Reviews and Comments

uhhuhthem

uhhuhthem@wyrmsign.org

Joined 2 years, 2 months ago

nonbinary. mtl. interested in speculative fiction, weird fiction, scifi, fantasy, horror, folk horror, folklore, zines. currently mostly reading ttrpg lorebooks

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Adrian Tchaikovsky (duplicate): Alien Clay (2024, Orbit)

Professor Arton Daghdev has always wanted to study alien life in person. But when his …

Alien Clay

2/3 so bleak and depressing that it was a struggle to get through, 1/3 exactly the kind of revolution porn that makes me love Tchaikovsky so much.

Probably the most /him/ of all his books I've read so far, but not the most fun of them.

reviewed Days of Shattered Faith by Adrian Tchaikovsky (The Tyrant Philosophers, #3)

Adrian Tchaikovsky: Days of Shattered Faith (2024)

Welcome to Alkhalend, Jewel of the Waters, capital of Usmai, greatest of the Successor States, …

enjoyable but not quite lovable

I've spent the last few years saying that Tchaikovsky is my favourite sci fi writer but something about this foray into fantasy just didn't hit for me, and I'm not exactly sure why. the writing was still beautiful and inventive, but the entire series felt somehow impersonal-- the characters more of a mechanism for conveying plot than actual people.