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A review by katyab
Shards of Earth by Adrian Tchaikovsky
5.0
After Children of Time absolutely knocked my socks off, I had to jump on Shards, especially after it became a BSFA winner. And what a fun, action-packed ride it was. This book retained all of the intricate world-building of CoT, blending it with colourful space opera, producing something that takes inspiration from Star Wars, Final Fantasy, and The Fifth Element. Big space battles, political intrigue, Lovecraftian horror, with a smattering of courtroom drama, police procedural, and a whodunnit. There are excellent commentaries throughout this book on freedom/slavery, prejudice, authority, knowledge, and disability. Speaking of the latter, the diversity and rep in this novel, and the dedicated and thoughtful characterisation, is brilliant. The rag-tag crew of the Vulture God have my heart: a complex and endearing bunch of spacefarers if I ever I saw them.
Also, I love the fact that this book leans into the fantastical a bit more. We wouldn't have got such cool stuff as "unspace" and Intermediaries otherwise (or at least not very easily, had it gone the more scientific route).
Only a small dampener: there were some parts of this novel that were gruesome, violent, and disturbing – had to cringe my way through them. Also some of the Intermediary-focused parts (without giving too much away) were mentally intense... if you read the book you might find that statement a bit ironic...! Although I did power through the last 150 pages while under the weight of COVID, which maybe is another reason why it felt heavy going. So I'm not going to blame the book at all! It was fast-paced, swashbuckling, good fun. :)
Also, I love the fact that this book leans into the fantastical a bit more. We wouldn't have got such cool stuff as "unspace" and Intermediaries otherwise (or at least not very easily, had it gone the more scientific route).
Only a small dampener: there were some parts of this novel that were gruesome, violent, and disturbing – had to cringe my way through them. Also some of the Intermediary-focused parts (without giving too much away) were mentally intense... if you read the book you might find that statement a bit ironic...! Although I did power through the last 150 pages while under the weight of COVID, which maybe is another reason why it felt heavy going. So I'm not going to blame the book at all! It was fast-paced, swashbuckling, good fun. :)