Reviews - Shroud | The StoryGraph

389 reviews for:

Shroud

Adrian Tchaikovsky

4.15 AVERAGE

anyashadows's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

nightfires's review

3.5

adventurous tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

champagnerain's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

sandragon's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

scifi_geek's review

3.0

adventurous dark funny mysterious medium-paced

I really enjoyed the first 75 pages and the last 75 pages. The 300 in-between could have been cut down to 150-200 and made into a tighter novel. Those 300 pages are like [Jurassic Park with characters being chased in a foreign world & figuring out how to stay alive. (hide spoiler)] There are some really cool "intermission" pages with interesting takes on evolution. I'm not sure I ever felt really invested in the characters. They were fine characters, but there was no connection to me as a reader that made them feel really alive & hence I didn't care much about them.

All that said, some of the future tech, the foreign world, & the exploration of space was what I really enjoyed. I much prefer Alien Clay and don't plan on reading Shroud again.

mollynz's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

yrioona's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous dark funny hopeful informative mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

This is my fourth Tchaikovsky outing and I loved it. It's a really entertaining blend of speculative biology, cognitive theory, and old-fashioned adventure-survival tale, with a little bit of horror and even hard sci-fi satire thrown in. I am also starting to see that there is a bit of a formula to his xenobiology books, but since it's a formula that hits all the right notes for my kind of nerd, I don't mind it. The alien stuff is just incomparably fun, fascinating, vivid, convincing, and meticulously researched -- I especially love when he gets into extraterrestrial POVs. The plot is gripping and suspenseful and has a satisfying ending. The human characters are a bit flat, but likable and engaging enough, and the dialogue is well done i thought. I will say I found the pace of this one a little draggy compared to Tchaikovsky's other books, and there were actually a few copyediting oopses in the last chapters. Maybe he got a new editor? Anyway, despite some minor quibbles I devoured this and will probably read more Adrian Tchaikovsky soon.