The war is over. Its heroes forgotten. Until one chance discovery . . .
Idris has neither aged nor slept since they remade him in the war. And one of humanity's heroes now scrapes by on a freelance salvage vessel, to avoid the attention of greater powers.
After earth was destroyed, mankind created a fighting elite to save their species, enhanced humans such as Idris. In the silence of space they could communicate, mind-to-mind, with the enemy. Then their alien aggressors, the Architects, simply disappeared - and Idris and his kind became obsolete.
Now, fifty years later,
Idris and his crew have discovered something strange abandoned in space. It's
clearly the work of the Architects - but are they returning? And if so, why?
Hunted by gangsters, cults and governments, Idris and his crew race across the
galaxy hunting for answers. For they now possess something of incalculable
value, that many would kill to obtain.
Earth and many other worlds were destroyed by the Architects, a species that is planet-sized and who kills billions when they reshape a world (or ships) into art. Mind-blowing stuff. How do you stop something so huge, who doesn’t even acknowledge sentient life? Enter the Intermediaries or Ints. Idris Telemmier is a survivor of the war against the Architects as is Solace, a member of the Parthenon. 70 years after they ended the war it looks like the Architects are back and this time there are precious few of the first class of Ints left to fight this time. However, Idris is still alive and he’s going to do all he can to defeat them or, at the very least, convince them to go away. Solace is once again by his side, but will it be enough?
Ho-ly shit! This is a massive richly detailed world. There are so many species, so many customs, so much politics that in the beginning it was hard for me to get a handle on everything. It didn’t help that my life was completely disrupted in May so I could only shoehorn in a few pages at a time. Not conducive to a great reading experience of an epic space opera. In any case, it does take a bit of sorting out as to what the hell is going on and who is who, but once the dust settles oh, boy. Hold on to your britches because this is one hell of a ride.
The characters are awesome. Each and every one of them. There is not a single one who drags the story down. Each species is unique and described in detail. Even so I did have a hard time picturing some of them. The story flows. I mean, really flows. There’s action and danger and personal conflicts. It has everything. The story revolves around Idris and Solace, but is told from a couple of different POVs which is good because a tale this massive needs more than one POV to provide a well-rounded feel. Now that I’m immersed in this world I need more. I will definitely be continuing this series. If you love epic sci-fi then you better not pass this one by.
Adrian Tchaikovsky was
born in Lincolnshire and studied zoology and psychology at Reading, before practicing
law in Leeds. He is a keen live role-player and occasional amateur actor and is
trained in stage-fighting. His literary influences include Gene Wolfe, Mervyn
Peake, China Miéville, Mary Gently, Steven Erikson, Naomi Novak, Scott Lynch
and Alan Campbell.
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.
Guns of the Dawn, his
new fantasy novel, is out now.
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