A Memory Called Empire (2019)

Mahit arrives as an ambassador carrying an unusual form of continuity with her predecessor: a stored personality intended to help her do the job. Martine makes that inheritance both intimate and politically dangerous. What appears to be knowledge can also be another person's unfinished loyalties, and cultural memory becomes part of an empire's attraction. Read for diplomacy and divided authority, allowing time for names, poetry and protocol; the story continues in A Desolation Called Peace.