A review by andrewspink
Shards of Earth by Adrian Tchaikovsky

adventurous emotional relaxing fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

The author rather throws the reader in at the deep end, with a whole load of concepts and characters,  right from the beginning.  That meant that I struggled to get into the book, although  the glossary helped. However, once I'd read the first couple of characters and begun to understand its world, I found there was a lot to like. There was quite a lot of fighting,  but the author takes care not to glorify it. There are some interesting feminist perspectives.  There is a nice reference to H.G. Wells (the Thunderchild battleship features in War of the Worlds). There is an amusing use of 'pronouns' in which 'they' refers not to a different gender but a species made of multiple individuals. I liked that the aliens are properly completely different and alien, which is a refreshing change from much sci-fi.
All in all, a lot to like, and I'm definitely adding the sequel to my 'to be read' list.

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