Elder Race

De: Adrian Tchaikovsky

Narrado por: John Lee

In Adrian Tchaikovsky's Elder Race, a junior anthropologist on a distant planet must help the locals he has sworn to study to save a planet from an unbeatable foe.



Lynesse is the lowly Fourth Daughter of the queen, and always getting in the way.



But a demon is terrorizing the land, and now she's an adult (albeit barely) with responsibilities (she tells herself). Although she still gets in the way, she understands that the only way to save her people is to invoke the pact between her family and the Elder sorcerer who has inhabited the local tower for as long as her people have lived here (though none in living memory has approached it).



But Elder Nyr isn't a sorcerer, and he is forbidden to help, and his knowledge of science tells him the threat cannot possibly be a demon . . .©2021 Adrian Czajkowski

What an adventure!

This was such a fun listen, I would be very interested in a series expanding on the world Tchaikovsky created.

Adrian NEVER disappoints

It seems that I can always count on the inexhaustible creativity and peerless skill of Adrian Tchaikovsky. If I've had a string of Audible listens that disappointed, No problem, I find an A.T. book that I haven't yet listened to, and instantly my faith that great authors still exist and are still creating great works is restored. Creative, high concept stories with rich characters enveloped in the kind of thoughtful world building that Mr. Tchaikovsky tirelessly delivers. A shorter story like this one won't feature the kind of bottomless entomological research of his Children of Time series, but it doesn't require it. In fact, the brevity of the story means that there's nothing in the book that's NOT required. It's lean, moves at a satisfying pace, and there aren't sub-plots, side stories or an excess of characters to distract you. For me, this book was just what the doctor ordered.

On a side note, I'm not a big fan of John Lee's narration in this or other books. He does an excellent job, however, and the recording quality is top notch, but to me, there's something off putting about the 'received pronunciation' style of English accent. That's just a personal preference. Maybe I've seen and heard too many Imperial Era colonial British stories in which they were such effective villains that there's some sort of implied condescension in the tone whenever I hear it. If that accent hits your ears in the way it does mine, I would urge you to look past it, because this book is worth it. I realize I'm probably in the minority in my reaction to the accent, but thought it was worth mentioning.

Brilliantly Short

Lovely short story of magic and technology, love and longing, demons and loss. I really enjoyed it

Fun listen

A sci-fi twist on fantasy tropes. Maybe a little harder to start, but once it gets going it’s great.

I genuinely care about each character

Elegant and moving. Easily the author’s best novel. Incredible voice talent. Can’t recommend it enough!