Shards of Earth by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Shards of Earth by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Buy Shards of Earth by Adrian Tchaikovsky at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Category: Science Fiction
Reviewer: Alex Mitchell
Summary: Tchaikovsky's opener to a new series shows us a world in the aftermath of a galactic-scale catastrophe, and how our protagonists work to survive in a world that has forgotten them.
Buy? Yes	Borrow? Maybe
Pages: 560	Date: May 2021
Publisher: Tor
ISBN: 978-1529051889
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Eighty years ago, Earth was destroyed, warped into an unrecognisable shape by the moon-sized aliens known as the Architects. Humanity is scattered, constantly fleeing as world after world falls to the architect's reshaping. Then, just when they had the human race on the run, the Architects vanished. And so, the memories of the war fades, heroes are forgotten, and humanity begins to fracture and fight among themselves. Idris Telemmier, a man genetically engineered to try and communicate with the Architects, does not want to be remembered. But, when he and the crew of the salvage ship he calls home discover what appears to be recent Architect activity, suddenly he is thrust back into the spotlight. As he and his allies bounce from star system to star system, chased by alien crime syndicates, human secret police and rich slavers, he slowly begins to realise that the real war is only just getting started…

The book is told from four different points of view. A lot of the plot revolves around Idris Telemmier, the pilot and navigator for the salvage ship Vulture God. Idris is an Intermediary; someone whose mind and body were shaped specifically to try and communicate with the Architects. He is an incredibly sad character, being haunted by his memories of the war, with people vying to either enslave him or employ him, and his augmentations leave him unable to age or sleep. Alongside him is Kris, the Vulture God's resident lawyer, who carries a knife just in case she cannot use legal arguments to get herself out of trouble. She also may or may not have feelings for Idris. They are later joined by Myrmidon Executor Solace, a member of the all-female order of genetically engineered super-soldiers known as the Parthenon, sent to try and persuade Idris to join them. As another veteran of the Architect's destructive rampages, she feels a certain bond with him. Initially I was a little worried that this was going to result in a love triangle, but thankfully it was not the case. Finally, there is Havaer Mundy, an agent for Mordant House, the secret police of the Council of Human Interests (or ‘Hugh'), whose chapters provide a rather interesting outsider perspective on the actions of the Vulture God's crew and all the politics surrounding them. Overall, they are all good characters, with each providing their own little insight into the world around them.

The setting that Tchaikovsky builds is a really interesting one and is well thought out. Each of the planets the crew visit has their own culture, from the highly oligarchical slave-based society of Magda to the crazy survivalists of the planet Jericho to the well-settled and civilised planet of Berlenhof, humanity's new cultural and administrative centre. The tensions between the various groups and the looming shadow of the Architect's devastation are felt throughout the world Tchaikovsky has built, such as the Spacers' reliance on quick fixes after decades of constantly jumping from colony to colony. Some of the factions also has their own unique dialects, with the Colonials using Dutch honorifics and the Partheni using French in more formal contexts. Tchaikovsky even provides a little glossary at the back of the book to help you familiarise yourself with some of the setting's aspects. It is an interesting setting, and I look forward to seeing how Tchaikovsky develops it in later books.

The aliens in the setting feel suitably alien; among them are the crab-like Hannilambra, the tube-worm-like Castigar, and the cybernetic insectoid colony-beings known as the Hivers, although they were created by humans, they still look and act in a very alien way. The Hannilambra and Hivers get the most spotlight, due to them having representatives on the crew of the Vulture god. There is also the Essiel Hegemony, a mysterious alien empire ruled over by a barnacle-like alien race known as the Essiel, who have long, quite poetic names and have to speak through interpreters since humanity still hasn't fully deciphered their language. Despite this, however, there are a couple of human planets that are willing to join them, and it appears that they may be more involved with the Architects than it at first appears.

Overall, this is a good book with an interesting story, likeable characters and a well-realised setting that does well to demonstrate a world in the aftermath of a devastating war.

Similar books by other authors:
The Doors of Eden by Adrian Tchaikovsky – Some of Tchaikovsky's previous work.
Death's End by Cixin Liu – another grand-scale science fiction story taking place in the aftermath of a cataclysmic war against aliens.

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