Elder Race
-
-
4.4 • 251 Ratings
-
-
- $3.99
Publisher Description
"A Ursula Le Guin-like grace... Ten out of 10." —New York Times
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…
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Arthur C. Clarke Award winner Tchaikovsky (Children of Time) wows with this inventive and empathetic story of courage, science, and magic. Though Lynesse is the mere Fourth Daughter of the Royal Line of Lannesite, she knows she's capable of more than being the family hoyden. When a demon ravages the countryside, Lynesse is determined to emulate her great-grandmother Astresse, who teamed up with the mysterious, ageless sorcerer Elder Nyr to destroy a monster. In truth, however, Nyr is not a mage but an anthropologist, the last of a team from Earth sent to study the colony that became Lynesse's homeworld. He broke protocol to help Astresse defeat the demon, really a leftover piece of Earth-built equipment run amok, and wonders if that transgression is why he's been cut off from Earth for over 300 years. Abandoned and unsure, Nyr knows the choice he makes now—to help or not—will define the rest of his life, and decide the fate of Lynesse's world. Tchaikovsky takes beloved tropes to exciting new places, carried by memorable characters and clever prose. This proves yet again why Tchaikovsky is a master of the genre mash-up.
Customer Reviews
Incredible
Loved the concept of what is “magic”
Great concept, poor execution
I absolutely love the concepts of a scientist seeming to be a sorcerer in a fantastical world and a defiant princess trying to save her people. However, the execution fell flat. I think if the author would have written 400+ pages it would have been amazing. He started to really build out this amazing world and culture, then kind of forgot about it. I don’t feel that I got to know the characters (outside of Nyr’s emotional state). It felt rushed and half done. The author is clearly talented, but I don’t think it’s possible to flesh out a story like this in 175 pages. It was okay, but I would tell my friends to skip it.
Another win
Definitely one of my new favorite novels! I love the way Tchaikovsky builds the backstory and the melding of fantasy and sci-fi. Can’t wait for more in this universe