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A review by ketreads
Empire in Black and Gold by Adrian Tchaikovsky
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
2.5 stars
My first venture into the works of Adrian Tchaikovsky and I'm not sure if I'm a fan.
I love the books premise of different races ("kinden") are based on different types of insects, introducing us to many different possibilities of looks, powers, and abilities was exciting for me.
The book started strongly, dropping us into the madness of war, betrayal and death, never giving us a second to learn who our characters are but knowing we should care for them.
Sadly this is a theme throughout the rest of the book, never quite taking the time to let us get to know any character deeper than their surface level motivations. Tchaikovsky's style of jumping between characters, sometimes even mid-scene after a single paragraph, is off putting and hard to get used to. This style of writing ends up with me having finished the book and not really liking or relating to any of the characters because I don't care for them. One of his main characters, Totho, gets next to 0 screen (book) air time and we're expected to care about him as much as the other 3?? I'm not quite sure why the author made this choice but it isn't working for me.
Overall the story was interesting but felt like a 500 page prologue to the rest of the series, which I'm not sure I will continue with.
My first venture into the works of Adrian Tchaikovsky and I'm not sure if I'm a fan.
I love the books premise of different races ("kinden") are based on different types of insects, introducing us to many different possibilities of looks, powers, and abilities was exciting for me.
The book started strongly, dropping us into the madness of war, betrayal and death, never giving us a second to learn who our characters are but knowing we should care for them.
Sadly this is a theme throughout the rest of the book, never quite taking the time to let us get to know any character deeper than their surface level motivations. Tchaikovsky's style of jumping between characters, sometimes even mid-scene after a single paragraph, is off putting and hard to get used to. This style of writing ends up with me having finished the book and not really liking or relating to any of the characters because I don't care for them. One of his main characters, Totho, gets next to 0 screen (book) air time and we're expected to care about him as much as the other 3?? I'm not quite sure why the author made this choice but it isn't working for me.
Overall the story was interesting but felt like a 500 page prologue to the rest of the series, which I'm not sure I will continue with.
Content Warnings
Minor: Sexual violence and Sexual assault
There's a scene where one of the women characters are threatened with sexual violence, though nothing takes place.