Shards of Earth - The Final Architecture (Hardback)
Adrian Tchaikovsky (author)Published: 27/05/2021
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From the bestselling author of Children of Time, this magisterial space saga follows the crew of a lone rescue vessel travelling the galaxy after the destruction of Earth, with the future of humanity in their hands.
This high-stakes space-based adventure will be perfect for those who loved Children of Time, also by Adrian Tchaikovsky.
The war is over. Its heroes forgotten. Until one chance discovery . . .
Idris has neither aged nor slept since they remade his mind in the war. And one of humanity's heroes now scrapes by on a freelance salvage vessel, to avoid the attention of greater powers.
Eighty years ago, Earth was destroyed by an alien enemy. Many escaped, but millions more died. So mankind created enhanced humans such as Idris - who could communicate mind-to-mind with our aggressors. Then these 'Architects' simply disappeared and Idris and his kind became obsolete.
Now, Idris and his crew have something strange, abandoned in space. It's clearly the work of the Architects - but are they really returning? And if so, why? Hunted by gangsters, cults and governments, Idris and his crew race across the galaxy as they search for answers. For they now possess something of incalculable value, and many would kill to obtain it.
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
ISBN: 9781529051889
Number of pages: 560
Weight: 810 g
Dimensions: 234 x 153 x 44 mm
MEDIA REVIEWS
If Homer had written space opera . . . Enthralling, epic, immersive and hugely intelligent. This might be Tchaikovsky's best so far, and that's saying something - Stephen Baxter
Adrian Tchaikovsky: king of the spiders, master worldbuilder, and asker of intriguing questions. His books are packed with thought-provoking ideas (as well as lots of spiders; did I mention the spiders?). One of the most interesting and accomplished writers in speculative fiction - Christopher Paolini
He writes incredibly enjoyable sci-fi, full of life and ideas - Patrick Ness
A thoughtful, sweeping space adventure - SFX Magazine
A rip-roaring space opera featuring starship battles, genetically enhanced superhumans and multiple weird and wonderful aliens . . . I can't wait to read the next one - New Scientist
Adrian Tchaikovsky turns the HP Lovecraft dial to 11 as the Vulture God and its mismatched crew (Idris, a Hannilambra alien, a Partheni warrior princess, a lawyer . . .) drop into unspace and (obligatory caps lock here) CONFRONT FORCES BEYOND REALITY - The Times, Best Science Fiction Books 2021
Tchaikovsky has consolidated his position as the finest purveyor of high-quality space opera around . . . [Shards of Earth] is deft and clever, expansive and readable, all informed by Tchaikovsky’s superbly baroque imaginative fecundity - Guardian, Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Books 2021
Full of sparking, speculative invention . . . The Doors of Eden is a terrific time-slip/lost world romp in the grand tradition of Turtledove, Hoyle, even Conan Doyle. If you liked Primeval, read this book - Stephen Baxter on The Doors of Eden
The Doors of Eden shows a combination of tight, evocative prose combined with erudition. In a story whose scope is the broad canvas of the history of all life in the universe, Tchaikovsky manages to zoom in on human moments without breaking a sweat. Inventive, funny and engrossing, this book lingers long after you close it - Tade Thompson on The Doors of Eden
Breathtaking scope and vision. Adrian Tchaikovsky is one of our finest writers - Gareth Powell on Children of Ruin
Brilliant science fiction and far-out world-building - James McAvoy on Children of Time
I cannot recommend it enough. It's a helluva first contact story, and that's only like its 5th most interesting feature! - Ezra Klein, New York Times columnist, on Children of Time
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“Great start to an unabashed Space Opera sequence”
And the hits keep coming from Tchaikovsky... Another day another micro-genre. Here he is playing in the post contact, large alien conglomerate sandpit - with unknowable alien gods (The Architects) coming to destroy us... More
“An exciting start to a new Tchaikovsky space opera!”
3.5 stars
Shards of Earth is the first instalment in The Architects Trilogy and delivers all the far-future worldbuilding and biological strangeness that many readers loved about Children of Time. The book dives...
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“An incredible new space opera!”
This story is set in a world in which humans have been colonising space for about two centuries, and it begins at the end of the war with the Architects, great planet-sized beings that got their name from the way they... More
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