A big thank you to The Write Reads and Tor for providing me with an eBook of Shards of Earth and allowing me to be part of this tour.

Let’s jump in…

This high-stakes space-based adventure will be perfect for those who loved Children of Time, also by Adrian Tchaikovsky.
The war is over. Its heroes forgotten. Until one chance discovery . . .

Idris has neither aged nor slept since they remade his mind in the war. And one of humanity’s heroes now scrapes by on a freelance salvage vessel, to avoid the attention of greater powers.

Eighty years ago, Earth was destroyed by an alien enemy. Many escaped, but millions more died. So mankind created enhanced humans such as Idris – who could communicate mind-to-mind with our aggressors. Then these ‘Architects’ simply disappeared and Idris and his kind became obsolete.

Now, Idris and his crew have something strange, abandoned in space. It’s clearly the work of the Architects – but are they really returning? And if so, why? Hunted by gangsters, cults and governments, Idris and his crew race across the galaxy as they search for answers. For they now possess something of incalculable value, and many would kill to obtain it.
–Goodreads–

This is a chunky boy at 592 pages so it did take me a lot longer to get through than I expected. As I’m still relatively new to sci-fi especially space operas so there were times when I was slightly confused.

One thing I really enjoyed was the group of characters we had aboard the Vulture God who became their own found family. The different species were so interesting to learn about but I couldn’t help but be more interested in Solace and the Parthenon, they are female warrior angels created to look like perfection. Each character had their own intrigue and quirks, they were really well fleshed out. Rollo the captain stood out for me as he treated his crew as his children which made me smile everytime I read his dialogue.

We had some seriously intense battle scenes with high stakes which increased my heart rate, I just couldn’t read it fast enough to make sure the crew were all safe and made it out alive which unfortunately wasn’t always the case.

Shards of Earth is the first book in The Final Architects Trilogy, I will definitely be continuing on now that I have my head around the setting and the species I will be able to fully immerse myself in the story.

So Who Is Adrian Tchaikovsky?

Adrian Tchaikovsky is the author of the acclaimed Shadows of the Apt fantasy series, from the first volume, Empire In Black and Gold in 2008 to the final book, Seal of the Worm, in 2014, with a new series and a standalone science fiction novel scheduled for 2015. He has been nominated for the David Gemmell Legend Award and a British Fantasy Society Award. In civilian life he is a lawyer, gamer and amateur entomologist.
-Connect-
Website