2020/96: A Memory Called Empire -- Arkady Martine

2020/96: A Memory Called Empire -- Arkady Martine

...each and every one of those captains has led troops down into a new system, carrying all the poison gifts she can muster: trade agreements and poetry, taxes and the promise of protection, black-muzzled energy weapons and the sweeping architecture of a new governor’s palace built around the open many-rayed heart of a sun temple. [p. 11]

( no spoilers )