The Republic of Memory, Mahmud El Sayed
The Republic of Memory, Mahmud El Sayed
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The Republic of Memory

Author: Mahmud El Sayed

Narrator: Lara Sawalha, George Greenland

Unabridged: 15 hr 16 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 05/05/2026

Categories: Fiction, Science Fiction


Synopsis

A Most Anticipated Book of 2026
Transfer Orbit • CrimeReads • The Bookseller

A Memory Called Empire meets Children of Time in this Arabfuturist debut set on a generation ship on the brink of revolution as its crew begin to ask why they should toil for a people, and an empire, none of them remember.

The Safina is a city ship halfway through its four-hundred-year voyage from the ruins of Earth to a new colony world. Its crew maintain the ship, generation after generation, while protecting their ancestors in cryostasis so that one day they will be able to enjoy a fresh start under clear blue skies.

But when blackouts start, unrest follows.

The ship can only continue running smoothly with the cooperation of the crew. And the crew has had enough. As coordinated acts of resistance coincide with a much more complex conspiracy, a chain of events is set into motion that will change life on the Safina forever.

Inspired by the real-world events of the Arab Spring, The Republic of Memory is a bold interrogation of empire and an energizing portrait of revolution.

About Mahmud El Sayed

Mahmud El Sayed is a British Egyptian science fiction and fantasy writer and translator. A former journalist, he won the 2023 Future Worlds Prize for Fantasy and Science Fiction Writers of Color for his work focusing on Arabic and Islamic–inspired themes in a genre he is calling Arabfuturism. He lives in East London where he spends his time pondering linguistic oddities and running story ideas by his cat.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Mara on March 08, 2026

An ambitious debut novel, and I loved it. So rich in culture, political intrigue, fresh concepts of language through time, and REVOLUTION. All in the confines of a generation ship voyaging through space to their new home after technology / war destroyed earth. The precious cargo is the important peo......more

Goodreads review by Meg on April 24, 2026

4.5 ⭐ rounded up! A visionary debut that I will be thinking about for a long time! This is an “Arabfuturist” dystopian sci-fi set onboard a mammoth spaceship hundreds of years after the end of human life on Earth; it’s diverse and clever, witty, sad, and often brutal, and it was executed so well. Thi......more

Goodreads review by Anodyne on March 09, 2026

200 years ago, the Network Empire commissioned a fleet of generation ships to carry their best and brightest to a new world. Ten years into that journey they receive an emergency communication from Earth calling them back; when the ship AI insists, the crew respond by forming the Compact, decommissi......more

Goodreads review by Gem on April 27, 2026

4.5 stars (Thank you to Saga Press for the ARC. All opinions are my own.) I don’t read Science Fiction all that often, but whenever I do, I always curse myself that I don’t read it more, because when I do pick up a Sci-Fi book, I almost inevitably find I’ve chosen something great. The Republic of Memo......more

Goodreads review by Rallie on April 24, 2026

This book is everything I hoped for and more - if you're excited by what it says on the tin, guess what it's EVEN BETTER than that! I was hooked from the first page and by the time I got to the last ~40-50 pages my heart rate monitor started screaming at me to chill out (I have screenshots to prove......more