Wish I'd bought the book...

Not as imaginative as AT's previous books, this seems a little vanilla. What really let's it down is the narration. There's no menace or peril, some of the characters sound like 14 year old children. I'll read the next one.

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7 people found this helpful

wonderfully funny, imaginative & horrific

I'd previously only read Children of Time from Tchaikovsky, a novel which is endlessly imaginative if a little... cold. The relative lack of humanity in the story was born out in the text, which lacked much in the way of humour or levity. However, it made up for it with sensational world-building, speculative evolution spinning off into such bizarre but credible pathways.

His Final Architecture series is, so far (I've listened to the first 2 books) quite different. The detailed, complex and slightly inscrutable setting is certainly still present, though with as much focus on technological advancement as biological evolution this time.

The characters, meanwhile, are far more relatable than in Children of Time. They are flawed, brave, cowardly, and determined in turn, with a strong core of idiosyncrasies running throughout each of them. Most of all, though, they are just damned FUNNY, despite not all of them even being human.

Special commendations to Olly and Trine, in particular. Olly is so beautifully profane in her speech, which is set off perfectly by the sardonic Yorkshire-esque twang that Sophie Aldred gives her. The level of mortal offence she takes at the presence, the mere existence, of others is a delight. She is the grumpiest arsehole with a heart of gold that I have come across in a while.

Then we have Trine, a character so utterly alien, yet man-made. The Hivers are basically sentient colonies of insects. Trine has refused to return his constituent parts back to the central depository for so long that they (accurate pronoun) have developed ego and eccentricities in equal measures.

I never get bored of these characters. The only one who annoys me a little is Idris, who is ostensibly the central character of this space opera. However, he makes up for his meek timidness by refusing to back down, insisting a course of action is necessary until it happens. Besides being a human McGuffin, always being kidnapped and passed from pillar to post against his own desires, he slowly develops into someone determined to do the right thing no matter the cost, so by the end of book 2 you are stood up rooting for him!

I have loved this series, and cannot wait from the next installment at the end of April 2023.

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1 person found this helpful

Perfect start to a trilogy

A great story by an author in their prime made excellent by the best narrator I've heard in a long time.

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Tchaikovsky can do no wrong

A brilliant tale, well told.

I shall be demolishing this series in days at this rate!

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Excellent, original space opera

Shards of Earth is a fantastic blend of uniquely human moments, uniquely alien moments, and a whole lot of destruction patch-worked together in strings of character development that span decades and space-systems. It’s a vast pool of new, alien ideas, of horror, of loss and small triumph. I loved this book to bits.
The plot, in short summary, sees the threat of the Architects gone, disappeared with the best efforts of Parthenon and the Colonies; the great human polyspora is free to continue, while the hounds of war skulk in the background. Idris Telemmier is an Intermediary, a psychic who touched the mind of the Architect and fended them off, and Myrmidon Solace a vat-bred warrior-angel whose people helped make it so. But now the war is behind them, the Colonies and the Parthenon’s relationship is so broken they’re close to war, and Idris and his crew on the Vulture God are called to a job to recover mysterious wreckage that could throw peace out the window. It’s a plot that takes you – literally – through jumps across vast space, through Throughways and the vast Unspace, where the void looks back at you. Where something lurks. From jump to jump, there’s action, intriguing aliens, battle scenes, and loss enough to pull a few tears at every turn. It’s a book that doesn’t relent and tugs you through its pages at an alarming rate. There was no low point in this one, for me. It was wondrous and riveting from the very start. And while the explosive ending peters out into something well-rounded, it does nothing to take you from hanging on that cliff.
Here, the ‘alien aliens’ are a treat; they’re a creative smorgasbord of new and intriguing ideas which relate to and are themed heavily around our very own earthborn zoology. I’d heard Tchaikovsky drew ideas from our animal kingdom before but had never seen it in action. As regrettably, I’ve only read a novella of his, and now this – though this book has moved him to an auto-buy status. I digress. By alien aliens I mean not the humanoid type that we see a lot in sci-fi, but the weird, strange, and definitely not human that we see here. For instance, the Castigar, who are very much like giant leeches that have forms dependent on their purpose, and an array of weapons attached to their heads? Or the Essiel, a race of clam-like aliens who rule over the Hegemony as gods, a coalition of alien species surrendered to them under the promise they can fend off Architect attacks, should they return. It gave depth to the book, and a sense that every new character we met was an incredible story of their own, spanning worlds, space travels and a separate history that you’re desperate to learn more about.
Accelerators, psychic waves, and new tech galore. Engines that claw and grab onto space, suits that do the same and pilots that can draw the curtain of real space back to reveal Unspace, a back channel that allows quickly travel through a dark void, but also speaks of horrors and strange consciousness that breath down your neck; there was no shortage of original ideas in this book. The way even the ships moved through space was explained was believable enough, yet completely new and just adds to the layers of intrigue.
Last, but not least of all, Shards of Earth had characters that you just can’t help but care about. Idris, the Intermediary, a psychic that navigates Unspace, that’s able to tap into the minds of the enemy, hasn’t slept for fifty-years, nor has he aged; the entire process of him being awake in the void while his crew slept, for fear they might go insane, was … touching. It resonated with me and dealt with elements of loneliness, of fear and depression, or not being able to sleep for fear. Unspace was an exercise in what it means to look after your own mind, and how without others around you, you could be lost in the void forever. I don’t know if that was the intention, but it certainly went to depths I didn’t expect there and was very clever and thoughtful with them. You have Solace, who has a strong heart, but also a strong sense of duty. She’s part of a race who’s vilified and rejected for the way they were born, for what they are, despite all the help they gave in the past. Or Olli, who found just living a hardship, but created a frame around her for which she can be free, but still can’t escape the anger within. And Kit, who culture makes him entirely, entirely alien from the rest of his crew, but who somehow finds a way to bridge that gap, a way to be loved for the crab-like alien that he is. I think just in the characters alone, this book is phenomenal.
Overall, if you like brand-new ideas, A LOT of action, and tears in equal amounts, then you should read Shards of Earth RIGHT NOW.

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20 people found this helpful

A decent listen,

I have loved many of the authors previous books, this seemed bigger Andrew n scope and less polished than previous masterpieces. I can imagine the series will allow more depth to be added and more space for us to learn about this universe. The many different races were all kind of thrown at you , a case of too much too soon for me. Probably says more about my limitations than the author to be fair .

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Enjoyable read

A nice original story with a bit of humour dotted in for good measure. I liked the characters. Very enjoyable.

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Sci-Fi Epic

High level world building, right up there with Asher and Hamilton. Really pulls you in.

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Universe setting and novel concepts to space

I really enjoyed the ideas presented here for unspace. You can feel how much of this is setting up for a grand finale, like a fantasy novel rather than the typical Sci fi. It's fun, easy to listen and engaging. It does get a bit hammy at times, but I think perfect for a younger audience for that reason.

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Very enjoyable and intriguing story.

Really enjoyable space romp with mystery baddies and great characters. Especially enjoyed the narrators performance which really brought the story to life. On to book 2….

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