Preview
  • A Desolation Called Peace

  • Teixcalaan, Book 2
  • By: Arkady Martine
  • Narrated by: Amy Landon
  • Length: 17 hrs and 32 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (1,719 ratings)

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A Desolation Called Peace

By: Arkady Martine
Narrated by: Amy Landon
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Publisher's summary

2021 Publishers Weekly Best Books of the Year

"[An] all around brilliant space opera, I absolutely love it." (Ann Leckie, on A Memory Called Empire)

A Desolation Called Peace is the spectacular space-opera sequel to Arkady Martine's genre-reinventing, Hugo Award-winning debut, A Memory Called Empire.

An alien armada lurks on the edges of Teixcalaanli space. No one can communicate with it, no one can destroy it, and Fleet Captain Nine Hibiscus is running out of options.

In a desperate attempt at diplomacy with the mysterious invaders, the fleet captain has sent for a diplomatic envoy. Now Mahit Dzmare and Three Seagrass - still reeling from the recent upheaval in the Empire - face the impossible task of trying to communicate with a hostile entity.

Their failure will guarantee millions of deaths in an endless war. Their success might prevent Teixcalaan’s destruction - and allow the empire to continue its rapacious expansion.

Or it might create something far stranger....

A Macmillan Audio production from Tor Books

©2020 Arkady Martine (P)2020 Macmillan Audio
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Critic reviews

Lambda Literary Award - Nominee, 2022

Publishers Weekly Best Books of the Year, 2021

What listeners say about A Desolation Called Peace

Average customer ratings
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Read this book!

Gorgeous writing and a truly compelling story. I can't wait for more from this author!

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    5 out of 5 stars
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This is an amazing series

This is an achingly beautiful, subversive, delicious story. Language, identity, exile and the impact of Empire in the minds of the people who endure one.

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What an incredible sequel

I thoroughly enjoyed immersing myself in the world described by Arkady Martine. This book introduced several new characters and they all stand out. Really well done sequel.

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All around great…

Compelling story, powerful concept, engaging characters, satisfying conclusion(s)—and excellent performance. I always listen at 1.25x and it was perfect at that pace.

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so good

I love this series and I wish there was more. a great continuation from the first and it kept me on the edge of my seat. 5/5

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Great Book, Meh Adaptation

The audio version of this book can be disorienting at times when switching between points of view. While the narrated approach works well with the embodiment of some of the characters. It falls flat with others.

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Fantastic!!

incredibly written! highly recommend!! And incredible ride through alien cultures and war. You will not be sorry to have read it!

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a magician with language

arkady is a magician with language. the 2nd book in this series spun up the narrative tension even more. the audio version is a masterpiece of character development in its own right

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Space Opera! Diplomacy! Scary aliens!

great to revisit my favorite characters from book 1, plus a lot of new palace intrigue and poor Mahit keeps getting herself into trouble, or finding trouble at every turn. Amy Landon is great as the narrator - will def look for more books with her.

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Brilliant

Arkady Martine is brilliant. I don’t know if everyone will love these first two books as much as I have, but regardless of anyone’s feelings about these novels, no one can dispute her writing skills, her character & world building, or her obvious extreme intelligence.
These are sharp, incisive novels and throughout both of these first two books there are brilliant ( there I go again) little meta ways of turning the looking glass away from Texcalon & onto our own world & parsing the ways we view “we”, and our own interpretations on what it means to be “alien”, and so much more. I’m leaving this review for both A Memory Called Empire & A Desolation Called Peace, as book two really is a continuation of the story & a seamless one at that.
I would be remiss if I didn’t praise the stellar performance of Amy Landon, who is fascinating to listen to, and never once took me “out” of the story in her narrative. I will seek her work out in future.

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