TESSA TALKS BOOKS

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.

Look for the book here:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08HLPZY6X
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55437088-shards-of-earth

Shards of Earth by Adrian Tchaikovsky is an exciting new SciFi adventure that kept me on the edge of my seat as a motley spaceship crew battles the reshaper of worlds known as The Architects.

What I Loved

As a toe-in-the-water SciFi reader, I‘ve never run across the idea of unspace. This concept intrigued me and caused my imagination to jump leaps and bounds, imagining all the possible implications. It is a layer of space utilized for faster travel, but the pathway is dangerous and mind-bending, so much so that most crew members typically sleep through it. The reality or unreality of it is that complicated.

I also loved the different factions/beings in the story. Solace, the Parthenon, is probably my most favorite, followed closely by Olli. I loved Ollie’s wit and spunk, and though imagining the type of creature she is alludes my ability to visualize the unknown, her sarcasm made me chuckle on more than one occasion. Solace, though, as a faction of the human race, was a being with which I could more identify. She reminded me of a space-age Amazonian, like Wonder Woman. I love Wonder Woman, and I also love Solace. She is a warrior who can take on large groups of beings and come out of the fray unscathed. She is also a protector, and her relationship with Idris – as his protector/bodyguard is heart-warming and completely relatable.

The book is quite cumbersome, being over 500 pages of new words, ideas, beings, and places that my mind and imagination had to work overtime to understand in a way that allowed me to appreciate the story and all its nuances. It took me much longer than usual to read as the complexities slowed my reading for the first quarter to half of the story. Still, once I had a firm grasp of what I needed to imagine, the pages just flew by, and the story took me on an incredible journey that I will not soon forget.

Even though this is the first book in a series, I also loved that it ends with a soft conclusion that let me know this leg of the journey was done. Tomorrow will be the start of a new adventure – maybe related, maybe not, but potentially with the same characters that I grew to love throughout this story.

To Read or Not to Read

If you love a good SciFi adventure story and are open to expanding your imagination, this is the perfect novel for you. You will, as I did, marvel at the new worlds and beings with the opened mouth awe of a child seeing fireworks for the first time.

Adrian Tchaikovsky is the author of the acclaimed Shadows of the Apt fantasy series, from the first volume, Empire In Black and Gold in 2008 to the final book, Seal of the Worm, in 2014, with a new series and a standalone science fiction novel scheduled for 2015. He has been nominated for the David Gemmell Legend Award and a British Fantasy Society Award. In civilian life he is a lawyer, gamer and amateur entomologist.