Shards of Earth is the first novel in Adrian Tchaikovsky's latest series, The Final Architects Trilogy. It's an extensive science fiction novel, as only Tchaikovsky could ever dream of pulling off.

Mankind had to find new ways to stay alive following the destruction of the earth. They created enhanced humans, ones with linked minds and the ability to communicate with the enemies. It made them the deadliest of opponents. And humanity's best defense.

Idris is one of those humans. After the Architects vanished, it seemed like people such as him had no purpose in the great expanse of space. However, Idris and his lot know that war is never far behind, especially when questions have been left unanswered.

Honestly, I'm almost at a loss for words here. Shards of Earth is every bit the intense and expansive science fiction novel that I had hoped it would be. Arguably, it is so much more than that. In fact, my brain is already demanding a second read-through of this novel, just to make sure that I captured every detail.

On that note, it's probably worth mentioning that it is every bit as dense as it is tense. There is a lush backstory for readers to delve into, not to mention a plethora of characters and motivations to understand and appreciate.

It makes the world (universe) come to life, and it feels vibrant and threatening all in one. It's perfect, especially for fans of epic space operas. This is a novel that will not disappoint; I can promise you that much.

This is my first Adrian Tchaikovsky book and I was not let down. My husband has read several of his other novels and I've always hemmed and hawed about getting into space operas. Reading Shards of Earth made me regret that decision. This book had sci-fi, action, and adventure. I loved the detailed exposition and descriptions of a multitude of alien species.

The conflict of this book is between the mysterious alien species, The Architects, and well everyone else in the known universe. The first battle of the book brutally describes the path of destruction the Architects have created. In response the humans have created the Intermediary program after one human is able to fend off an Architect attack by using seemingly psychic powers. One of our main characters, Idris, is an intermediary that was created for the war. Not just any intermediary either, but one of the first and one of the only left alive that have faced the Architects. The intermediary program was successful and the Architects have left the universe alone for some 50 years, but now they seem to be returning.

Idris has been serving with a rag tag space crew salvaging deep space wrecks. But the return of the Architects has him, his crew, an old friend, and many other characters swallowed into conflict. We jump from planet to planet learning more about the threat, and the Essiel, a clam like alien species that promises protection against Architects. As the mystery of the return of these villains unravel we're taken through action, loss, found family, and mystery.

I loved this novel and it had an excellent ending. My only complaint is that I wish some of the exposition that was saved for the last quarter of the novel had been moved up. There was a lot of information that was covered too late in the story. I know it was meant to be like a big reveal, but it fell a little flat for me. Still I can't wait to read the next book!

In the distant future, the whole universe is faced with a threat called the Architects--mysterious beings aptly named because they like to rearrange planets into aesthetically pleasing shapes ... to the detriment of all life on it. In order to combat them, humanity engineers superhumans known as Intermediaries who are able to telepathically communicate with them at the risk of their own insanity.

When an Architect approaches Berlenhof—the heart of humanity’s colonies—an Intermediary named Idris somehow manages to destroy it. The war is over. Decades pass without an Architect sighting, but when one is rumored to have reappeared, Idris becomes a prized pawn as opposing factions seek to use him.

Shards of Earth by Adrian Tchaikovsky paints a richly imaginative and sweepingly ambitious space opera with splash of cosmic horror. There’s a plethora of unique alien races and warring factions, so there are a lot of pieces on the board here. This makes for a denser read, but thankfully, there’s a glossary and timeline in the back to help.

However, the element of cosmic horror and the mystery behind the ancient alien civilizations are what I found to be the most intriguing aspects of the story. I know I’m biased, but I love the idea of a nearly unfathomable-godlike entity that can alter space and induces insanity with anyone who touches its mind. I’m also really curious to find out more about the Originators—an enigmatic race that even Architects fear and who remind me of the Engineers from Prometheus in the best possible way.

All and all, Shards of Earth may not the easiest read, but it’s an incredibly creative and awe-inspiring work of hard science fiction.

Earth’s crust and mantle have been peeled back by the Architects and shaped into a beautiful flower. A beautiful, uninhabitable flower.

Maybe this is a reflection of my age, but I kept thinking about how clean spaceships were in science fiction when I started reading. The governments were huge global or galactic entities demonstrating how humans had unified, and often how they had integrated into a system of many alien species. There was an orderliness to science fiction worlds, even if the protagonists were rogues or the ruling government was evil. I also remember that when the protagonists got their hands on a MacGuffin someone would say, “we need to get this into the right hands!” and there were right hands for it to go to. We don’t live in that world anymore. There are no objectively right hands, just better or worse hands, depending on where you stand.

In Shards of Earth, humans, with a lot of help from alien species, were slowly colonizing other worlds. The Architect showed up and sculpted Earth as they had many other inhabited worlds, forcing people to flee in anyway they were able. Millions died unable to get off the planet or in spaceships not designed to carry so many people safely. Humans and aliens banded together to fight a desperate war for survival, and won. Or survived, because the Architect disappeared. Decades later, humanity is even more fragmented with a growing Nativist movement that narrowly defines human and rewrites history, as such movements do. Shards of Earth follows Solace, Idris, and the crew of the Vulture God, a salvage ship for hire. Rounding out the cast is Havaer Mundy, a spy.

Idris and Solace are survivors of the last battles against the Architects, heroes of the war. Idris Telemmier is a human whose brain was modified to fight Architects. He is one of the last of his class and has lived for decades, unsleeping, not aging, desperately trying to stay free of the various factions that see him as a commodity (yay, capitalism). He travels with his own knife wielding lawyer. Myrmidon Executor Solace is a human who was grown in a vat with other women exactly like her – a Partheni soldier, a clone. Solace has been put into long sleeps, waking a different points. She can see how the fractures between groups of humans has widened.

“We were the shield and sword of the Colonies,” the Partheni went on. “And then, when the war was over, you started asking why we had to keep on being different to you.”

Space hasn’t been kind to a lot of humans. Malnutrition and lack of gravity have had long term impacts on bodies. Travel through unspace is a constant mental trauma for Idris, but he can survive the trauma and the others cannot. The tension between the wealthy and the rest of humanity lies underneath everything. Tchaikovsky stops short of glorifying the make do mindset of the Colonials, or the genetic perfection of the Partheni. Instead they are all good, bad, and fully human.

Shards of Earth very nicely sets up a universe on the brink of going from not great to worse. I loved the complicated characters and their conflicting loyalties. I don’t know exactly where Tchaikovsky is going with the series, but I’m looking forward to finding out. A lot of conflicts have been set up and it will be interesting to see which ones are in the foreground in the next book. It has a banger of an ending and I can't wait to see what happens next.

CWs: deaths of characters, violence, torture, physical and mental trauma.

I received this as an advance reader copy from NetGalley and Tor in exchange for an honest review.

So yeah, I started this one after playing a ton of spikeball with the boys down by the lake. I won most of the games, no big deal or anything. I did crush a pack of mango white claws and reading after that was a bad idea, bros. You need all your mental faculties operating at full tilt for this one. I was trying to wrap my brain around this elaborate universe and my mind pretty much imploded. I had the thousand-mile stare and drool dripping off my lips. Normally, I operate pretty decently half cut, so I’m going to blame this one on the sun. So my pro tip is, no booze, no sun, just hunker down in a quiet hole because you’re not getting spoon fed an easy story here. This universe is slammed into your face right from the get go.

Anyways, humankind is scattered across the stars after this race called the Architects come out of the blue and turn Earth into a shotgunned beer can. These Architects are moon-sized beings that pop up and turn inhabited worlds into works of art. They are completely unstoppable and unaware of human presence. It’s like gnats versus an elephant, or you versus me in spikeball, no chance in hell bro.

But yeah, a couple decades into this one-sided war, these dudes called Intermediaries are bio-engineered. Their brains have been modified and they can insert themselves into the Architects minds. At the battle of Berlenhof, everyone is getting their asses kicked until these Ints jump into the mind of the Architect. It opens up their weakness and they’re able to destroy the it. The first victory ever and in the decades that follow, the Architects never show back up. Humankind gets back to what they do best, in-fighting and politicking. Really cool guys.

And that’s where this story picks up. This group of genetically modified clone warrior chicks called the Parthenon was once humankind’s warrior creed. Now they’re in a big rift with the Human Council and the two groups are drifting apart. Solace was at Berlenhof and she helped save the Int named Idris who was the one who killed the architect. She’s now tasked with finding Idris and getting him to join the Parthenon. When she connects with Idris they track down a ship that looks like it’s been wrecked by the Architects. Are these bad bros back? We all fucked!

The story really dials up to eleven after this. Solace and Idris and the crew of the Vulture God (a surly captain, a crab accountant, a lawyer who’s handy with a dueling knife, a hive cyborg, and a disformed drone pilot) are caught up right in the middle of it all. They travel in Unspace and via the Throughways to different worlds and end up in trouble at each place. Each time they piss off a new group that ends up trying to hunt them down. On the run from Colonial spies, alien cultists, alien gangsters, human nativists, invincible symbiotic thugs, Parthenon warrior babes, and all the while the threat of the Architects looms in the Unspace. They’re trying to save the universe and shit just got real.

So the first 20% or so is a bit of a grind as you have to piece together the entire universe. It was pretty damn dense as there’s a lot of characters, aliens, worlds, space travel concepts, politics, religions, and fucking so much more. It’s awesome, but it’s a lot. I did find that some of the groups and characters got involved and then disappeared completely. I was a little down about that but I’m guessing they’ll have a much bigger role in the books to follow. What made up for that was the action scenes. They were edge of your fucking seat intense! Big, big fan, dudes. So prepare yourself, take your time, and piece this puzzle together because it’s one wild ass space opera!

Anyways, that’s about all I got. Adios amigos!

I’ve heard of this author before (Children of Time is highly regarded), but have never read him. Well, color me impressed! This book is very well written. Now I do need to admit something...I was confused for a fair amount of the book. I’ve never read space opera sci-fi before, and this is much more complex than I’m used to. There are quite a few different alien races and worlds named and described, and complicating the matter is that some of these are referred to with multiple names for the same entity. Also the concept of the Architects and unspace is confusing & a bit unclear. So it’s a compliment to the writer that I still really enjoyed the book even though I was a bit lost. I just forced my brain to roll with it and it’s a well told story. I love the ragtag crew, and the concept of found family is taken farther in this book, as the captain actually refers to crewmembers as “my daughter“. But can’t these poor bastards get a day off once in a while?!? There’s always someone chasing them trying to steal their ship or kidnap them or kill them or all of the above.
The biggest critique I’ve seen of this book is that there’s quite a bit of info dumping in the first quarter of the book. As someone who reads more fantasy than sci-fi I’m used to having an info dump, and frankly I find it very helpful for world building purposes. So don’t let the beginning of the book scare you off!

Thank you to NetGalley & Orbit Books for this advanced reader copy. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Adrian Tchaikovsky has an immense imagination, and the scope of Shards of Earth gives it vast space. Literally vast since the novel and its strange crew of salvagers moves from one planetary system to another through the terrifying bent space-time depths known as unspace in what seem to be moments. But those moments are pure hell for the pilot Idris, one of a surgically altered group of humans with mysterious mental abilities. Those abilities enabled the Intermediaries or Ints, as they’re called, to divert the worst destructive power the universe has ever known. That is the unknowable race referred to as the Architects.

Their moon-size ships appear suddenly over planets which are then turned inside out, destroying all inhabitants. The distinctive peeled-apart remains in complex designs inspired the name, but nothing else is known about them. Idris found that he and others like him, if they were lucky enough to survive their re-engineering, had a unique ability to perceive the mysterious patterns that drew the Architects to certain planets and even to enter their minds. Somehow that ability caused these enemies to vanish, perhaps because they simply recognized humans as having abilities resembling their own. No one is sure.

Decades after their disappearance, Idris is part of a salvage crew on the Vulture God with a wonderfully eclectic mix of different species and often abrasive yet witty personalities who have formed their own style of family. When searching for a lost ship to salvage, they make a terrible discovery. The ship Oumaru bears all the marks of destruction by the Architects.

How can the crew deal with this carved-up graveyard ship without setting off alarms around the universe that the Architects have returned? It’s not long before the Vulture God and its crew are pursued by an assortment of powerful and interestingly villainous members of multiple species, all determined to seize a mysterious set of objects aboard the destroyed vessel.
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The multiple levels of this complex story come together quite well and work toward an exciting climax, but for me the center of the story is the human one centered around Idris and the choices he must make.
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The forays into the minds of Architects during the war exacted a terrible price on Idris’ mind and body. Several of the other Intermediaries died under the withering stress, but he survived. Yet his role as a pilot through unspace also tears into him each time he finds himself alone in that in-between world where the rest of reality falls away. Solace renews her bond with Idris as one of the few who can literally hold him together during his excruciating experiences. She is caught between her role as an agent assigned the task of drawing him into the Partheni fold and her human sympathy and affection for him as she guides him through his torment.

Shards of Earth is a rich and wonderful book, the start of a series that promises to be a landmark of space adventure. Besides the excitement of its many battles, of wits as well as spaceships, it describes, as few other books have, the human toll of altered minds and lives spent in war and travel among star systems.

Read the full review at SciFi Mind

I have read many of Adrian Tchaikovsky's books and enjoyed most of them. This is another to add to that list. Despite not being to really be fully engaged with this one it was still a good read. I don't my think attention was focused as it needed to be when reading this one but that is something that may be needed to get the most enjoyment out of this book. So many characters and alien races we encounter and it became a bit of a challenge to keep everything straight. Mysterious aliens that destroy planets for no apparent reason and can't be talked to are the danger to the worlds that have life on them. I feel like I have seen this before but can't remember when and where. The aliens are truly alien and don't appear to be that many humanoid type aliens so far. There is also your usual xenophobic human groups, your adventurous space groups and the big central government. The spacers provide most of the most interesting of characters at this point. This is action filled and seems to go from dangerous situation to another at times. I didn't really dislike any of the characters either but then there were characters that meant to be disliked for sure. This is probably just the beginning of another grand space epic and should be a journey many will want to go on. A very solid book to start another series with great potential for greatness. Much thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for the opportunity to read a good book.

Quality space opera in the tradition of Iain M. Banks (with a healthy dose of Mass Effect, right down to the inscrutable world-killing giant spaceships). Tchaikovsky lands you in the midst of a dizzying amount of detail in terms of alien species, human factions, and cast of characters to keep track of, but he does a good enough job of characterizing all of them that it doesn't take that long to get your feet under you (it helps that he, uh, cuts down the character list pretty quickly, if you follow my meaning). Sometimes the scale of things isn't entirely clear: for instance, if one of the aforementioned world-killing spaceships appears in the solar neighborhood of a particular planet, it's muddled just how urgent the threat is. It feels like they come out of "unspace" practically on top of planets, and yet people apparently have a surprisingly long time to futz around coordinating evacuations and military responses, so the threat level in ensuing action scenes is uneven. It also has a bit of "first book syndrome" where it doesn't quite resolve anything in favor of setting up a multi-book plot arc. But it did leave me happily anticipating the rest of the arc rather than frustrated at the loose ends. I will have to move Tchaikovsky's other books, especially his other space operas, up my to-read list a bit.

I don't typically read a lot of space opera, but I'd heard such good things about Tchaikovsky's Children of Time that I wanted to give this one a shot. It was a solid three stars for me up until about the last third, at which point it abruptly kicked up into four stars.

The depth of the worldbuilding throughout is incredible: the space culture, the history, the wide variety of alien species, the ships, the planets and settlements, the alternate dimension of unspace, and especially the destroyer-gods called Architects and the haunting presence that permeates the void. But even as I was being awed by this, I found the characters hard to latch onto for much of the novel. There were also a surprising number of hand-to-hand action scenes that felt somehow tonally off from the rest of the book. The book doesn't feel like a thriller, for the most part – it feels like a political intrigue – and so these scenes bogged me down, personally. EXCEPT for one amazing action scene toward the end, which takes place not between individuals but between spaceships and planets. THAT was awesome.

So, the latter third of the book really picked up for me. Additionally, by then I had gotten to know the characters better and was able to love and sympathize with them, particularly the mind-hacker Idris. The novel jumps around so much in the beginning, and something about the prose is so distant, that it just took me a long time to warm up to them. But all of the characters are great – knife-dueling attorney Kris; genetically engineered supersoldier Solace; smack-talking disabled-yet-not technician Olli; snooty academic metal hive-mind Trine; and the rest.

So, overall: I would recommend this novel! And if you're ordinarily a fan of space opera, I would definitely recommend it. If you don't typically read a lot of space opera, just be prepared for a long ramp-up.

I received an eARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read the latest work from Adrian Tchaikovsky. I had previously read Children of Time and enjoyed that story very much, but then tried reading Children of Ruin and for some reason I just couldn't get into it. When this came up as an ARC title I was both intrigued and a bit weary based on my last experience.

With that said, I am very glad that I read this work. The story had me hooked from the opening battle and the introduction of the Intermediaries. Without giving much away, the author was able to beautifully craft a universe that is both vast and diverse in terms of species. The descriptions of the salvage crew showed just how much he wanted to build this universe beyond just a few main and side characters.

I think was had me drawn to this book while reading it was the very Mass Effect-esq scope and scale to the story. With the Architects being very similar to the Reapers, but with their destruction came an odd sense of beauty at the same time. I will gladly recommend this book to anyone who wants to be teleported into a universe that leaves you wanting more, not just in terms of story, but in terms of exploration as well!

The Shards of Earth by Adrian Tchaikovsky(The Final Architecture: Book One)- Earth is destroyed by an unstoppable alien force, the Architects, which, as suddenly as it appeared, disappears. Surviving humans, desperately clinging to their cindered community, begin rebuilding with the help of other shattered galactic refugees. Fifty years pass as this new alliance grows increasingly stronger. Then signs of the eminent return of the Architects is at hand, and everyone gathers for the fight of their lives.
Tchaikovsky effortlessly builds a coherent future with all the sharpness and color of a master painter. There is so much going on that explosive details greedily attach themselves to a fast moving story full of darkness and wonder. This begins a new series that is sure to find a welcome home in the annals of Space Opera for years to come.

Shards of Earth is a Sci-fi space opera set 50 years after a war that destroyed Earth and created a human diaspora. The enemies of that war the Architects, who destroy planets by reshaping them into intricate art structures, have reappeared and the few veterans of the war are needed again. This book features a lot of interesting sci-fi concepts and very diverse cast of characters. Tchaikovsky's Sci-fi is always a hit with me and this is no exception. Broad and ambitious, and I can't wait to see where it goes next.

I have been told by so, so many people that I need to read CHILDREN OF TIME and I confess I haven't yet, but I feel that this is a great place to start with Tchaikovsky's writing. He has a way with words, worlds, and characters that rivals Sanderson. This ticked all the boxes for me and I hope to see more from him in the future.

Could not finish. I bounced so hard off of the book. The writing style did NOT work for me and I was so sad about that, because I’ve heard such good things about this author. It did not seem poorly written, and I could tell that the author poured his heart into world building, but to me, every paragraph was a slog. Hopefully this book finds its audience, which was not me.

Thanks to NetGalley and Orbit books for an advance copy in exchange for a fair review.

What a fantastic book. Highly inventive, dealing with grand themes (aliens who reshape worlds i including Earth - into intricate sculptures bereft of life), inscrutable and well-imagined alien races, and high stakes scheming fueled by bigotry and populism. Peopled with likable characters with real emotions. Conveyed in clear readable prose and great dialogue. I think Tchaikovsky is a master at dialogue; he brilliantly captures emotion and can leave the reader saddened or utterly amused with a turn of phrase.

While at its heart a familiar space opera quest story, there are enough mysteries and fascinating encounters to keep this from ever getting stale. It ends begging a sequel, which I will hasten to read.

Loved it. Such an interesting exploration into what it could be like if there were certain people with altered minds that enable instant travel through space, or unspace. Of course if humans can do this, somewhere out there will be aliens that can do this too, and some of them will be incomprehensibly threatening. Earth is destroyed, humans are spread out in ships and colonies on other planets, and there's a definite possibility that the aliens responsible will be returning. There's a whole civilization of cloned women warriors waiting for this to happen, but they lack the mind-altered people who can navigate unspace and communicate in some manner with these aliens. After setting up this epic scene, we dive way in to follow one of the cloned warriors as she tries to recruit a navigator. She joins their small salvage ship with great Firefly vibes, and many adventures ensue. They have their ship stolen, recover it, encounter other aliens, visit some fascinating planets, and eventually come head to head with the returning ultimate adversary. There's a satisfying conclusion, but also a promise of more to come. The story is very engaging and enjoyable, I highly recommend!

This blew me away, I couldn’t put it down. I’m a big fan of Tchaikovsky’s work and this was the best one yet, I will be eagerly awaiting the next two books and will gobble them up as soon as I can get my paws on them.

Right off the bat it was a little confusing and I had a couple of false starts until I could give it my full attention; I decided to just let it wash over me and I had to be ok with not getting it right away. This is an author I trust, after all, and that trust is rightfully earned. The confusion from the beginning comes slowly into clearer and clearer focus as the story progresses.

The pacing was great, the characters are solid, there was a lot of humor which I really appreciated, it kept the tone lighter than it might have been given the subject matter of the story.

This book was a really great time. I’m glad to not live in this universe but then again, I wouldn’t really mind it either, you know?

SHARDS OF EARTH is a superbly written book, exactly what you’d come to expect from Adrian Tchaikovsky! It’s perfectly-paced, funny and one heck of a ride into the deep void and back. The world building is AMAZING! The crew of the Vulture God visits a number of colony worlds, interacting with an array of non-humanoid alien lifeforms, including the mysterious Architects—divine sculptors, world annihilators, villains the size of the moon.

In my opinion, they aren’t the worst villains in this book. Each set of lifeforms, human or alien, seem to have a few deplorables in their ranks. Intent on kidnapping our dear navigator Idris, or murdering the crew of the Vulture God. There’s so much tension on every page!

There’s also a bit of military and political intrigue but it’s not the focus of Shards. As you would guess, the various human and alien lifeforms don’t always get along, even when they’re faced with a common enemy like the Architects.

Shards of Earth is a solid SF read that left me thinking about the story and characters long after I put the book down, imagining myself riding along side Idris & co on the Vulture God as I walked my dog. Can’t wait for the next book in the series!

I've been hearing about Adrian Tchaikovsky for so long but never read him, so I was thrilled when I received this ARC from NetGalley. This sucks to say, but I'm really disappointed.

In all fairness, space operas are not my fave kind of sci-fi, but I'm not against them. I love the intricacy of Dune and the fun of Crownchasers. This novel seemed like it was trying to combine the two but didn't meet the bar.

Ya know when a novel has a bunch of different narrators and they all sound the same? Yeah, this had that. Otherwise, most of my issues were just personal preference and boredom as opposed to problems with the writing.

I am going to try another one of his works though, need to know what all the fuss is about.