A Memory Called Empire, Arkady Martine. This was terrific - it may have catapulted all the way to my favorite 2019 novel, or if not, is at least the most broadly recommendable, compared with Gideon or Raven Tower, which I would expect more people not to like. If you're always on the lookout for Vorkosigan readalikes, if you're frustrated with the Vorkosigan books on gender grounds, if you like Goblin Emperor and/or Provenance, definitely check this out.

I read it without remembering anything I might have heard about it, except that it was some sort of space opera; I thought that was a great reading experience. However, I'll put a little more information behind a cut, if you're not quite sold yet. And then I'll sing "Twinkle, Twinkle", and then do a second cut with further vague but spoilery feelings. First cut:

A young ambassador from a small station to a large empire arrives to discover that her predecessor has died mysteriously and the political situation is fraught. And her many-years-out-of-date copy of his memories is glitching badly.

And now, a musical interlude, or what we used to call "spoiler space".

Twinkle twinkle little star,
how I wonder what you are,
up above the world so high,
like a diamond in the sky,
twinkle twinkle little star,
how I wonder what you are.

Second cut: Martine did one thing that I saw coming way in advance and still hit me like a ton of bricks, and then something else that I *should* have seen coming, in a beautiful "all the pieces were right there in plain sight" way, but that totally blindsided me, and man I have so much respect for an author that can pull that on me. Really quality work.