#134 Shards of Earth

 Shards of Earth by Adrian Tchaikovsky 

• Pages: 592
• Publisher: Tor 
• Release date: 27th May 2021
• Amazon: click here
• Goodreads: click here
• Genre: adult SFF

Before i begin with this review i just want to let you all know that i utterly adored this book, one of my favourite reads from 2021 so far, possibly even ever! So this will be very gushy, prepare yourself! Adrain is also a super cool guy, ive had a few brief discussions with him on Twitter and i think its awesome how he interacts with his readers! Im mortified that this is the first book ive read of his even though i have Children of Time and Children of Ruin on my shelf and i recently bought my partner Doors of Eden in paperback for his birthday, so lots to binge through! 

Right on to the book, Shards of Earth is the first installment in The Final Architects Trilogy. The story starts off after a great war has destroyed Earth and mankind. Mankind were forced to create an elite fighting army which are basically advanced human beings known as intermediaries. One of those intermediaries is our protagonist Idris, a navigator on the ship the 'Vulture God'. I really loved the cast of characters that formed the crew (Solace was my fav!), it gave me 'A long way to a small angry planet' vibes. Although having said that this book had many unique aspects that ive never seen explored in the sci-fi genre before, it made for a really cool read. 

Idris is a super interesting character as he doesnt age, sleep or eat. He's as far from human as it gets whilst at the same time weirdly human. Our baddie's in this story are known as the Architects who roam the universe destroying everything and anything they come into contact with. When Idris learns that the Architects are making a resurgence he believes that all may be not as peaceful as it once was. 

Overall i found this book to be massively accessible, the world building was rich and detailed leaving the reader wanting more and also great for readers getting into the sci-fi genre, the cover is a little misleading as it makes the book look like hardcore sci-fi and i like my sci-fi but i do find it intimidating but i must say this book is great and i think the majority of readers would take to it really easily! My only ever so slight critisism is that i would have liked a bit more descriptive detail, this world was so vast and it was hard work trying to picture everything especially the different alien races etc, more description may have made that a little easier. All in all the writing is great, some of the best sci-fi ive ever read. Just call me a life long Tchaikovsky fan! 

As always a massive thank you to Dave (@TheWriteReads), Adrian and Tor UK for my gorgeous physical copy of the book. To say i loved it is an understatement, 5 stars from me!