I have said in the past that I used to think I didn’t like Adrian Tchaikovsky’s books. I mean, I was told that I SHOULD like them since I’m a big fan of Peter F. Hamilton’s space opera doorstoppers. But when I tried to read one of his books a few years ago I rage-quit it like 12% of the way through.
But then when his novella Elder Race was nominated for a Hugo, I read it and enjoyed it. I also read Ogres when it was nominated, and it wasn’t half bad. I enjoyed Service Model when the publisher and NetGalley gave me an eARC in exchange for an honest review, and it wasn’t bad. My main complaints were too many pop culture references and some incoherent worldbuilding. His other big novel from last year, Alien Clay, really didn’t do much for me. I hated the protagonist and felt it was dreary.
When I reviewed Service Model, I explained that I would definitely check out this author’s next book, which was Shroud, which was a much more interesting first contact novel than Alien Clay.
But far more enjoyable than Shroud was The Hungry Gods, a novella I got an audio eARC of in exchange for an honest review. This book reminded me a bit of his book Elder Race, inasmuch as both involve primitive people who have lost their technology interposed with someone from the high tech society. In this, Earth has been ravaged and the survivors left to subsist in a harsh environment, when one of the members of the branch of humanity who left the planet when things got tough returns. I really enjoyed the writing style on this one -far less snark and pop culture references in this one than some of his other books, which often distracts from the narrative.
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