Review: Shards of Earth, by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Five of the best science fiction and fantasy books of 2021
From the writer who brought you the best sci-fi story about intelligent spiders (Children of Time) comes Adrian Tchaikovsky‘s latest space opera, Shards of Earth, which somehow manages to work as both a light-hearted buddy romp and a fascinating world-building exercise about the annihilation of all life in the universe.
I’m late the Tchaikosky game so I don’t know where this fits in with his massive output, but I loved that the tone was so different than Children of Time, which I wasn’t expecting. I also enjoyed that the story picks up pretty much in media res. There are some flashbacks and exposition explaining who the Big Bad is in the story, but for the most part you’re just off and running, hopping around the galaxy with a rag-tag group of misfits who can’t quite get away from ALL of the people chasing them.
But, you should go into the story knowing that this is just the beginning of the story about the Architects. Act One isn’t giving you all the answers you might want, but sure did an outstanding job of building a world I want to revisit with his next book!
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