Attention! Adrian Tchaikovsky's Latest Space Opera "Shards of Earth" Coming Soon

Secretly I have this nagging fear that as I get older, I might be losing my ability to picture fantastic worlds in my head and the joy this ability gives me. So I was a little nervous about starting to read Adrian Tchaikovsky's massive, action loaded space opera Shards of Earth because it is exactly the kind of book for which that ability is vital. The first installment of the "Final Architects" series is set in a universe which is deeply marked by a great war with intriguing adversaries; the moon sized, mysterious Architects. This war has ended with the help of psychic-like humans who can communicate with these moons, the Intermediaries, but years later there are new traces from the Architects and the fear is great they are back.

I have to admit that I had a little help, though - the glossary and the historical timeline at the end of the book which list and briefly explain worlds, characters, ships, main political movements and species and for which I am extremely grateful. Especially these new species are manifold and it does help a lot if you know their basic properties. The Parthenon, for instance, are a gentically engineered all-women warrior race. And even though the Parthenon are the warriors, I was more impressed by the invincibility of the Tohiats in fight scenes and found the cyborg-like Hivers truly endearing. Plus I was invariably happy to be able to look them up.

The storyline of Shards of Earth follows a group of people on a vessel ship who somewhat unwittingly get involved in the discovery of the above mentioned traces that indicate the return of the Architects: Idris, the unaging intermediate who still carries the trauma of the war he played a great part in winning; Kris, a lawyer from a rich planet with impressive knife-handling skills; cranky drone specialist Oli who, due to her physical disability, drives a very cool custom-made scorpion vehicle which enables her to move; captain Rostand and finally Solace, a Partheni soldier who is the last to join the crew. I did have problems warming up to some characters, to be honest. Talking about a group of random people traveling together, whether they are hobbits and elves united by a quest or cyber-racoons and humanoid trees space-robbing; the interaction between the members of the crew is in my opinion one of the most important points to make that story enjoyable. Here, especially in the beginning, I just didn't feel the bond between the bunch and one character I openly disliked; it's Captain Rostand - I can't stand people who talk of themselves in the third person and don't like people who declare themselves a parent of yours by calling you "my child, my daughter". I already have parents, dammit! Luckily it gets much better later in the book.

While I initially had a little trouble following and finding my way in this universe (All hail Glossary!), I was fully invested by the third world - you have to think of the storyline as a constant world hopping and each of the five parts of the book is set on and named for a different world. Still, no action-packed space opera fun without socio-political complexities! And I found those complexities believable and consistent. Questions were raised such as, what kind of reactionary socio-political movements/ resentments can genetic engineering generate? Nativist humans and their radical wing, The Betrayed, for instance, are not happy at all that there are humans who can communicate with their archnemesis. Or the constant bickering between the bodily disabled Oli and Solace who was designed for physical perfection is a constant reminder of these conflicts in this (or any other) universe.  I also liked some intriguing concepts like the "unspace", a solution Tchaikovsky brings to the problem of faster than light travel and most of all, the Architects! Many questions concerning the Architects are deliberately left unanswered and an enemy who does not destroy, but deconstructs and rearranges its adversaries is an unusual but congenial thing! Shards of Earth ends in a good place too; tying up the ends that need to be tied up, but leaving enough open to be excited for in future installments.

So, concerning my doubts and troubles whether or not I'm losing my imagination, Adrian Tchaikovsky's answer has been a resounding and reassuring "No, you're not!" and I appreciated that a lot. If you are the spacey type on the lookout for a solid space opera, you may want to try Shards of Earth, it should be available here in Europe some time End of May, or maybe in June, depending on import troubles caused by the bad B-Word. I know that I will be waiting for next installments.

Thanks pan/macmillan for the proof copy!