Shards of Earth
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4.4 • 451 Ratings
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
The Arthur C. Clarke award-winning author of Children of Time brings us an extraordinary 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.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Tchaikovsky (Children of Time) launches his Final Architecture series with a dazzlingly suspenseful space opera. A colossal, sentient entity known as an Architect rips Earth apart into a flower shape. As the remnants of humanity flee to colonize other planets, Idris Telemmier is genetically manipulated into an Intermediary supersoldier, capable of reaching his mind out to the Architects. His encounter with the Architects causes them to realize humans are sentient, after which they abruptly vanish. Nearly a century later, Idris, who has not slept or aged since, joins the tight-knit crew of salvage ship Vulture God, craving anonymity among their ranks. After the crew comes across a derelict ship torn into a familiar flower shape, signaling the possibility that the Architects have returned, the discovery creates political opportunity for various factions: the alien Essiel, who protect the worlds under their control; Earth's Council of Human Interests; the alien-hating human Nativists; and the women warriors known as the Parthenon. Now Partheni Solace joins Idris's crew to search the colonized worlds for hints to the Architects' motives. But Solace's true mission is to convince Idris to share the Intermediary technology with the Parthenon. Tchaikovsky's intricately constructed world is vast yet sturdy enough to cradle inventive science, unique aliens, and complex political machinations. With a mix of lively fight scenes, friendly banter, and high-stakes intrigue, this is space opera at its best.
Customer Reviews
Worth the Effort
Learning and understanding the players, politics, worlds, and enemies of this book can be complicated. But once you understand the pieces, it tracks like any other good story of a team of capable misfits. Some strong characters have been developed here.
This book is a large bottle of scotch that MUST be sipped. It is not a fast read, but a satisfactory one.
Imaginative Read
A great weaving of unique threads with a pace that hurled though unspace
yeah that's my goat
such brooding despair, such wayward characters, oh mama