#booktour Shards of Earth (The Final Architects Trilogy, #1) by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Title: Shards of Earth
Author: Adrian Tchaikovsky
Series: The Final Architects
Genre: Science Fiction
Publisher: Tor
Length: 592 Pages
Publishing: 27th May 2021
Blurb:
This high-stakes space-based adventure will be perfect for those who loved Children of Time, also by Adrian Tchaikovsky.
The war is over. Its heroes forgotten. Until one chance discovery . . .
Idris has neither aged nor slept since they remade his mind in the war. And one of humanity’s heroes now scrapes by on a freelance salvage vessel, to avoid the attention of greater powers.
Eighty years ago, Earth was destroyed by an alien enemy. Many escaped, but millions more died. So mankind created enhanced humans ¬such as Idris - who could communicate mind-to-mind with our aggressors. Then these ‘Architects’ simply disappeared and Idris and his kind became obsolete.
Now, Idris and his crew have something strange, abandoned in space. It’s clearly the work of the Architects – but are they really returning? And if so, why? Hunted by gangsters, cults and governments, Idris and his crew race across the galaxy as they search for answers. For they now possess something of incalculable value, and many would kill to obtain it.
Praise for Adrian Tchaikovsky:
‘Brilliant science fiction’ – James McAvoy on Children of Time
‘Full of sparkling, speculative invention’ – Stephen Baxter on The Doors of Eden
Shards of Earth is the first thrilling instalment in the Final Architecture trilogy - by the Arthur C. Clarke award-winning novelist Adrian Tchaikovsky
My Review:
⭐⭐⭐⭐
*Like always my reviews may have slight spoilers*
This was my first time jumping into the mind of Adrian Tchaikovsky, even though I've had his Fantasy books on my shelves for sometime (I should really get to those), and I have to say I was not let down.
A century before the Earth is destroyed, humanity finally makes contact with aliens, we learn there are other intelligent life forms. We learn about unspace and how to travel it, and over time start to establish colonies on other planets. We establish relationships, and conflicts.
Shards of Earth takes places multiple generations after the destruction of the Earth and other colonized planets at the hands of the Architects, an alien godlike moon sized entity who not only destroys the planet but reshapes them into works of art, beautiful in design whilst killing all life that remains.
There are humans, Intermediaries, who are tweaked with and designed to stop these Architects. There is success with Idris, he stopped them the last time, and they left. Ending the war, becoming a hero. But now it looks like they could be coming back. And Idris wants to know why. And he wants to stop them.
The density at the start of this book made getting into it slower than I thought it would be, but with that being said it didn't take away from my overall enjoyment just slowed me down a little and once we got past say the first 20is% smooth sailing. I liked the politics. How after all that has happened to multiple worlds we still all have tensions and war is still something that could happen. It amazed me to see the cult like religious group, even after all these years away from Earthly religions there is still something that people will follow. Does it surprise me when we encountered the Nativists? No there will always been sets of humanity that think they are better than others. After all that has happened, humans and other intelligent life still go back to how they were, not heading advice and doing things for their own gain.
I REALLY enjoy Shards of Earth, after my mind was able to click with density and the witting style I was hooked. The concept intrigued me, I kept on thinking okay is this going to go this route or this route, and I was wrong with all of my guesses and theories. I was kept on my toes and on the edge of my seat the whole book.
Adrian Tchaikovsky did a great job of setting the atmosphere. I could imagine the events as they took place. I was there on the planet Berlenhof, with the adapting nature among the ruins of the Originators. Some of my favorite parts are when traveling the throughways and unspace. The feeling and idea of the presence. Honestly I would have actually liked more of those scenes, it was horrific and I had chills. The story played out like a tv show in my mind. This is a story that deserves a visual medium as well. It also could be that for the most part my main science fiction experiences have been mainly television or cinema, I'm working on that.
The cast of characters, especially those that make up the crew of the Vulture God will make you smile, the relationships with each other is a perfect found family. There's bickering but they have your back. The scenes with them are my some of my favorites through out the story. As to a favorite character, it's hard to pick but Idris is among the top of the list.
The ending surprised me, like I said previously I assumed so many other outcomes.
This is a book that I know I will read again, so that says something.
I can not wait for book 2.
But in the mean time, I will content myself with reading Adrian Tchaikovsky's backlist.
Shards of Earth is available on Amazon
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Let's meet our author:
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I would like to thank TheWriteReads, UkTor and BlackCrowPR for the opportunity to take part in this book tour.
Happy Reading!
Great review!
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