Thalric is one of the most interesting characters in the book, though he is of a type: the member of the Empire who is starting to doubt his role as the dutiful servant and merciless soldier and spy. He claims to value the Empire above all else, but putting children to the sword doesn’t sit well with him, and he isn’t too certain about slavery, either. Although he’s a fairly standard character for an Empire-based fantasy, his depth of insight is compelling. The Private Life of Elder Things (2016), ISBN 978-1911034025. Co-authored by Keris McDonald and Adam Gauntlett. A collection of new Lovecraftian fiction about confronting, discovering and living alongside the creatures of the Mythos.

Stenwold and his last disciples, his spider-kinden ward Tynisa, his niece Chee, his apprentice Totho and a young prince of the Commonweal Salma try one more desperate attempt to do something, while Intelligence Captain Thalric of the Empire currently emissary to the Collegium has Sten on his hit list. The whole story is a phantastic spiderweb and you are the fly. Once you're captivated you only can free yourself by finishing the book. Tchaikovsky still uses role-playing games to help develop his stories, but now also uses live action role-playing, which assists in describing the numerous action and battle sequences in his books. He is currently involved with the LARP game Empire. [15] I don't know how to describe it properly, but the action scenes in here didn't even feel like action most of the time. The writing-style and prose are pretty good consistantly, but the action... I don't know about that one.

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Wright, Jonathan (September 2009). "Meet a Brit author in the vanguard of the new heroic fantasy…". SFX Magazine. Archived from the original on 8 March 2010 . Retrieved 15 March 2010. This brings me round to my first issue. Whether by accident or not, there are some gaps here. Tchaikovsky does a good job with his supporting cast, in particular with Salma, Tynisa and Thalric, who all undergo real development as characters and feel like they’ve grown past their starting limits. I could write a lot about each of their journey’s but I’ve pledged to keep this spoiler free.

All the moving parts. New kinds of humans! Very distinct politics all over the place! Found family! Magic! The blindness of the leaders is one of the most prevalent themes of the book, and basically also what drives the narrative, as the characters decide to act themselves and finally prove their point. TERRY WEYNA, on our staff since December 2010, would rather be reading than doing almost anything else. She reads all day long as an insurance coverage attorney, and in all her spare time as a reviewer, critic and writer. Terry lives in Northern California with her husband, professor emeritus and writer Fred White, two rambunctious cats, and an enormous library. I’ll be honest; I struggled with the beginning of this book. I even tried to pass it off to other reviewers. I felt that I wasn’t jiving with the whole premise. I kept reading because I recognized quality writing and hoped that in itself would endear me to the story. Well, it did. I was so glad I didn’t set this one down. Adrian Tchaikovsky’s characters and world grew on me and I finished the last ¾ of the book in half the time it took me to read the first ¼. Performance of good quality with rapid accent shift to delineate characters and good emphasis and intonation, no glaring errors.stars - Oct. 2022 re-read via the new audiobooks. Ben Allen does a fantastic job narrating. His performance reminds me of Jim Dale in the way he acts out the voices. A fast paced and interesting story. The world building is quite good, from the various powers, the intra-Kinden conflicts, the differing cultures and philosophies of the kinden and the hidden history. The characters are also excellent. From Stendwold and Tisamon, to Cheerwell and Achaeos, all the characters were interesting and each had their own skill set that made them integral.

Only the ageing Stenwold Maker – spymaster, artificer and statesman – foresees the threat, as the empires’ armies march ever closer. So it falls upon his shoulders to open the eyes of the cities’ leaders. He sees that war will sweep through their lands, destroying everything in its path. I did not yet talk about characters though, which are obviously one of the most important elements in a story like this. And they are great. Nothing too special but serve their purpose. I am not a fan of how he depicts swordfights, chases, general battles and the likes... It feels disconnected in a way and not "exciting"... But maybe that is just me being spoiled by all the great action-writers I read at the moment... It was a very fine book with an original idea and well executed too. Solid world building, even pacing and impeccable characterization, plenty of action as well. I liked this book but did not love it, mostly because there was just too much war. The author actually writes war really well but it is not my favourite subject and I admit to skimming a bit. The characters were good and I had developed an attachment to, or at least an interest in, most of them by the end of the book thus ensuring I will move on to book 2.

I feel like this is so far a worldbuilding-focused story, with characters, that are likable and easy to grasp. Summed up, setting is phenomenal. It is extremely unique, while also very easy to follow. I guess with a genius premise like that, it is just very easy as an author, to fill the cultures with depth and make them all differ from each other. Also a difficulty for many first-time authors that Tchaikowsky cleverly avoids here. My experience with fantasy is that every good fantasy has a good setting. In A Song of Ice and Fire you get Westeros and the Known World, in the Old Kingdom trilogy you get Ancelstierre, Dragonlance has Krynn, Lewis has Naria, Tolkien Middle Earth, the list goes on.