A Memory Called Empire

A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine.

Surely there are better ways to communicate than holographic scrolls

Another example of me being surprisingly interested in political intrigue after Goblin Emperor and for much the same reasons; the characters are well-written and likeable. I guess something inherent to the genre forces authors to actually think about troublesome things like motivations, worldbuilding and how people might act in a given situation rather than having their characters do whatever seems coolest at the time.

Our protagonist Mahit is ambassador from a small space station to the galaxy-spanning Teixcalaan Empire, politely but urgently requested after the untimely demise of her predecessor. Said predecessor was seemingly enjoying life in the big city a little too much, as he hadn't been home to update his stored memories in a decade. Mahit would normally have the version of him right up until his death living in her head to help out, but soon after arrival even the decade out of date version she was stuck with freaks out and goes quiet after seeing his own dead body. Alone and friendless in the imperial capital Mahit is on the clock to figure out who killed her predecessor and why, before tensions around the imperial succession boil over and destroy the tenuous agreement keeping her station independent.

I really anjoyed this one, the characters are strong and believable, there are twists that don't feel like asspulls and the worldbuilding is interesting enough without taking over the story. Excited to read the second (and final book) in the series.