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A review by rymdkejsaren
Empire in Black and Gold by Adrian Tchaikovsky
3.0
When I picked this up, I had no idea that it was the start of a ten-tome series. But I wanted to read some fantasy by Tchaikovsky as I've really enjoyed his SF. I do feel that the other books I've read by him were better constructed, but that makes sense as they were all written at least a decade after this one. The world of the Lowlands is different from your standard fantasy, which I like as I'm dead tired of elves and dwarves and wizards. But sometimes I found I had to stretch my imagination a bit further than I would have had wanted (though I can't exactly say why, so it may be a matter of personal taste) to believe in the setting.
At the beginning, I think Tchaikovsky failed a bit at maintaining the balance between exposition and believability -- which is always a tough task in a fantastical world -- mostly by failing to give me a good image of what the different "kins" looked like. I imagined them a lot less human-looking initially, and had to adjust.
But overall this is well-realised epic fantasy. I will pick up a few of the sequels when I can, though it will take a lot to make me stick the full ten books -- but I expect this is the series with which Tchaikovsky developed his art into what it is today, so likely they will get better along the way, dropping some of the more tropey parts of the storytelling.
At the beginning, I think Tchaikovsky failed a bit at maintaining the balance between exposition and believability -- which is always a tough task in a fantastical world -- mostly by failing to give me a good image of what the different "kins" looked like. I imagined them a lot less human-looking initially, and had to adjust.
But overall this is well-realised epic fantasy. I will pick up a few of the sequels when I can, though it will take a lot to make me stick the full ten books -- but I expect this is the series with which Tchaikovsky developed his art into what it is today, so likely they will get better along the way, dropping some of the more tropey parts of the storytelling.