stop doing it! (*I was right.)

Her writing is good, though. Well worth the read. And the world is believable and well-thought-out. I will read the third one. 

Spoilers done. 

I'm especially thankful to the author for providing this book (and her first) on Kindle Unlimited.