Shards of Earth

The Final Architecture, Book 1

By: Adrian Tchaikovsky

Narrated by: Sophie Aldred

Length: 18 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's summary

From the author of the thrilling science-fiction epic Children of Time, winner of the prestigious Arthur C. Clarke Award. Shards of Earth is the first high-octane, far-future space adventure in Adrian Tchaikovsky' Final Architecture trilogy.

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.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2021 Adrian Tchaikovsky (P)2021 Macmillan Publishers International Ltd

Critic reviews

"One of the most interesting and accomplished writers in speculative fiction." (Christopher Paolini)

The narrator's style does not suit the book

The story is relatively good. Not particularly novel.
The narration does it no favours. This is not a failing on the narrator's part, Sophie is quite competent in her own right. This is a production failure. It's like watching prima ballerinas performing in an MMA ring; a bit cringy.

A compelling introduction to a new galaxy

The author does a job of introducing and building a new complex, future Milky Way. There are several alien species and an intriguing political web. The science is plausible enough but still a fantasy.
I will read the next book because I struggled with the narration. The "acting" didn't match my interpretation of the characters. However, the voice was very pleasing.

started a bit slow

took me a while to get into the story, but after a few chapters I started to really like it.

Okay

I have mixed feelings about this novel. The ending leaves most things unfinished but did cement character interplay. It was big on action but this supposed science fiction novel was really light on science. I won’t carry on reading this series but this one was just okay.

Great space opera and the narration is fine.

If you like a good, adventurous space opera this book will suit you.
Someone else really disliked the narrator, but it’s fine.

Good solid interesting story.

Not going to change your life, but an engaging tale that appealed to my Peter F Hamilton / Alastair Reynolds sensibilities. There seems to be a lot of hate for the narration, I found it totally fine. enjoyed the story and the performance.

It was exquisitely performed

I liked the characters, the contemplative style of writing and how the plot tied in nicely towards the end.

meh

Nothing special and fairly repetitive. The book could be edited to half the length and lose nothing.

Tchaikovsky presents yet another genre experiment

And he as always does it really well. Space Opera is not really my thing, but he always seems to have something interesting up his sleeve, and the whole lovecraftian eldritch entities and soundless lonelyness in unspace thing will make me come back for more. It did seem like he went so much with the genre that he also adopted some of the old-school golden age of sci-fi tropes regarding gender roles and such, but it didn't impact the story too much and he didn't go overboard with it.

fine space opera

I enjoyed this title as the initial offering into a wider world. much like a tourist on a fast moving tour bus it was sometimes hard for me to keep all of the alien races and factions straight. however, I just held on for the ride and didn't bother trying to grasp all of the details so that I could just enjoy the scenery. I enjoyed this as much as the Children of Time and series and will definitely finish the rest of the titles.