Published: August 3, 2021
Publisher: Orbit Books
Series: The Final Architecture #1
Genre: Science Fiction
Pages: 560 (Hardcover)
My Rating: 4.5/5.0
A copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Synopsis:
The Arthur C. Clarke award-winning author of Children of Time brings us an extraordinary new space opera about humanity on the brink of extinction, and how one man’s discovery will save or destroy us all.
The war is over. Its heroes forgotten. Until one chance discovery . . .
Idris has neither aged nor slept since they remade him in the war. And one of humanity’s heroes now scrapes by on a freelance salvage vessel, to avoid the attention of greater powers.
After earth was destroyed, mankind created a fighting elite to save their species, enhanced humans such as Idris. In the silence of space they could communicate, mind-to-mind, with the enemy. Then their alien aggressors, the Architects, simply disappeared – and Idris and his kind became obsolete.
Now, fifty years later, Idris and his crew have discovered something strange abandoned in space. It’s clearly the work of the Architects – but are they returning? And if so, why? Hunted by gangsters, cults and governments, Idris and his crew race across the galaxy hunting for answers. For they now possess something of incalculable value, that many would kill to obtain.
A new Adrian Tchaikovsky book is alway cause for celebration! He’s known for writing wonderfully imaginative science fiction and fantasy, and this time (rather than spiders) we encounter mysterious alien beings called the Architects that turn entire planets into grotesque sculptures, leaving them uninhabitable. Earth has suffered such a fate, finding it’s crust ripped open and splayed like a planetary flower. Humanity and its speciated relations go to war with the Architects and are badly losing until a girl is somehow able to communicate with them and repel the Architects.
St. Xavienne as she becomes known, is the standard by which humanity develops the Intermediaries – humans who they’ve subjected to every treatment possible to replicate Xavienne’s ability. The Ints turn the tide of the war (more like a slaughter) and drive away the Architects. Unfortunately, there are some side effects of messing with the human brain to that degree and Idris does not sleep and does not age. He’s one of the last surviving Ints from the war and is flying around with a group of salvagers as their deep space pilot (one of the Int abilities). Of course then Solace, a Partheni warrior who was assigned to him back during the war, shows up and things go sideways.
When they are sent to find a ship that’s gone missing they find evidence that the Architects have returned – humanity’s worst nightmare. Thus begins a saga of danger that kept me entranced from the very beginning. Idris’s crewmates are a wonderful cast and not all of them are entirely lovable. Solace is excellent and proves to be a sympathetic main character, though I must admit some of the Partheni adages are a little silly. I mean, she refers to her division as the Angel of Punching You in the Face which definitely seems like a joke. Did I mention that the Partheni themselves are pretty cool though? It’s an offshoot of Earth humans, basically just a bunch of vat grown super soldier women (no men) who have more advanced tech. There are some other really cool alien races as well and there’s a decent amount of interspecies politics to explore too!
There are plenty of on and off-planet battles, ship-to-ship combat, precarious plunges into the void, nasty politics, and so forth. If you’re looking for an action packed book then you would definitely be satisfied reading Shards of the Earth. Equally, if you’re looking for great characters with a smidge of a found family theme this is also the book for you. It was fantastic and I can’t wait to check out the next one when it’s out!
Powder & Page 
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