Can we talk about how freaking amazing all these alien species and cultures and worlds and just NEW imaginings this book inspires? Reading this series is like stumbling across the joy of reading all over again; opening up every possibility. I love that even through the last book in the series you are still getting MORE glimpse of new and exciting things. Which we do, for the second half of the book, and I had a great deal of trouble putting the book down. Kā jau tas piedien triloģiju trešajām grāmatām, apskatāmās problēmas izmērs ir sasniedzis zināmā un nezināmā visuma izmērus. Vulture God apkalpei nu ir nopietnākas problēmas par viena lokāla Arhitekta uzbrukumu, viņi ir pievērsuši pašu visuma valdnieku uzmanību. Lai dzīve nebūtu rožu dārzs autors ir nolēmis pamanipulēt ar dažādu frakciju lojalitāti. Kādreizējie draugi kļūst par ienaidniekiem un civilizācijas, kurām šķiet viss bija vienalga pēkšņi kļūst ieinteresētas.

Tchaikovsky’s artistry is focusing on a few key, well-wrought characters facing impossible odds in keeping Idris safe while allied races turn against each other. This is space opera on the grand scale of Alastair Reynolds and Stephen R. Donaldson, leavened by humor and remarkable world building."— Booklist (starred review)on Eyes of the Void Publishers Weekly gave Shards of Earth a starred review, calling it "dazzlingly suspenseful" and "space opera at its best". [6] In a review for Grimdark Magazine, Carrie Chi Lough praised the novel's nuanced characterization of the Intermediaries and the Partheni, and called the novel "the paragon of epic space operas". [2] In a review for Locus, Russell Letson praised Shards of Earth as an example of "recombinant sci-fi" because it combines several large ideas into a "busy, complicated, surprising [concoction]." Letson praised the story's grand scope as well as its use of common tropes in novel ways. [3] A review in New Scientist praised the psychological exploration of "unspace", but felt that the story was sometimes "hard to follow" due to the number of alien species, planets, and characters. [7] Shards of Earth also won the 2021 British Science Fiction Award for Best Novel. [8]I received an advanced copy of this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This book is scheduled to be published on May 2, 2023 in the US. ** Deep within unspace, where time moves differently, and reality isn’t quite what it seems, their masters are the true threat. Masters who are just becoming aware of humanity’s daring – and taking steps to exterminate this annoyance forever.

Human and inhuman interests wrestle to controlIdris’discovery,as the galaxy eruptsintoamutually destructiveand self-defeatingwar.The other great obstacle to striking against their alien threat isIdris himself.Heknows that theArchitects, despite their power,aremerely tools of a higher intelligence.

About this book

I mean the action sequences were literally out of this world! And the dialogues are amazing. You really know the characters by the end of it and you can't let them go! I love Idris and Ollie and Solace and Kris and Kit and all of them really. It felt like I was a part of their crew But another obstacle to striking against the alien threat is Idris himself. He knows that the Architects, despite their power, are merely tools of higher intelligence. But who will listen to him when the means to crush the architects is close to hand? Also, to my mind, the confrontation at the end felt a bit too abstract, and the solution just a bit underwhelming compared to the all encompasing threat of the Architects. I am afraid Tchaikovsky bit off just a bit more than he could chew here.

Lords of Uncreation achieves a remarkable turnabout of perspective in which we see Idris looking at the universe from the other side of the real. There he sees everything and achieves a sort of omniscience, not because he becomes a superman but simply because he can imagine himself standing at a point in the center of all things. In a sense, that corresponds to the writer’s imagination, for, after all, what is Tchaikovsky doing but exactly what Idris describes – arranging the unknowable in familiar terms, fitting it out with direction and a landscape that we can imagine ourselves within.That “tedious round of politics and violence” occupies much of the novel and reveals how crazily committed to power through war the rest of the world seems to be. Even when facing imminent destruction at the hands of the Architects, a couple of factions of humans decide it is time to strike their enemies, even though they need all the firepower and transport spaceships they can get to save as much of humanity and other species as possible. So they fight their battles, and these are captured quite well in fast-paced action sequences. For Idris, barely aware of anything going on in the real world, that’s all a distraction. But this intricate set of enmities, wild characters and their ongoing battles threaten to weaken humanity at its most vulnerable time. I found the first half of the book rather slow, to be honest. It was mostly focused on squabbles among the assorted human and human-adjacent factions. There wasn’t anything wrong with it; it just wasn’t what I wanted. Yes yes, the nobles from Magda are bastards, there are competing factions within the Hugh, let’s just get on with the Architects, please. This was not as satisfying of a read as I hoped it would be (especially after the stunning finale to the second book in the trilogy). But still, even a slightly sub par book for Tchaikovsky is still head and shoulders above most other competitors in the field. And even if my expectations were for it to be something more surprising and exciting, it did provide a satisfying ending to the central mystery of the series (the nature of unspace and the mysterious masters of the architects). The climax had to move a lot of pieces and all storylines got together beautifully. Also, like every book by Tchaikovsky, it was well written. Not showy, but engaging, with vivid descriptions, that don't overstay their welcome and punchy, sometimes very funny dialogue. The actionscenes were tense and the atmosphere of cosmic horror was well evoked. I don't think Chaikovsky will be hailed as the master of prose, but he uses his prose as an instrument for the propagation of his ideas in a very engaging and precise way. His ideas are his forte, and this trilogy is full of weird alien civilisations, human factions, weird metaphysical theories about our universe and some theoretical physics. I think Tchaikovsky characters are always engaging as well, coming across as very human, flawed, but not too flawed to make them unsympathetic, and mostly heroic despite themselves. I like reading about the people he writes about. As you might expect, this is a dark, intense, claustrophobic, atmospheric space opera with some disturbing acts of violence aimed primarily at the innocent. The good guys are not necessarily good, and the bad guys are usually pretty bad, if not seriously evil. The language can be a shade brusque, and the content a little colourful, i.e., somewhat bloody and gory, so be prepared it might not be for the faint of heart.

vislabāk man patika ieskats Hegemonijas civilizācijā. No malas šķiet, ka kults kurā visi pielūdz austerveidīgus radījumus, kuriem pati ideja par kustību šķiet ķecerība. Viņas sūtņi izskatās pēc klaunu bara, kas brīvi interpretē savu saimnieku teikto. Bet Hegemonijas tehnoloģija un birokrātija ir tik attīstīta, ka neviens viņiem neko nevar padarīt. Un ja vēl spēlē iesaistās Aklu the Unspeakable (the Razor and the Hook) par kura nozīmi Hegemonijā var tikai minēt, tad lietas, kļūst pavisam dīvainas. I had half an idea where this eventually was to end up from an early period, and I was not disappointed in how the climactic conclusion developed how I had vaguely surmised. The fact it took an age to reach the ending did not matter one iota, as it was text-book Tchaikovsky through to a spellbindingly stunning finale. I loved that this finale not only gave us the answers to the questions we've been asking, but also focused on the unasked questions. Like how the survivors might fare even if everything went splendidly. If people would be able to get a grip and become allies. The inter-personal exploration was as interesting as Idris going into Unspace even deeper to find the Lords of Uncreation. We follow Idris as he moves step by step more deeply into unspace and sees and understands more and more of its structure. It is this steady advance that convinces him the Architects are only the tools or slaves of another more powerful force that has bent them to its will and that wants to destroy all traces of sentient life from the universe. But why? What is it that sentient beings are doing that arouses the wrath of that deeper force? These are the questions Tchaikovsky and his characters grapple with and slowly discover in this final and immensely satisfying conclusion to his trilogy. Tā nu esmu nonācis līdz Arhitektu triloģijas beigām. Jāsaka ka ceļojums bija visnotaļ aizraujošs. Par autora spēju uzrakstīt aizraujošu stāstu es nekad nešaubījos. Mani kā lasītāju kosmiskās operas pievelk kā naktstauriņu iedegta spuldze. Līdz ar to šai triloģijai praktiski nebija nekādu iespēju mani pievilt.

Favourite characters are Olli and Kittering. Idris is really kind of a drag in this one, especially his forays into Unspace with their lengthy descriptions of what he sees and feels. My eyes glazed over a few times. Ollis‘ entire story was the most fun. I did enjoy Solace and Kris as well, although Kris only played a minor part. Too bad that she ended up so bitter at the end. Paul Weimer (30 Sep 2021). "The Center Cannot Hold: Adrian Tchaikovsky's Shards of Earth". Tor.com . Retrieved 7 Sep 2022. Idris Telemmier, an intermediary navigator and self-confessed inferior human being, has uncovered a secret that changes everything; he has found the biggest weakness of an Architect. Human and Alien interests wrestle to control the discovery that Idris has made, causing the galaxy to erupt into a mutually destructive and self-defeating war. Oh, and everybody who has already read the first two books will read this one as well anyway, of course.