Reviews

Shards of Earth by Adrian Tchaikovsky

hmclion's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Brilliant concept and world building. Occasionally found sentences hard to follow. Overall an interesting book and looking forward to the next one. 

nomticholas's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense

4.5

evamaria's review against another edition

adventurous tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

katyjohnson2594's review against another edition

slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

hramona's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

The way Tchaikovsky writes people and worlds as something so tangible and completely immersive is so thrilling. 

mes0pelagic_fan's review against another edition

4.5

loved it in my heart i just kept thinking this is what i've wanted like 2 other books to be (looking at YOU

cascade failure

🤨) 

i was so happy to have a tortured/hunted wet cat protagonist man who actually did something useful for once and kept any tragic selfpity to minimal levels. also, the slay women around were actually slay and i was obsessed with basically everyone. 

big respect for the author for just

killing iconic characters off

sometimes it needs to be done and i can appreciate it

rip rollo though I'll miss u uncle

 

overall compelling plot, great characters, fun world-building (pretty classic human space diaspora, adventures travelling thru space and on hostile planets, fractured human and human-adjacent polities, political intrigue, galactic threat, etc.) and the prose i really enjoyed from this author in service model! a mix of gory/violent/disturbing with really humourous turns of phrase that had me laughing while

someone literally got flayed alive

. also, good use of cuss words i think not enough sff authors use the

fuck

word appropriately

i think having a resident lawyer makes a lot of sense and i love kris shes rad can't wait to find out what's up with

her neck scar

 

also obsessed with the partheni using french that's literally so funny like way to give the space amazons a greek name (also massive slay that it comes from parthenogenisis bc they get grown in vats) and then have them do military talk in french lmfaooooooooooo

safefirst's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

3.0

jennaroseshannon's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

petrichortrails's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

4.5

cassie_b's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5