The audiobook is read by Sophie Aldred. First time I'd come across her as an audiobook narrator. She's absolutely outstanding and will take you painlessly through this tome. Honest
I'm at book two now. The first book was absolutely a page-turner. I love the depiction of space civilizations, the heroic tale, and how aliens are so 'alien' (i.e. the most powerful known space empire being a hegemony of giant clams & the main antagonist being a moon-sized crystal). I also like that the book is not as depressive and full of suffering as other modern space operas. It's actually light and humorous.
Excellent review and I agree on pretty much all your points. It's not quite as messy as Neal Asher's sci-fi but there were definitely a lot of ideas in it that took some time to get used to
That give the book an eight out ten with the potential to be a start to a very good series that surpasses the first book. There's some world building he has to do. He has to build some characters. Some of these perspectives that may not be as interesting might be necessary for narrative purposes or for an emotional payout later, supposing something happens to that character. So I don't take issue with how he did it. I listen to the audiobook and I think the narrator did quite a good job differentiating the different characters, and did a careful reading so that they knew which character was which in conversations where many characters are speaking.
I enjoyed Children of Time although I had to suspend disbelief about some of the virology. I have struggled to get through this book, and so far it has fallen pretty flat. I'll continue to read along since you teased a good ending. To give perspective, my pantheon of SF includes Dune (1,3,4), the 3BP trilogy, The Foundation, and House of Suns.
My enjoyment of this book went up towards the end, but it was still a slight disappointment after Children of Time. That’s a great pantheon of SF list. House of Suns is also one of my all-time favourites, and I will actually be reading 3BP in March!
@@WordsinTime THe 3BP includes a rather accurate representation of the absurdities that took place during the Cultural Revolution -which can put people off. The Dark Forest has some interesting ideas, and the most beautiful ending I have read. Death's End simply fantastic. The 3BP Triology is also unique because it offeres a different point of view written by a non-westerner with different cultural contexts than we are often accustomed to but nonetheless helps the greater story. I hope you enjoy the ride!
Just finished Eyes of the Void (second book in that series), couldn’t recommend enough!!! The first third of the first book will feel like information overload, but after that it’s so amazing. Love the arc with Idris and discovering the hidden secrets of the universe.
@@Delta0001-y I listen to both weekly at least for the past.... longer than I can recount!!!! :D FANTASTIC STORYTELLING!!!! May be better in audiobok form so you *get* all the accents: Patho = French while Magdan = Russian/Eastern European, Hannilambra = to the AI type voice that would come from a bunch of bugs that together form a consciousness!!!! The Hannii are one of my favorite species in the series. I hope we hear more about the Catasgar in the next book but I also like thinking of them as more of a unique and mysterious alien species for hire. Oh... I didn't mention the Clams and Barnacle talk? Well, for whatever reason I .... I.... everyone, please join me as we pledge alegience to the Hegemony! The Naeromahi locust arcs? You just need to read to find out why they .... and what they ....and how they fight b...... Yeah, read these books! Anyone who comes across this revie and loves the author's books! It is SO worth it!!!!!
@@sammywise2001 yeah I agree I really love the Hanni, and Idris’ plot with unspace and all has me at the edge of my seat! can’t wait for the next book! In the meantime Children Of Memory just came out so make sure to read it (and the rest of the Children of Time series)
@@Delta0001-y FOR SURE! Working on Children of Memory right now! So far... I'm still at the beginning, so I will call it good ;) I cannot WAIT for Lords of Uncreation though!!!!! I HATE that no one listens to the man that FREAKING SPOKE TO AN ARCHITECT about how these entities have (you know whats), while all the others are hell-bent on revenge in order to genocide Architect babies. Not really a spoiler until you read both books!!!!! But yeah, sure, keep ignoring Idris and all his insights into their minds!!!! I'm hoping for an unimaginable (but somewhat imaginable in our feeble minds) ending to the series. I sort of feel like Thanos and want to say that the Universe MUST be balanced or it will collapse into nothingness! Maybe that's the "presence" in unspace? I don't feel like the presence is like, the ultimate Evil or similar, but I am so so soooooo SOOOOO curious as to how Tchaikovsky explains the ultimate unspace denizen! Also, what does the Harbinger Ash have to say about the denizen vs what we know? Apparently, the Esiel, Ash, and NOW Idris can travel via.... [spoilers]... thru unspace. I LOVE the idea of concentric circles NOT mattering but the [redacted] in between!!!!! NOTHING MATTERS! NOTHING!!!! MATTERS!!!!! *squealing voice of Ahab* !!!!! OMG May 2nd (3rd?) can't get here soon enough!!! At the end of Shards, I sort of felt like Idris was reading the minds of people as well. Like of Borodir. Even if not, hopefully after the Partheni and Mermedon Graves gene line goes into more mass production, maybe we will find out more about the "holes" in the brain that cause *gasp* SPACES in the brains of Ints that help to... Okay, have to shut up and go to bed!!! Nice to meet you! I'm from podunk southern mid-west Estados Unidos, mostly a redneck area... my brain probably has cursed holes and "spaces" as well!!!!! If you know a place where fans get together, please let me know! See right!?!?!?
Fair review. I agree that unspace was a home run. Very well described. Such a trippy, and creepy place. I had difficulty caring very much for our main characters and felt like the book ended much similar to how we started out as far as conflict and unknowns.
The ending of The Expanse (both the book series and the TV show) left a huge void in my chest. Shards of Earth helped fill that void somewhat, not fully, but it helped. I find it impossible not to compare this first entry in The Final Architecture trilogy(?) to The Expanse and even with Mass effect to a degree. There are so many similarities that simply can't be ignored. From characters, plot devices and certain locations, to the antagonist. While for the most part I did enjoy Shards of Earth (which is why I give it four stars) I can't say that it blew me away like The Expanse and Children of Time did. - The characters are memorable, but a tad too many of them. At least in the beginning. - The factions and their relations and politics between them are intriguing, but again, there are too many of them. At certain points in the book I was "Who are these people again? I knew I should have written down notes about who is who". But by the end it mostly clicked. - The planets we visit in the adventure all sound rather interesting, but we don't explore almost any of them. We just know them by name and maybe a thing or two about them. And once that chapter is over, we never go there again. - The main cast is well described, but their descriptions and achievements in life are repeated so many times throughout the book. Do I really need to be told 15 times that a certain character was there when the war ended? That a certain character is a good soldier that will always listen to orders no matter what? That a certain character is a lawyer after all and so on. There are so many things that were repeated to me in this book, irrelevant things mostly. Those sentences could have been used to describe something of importance instead. With all that being said, I still enjoyed this book but it did not reach the heights of Children of Time for me. I'll definitely continue this series after a little break. Don't really feel like continuing with the next entry immediately as the ending wasn't all that cliffhanger-y in my opinion.
Lots of excellent points here! I see some of the similarities to The Expanse, which I recently finished. And I agreed there were some interesting elements in The Shards of Earth, but perhaps a bit too much going on at times. I may continue the Final Architect series, but it’s not currently a top priority.
@@WordsinTime A small correction, I've noticed a lot of people call this series "The Final Architect". It's actually called "The Final Architecture". And yeah, it's not currently a top priority for me either. Might go do a little bit of fantasy before I come back to this series. As for The Expanse, I am so happy that at least we are getting a graphic novel soon which will cover the story of the time gap between book 6 and 7! And a video game at some point apparently.
@@uros.u.novakovic It’s funny, because I’m usually good with those details, but I’ve messed up The Final Architecture series name a couple of times haha An Expanse video game would be interesting!
A bit late to your channel, but I am glad I found it! I am currently reading “Shards..”. This is my first book by A.T. I am glad I am not the only one that found it a bit hard to follow at times. I used the glossary a lot while reading the first half of the book. Have you read the rest of the series?
@@WordsinTime Adrian himself told me I should read Dogs of War but I haven't listened to him yet! I cant get enuff of these 2 plus the Children of [Time] as well as One Day all This Will Be Yours!!!! That last one is not very long and deals with time travel in one of the most interesting ways I've read about! It's also a dark humor comedy in some ways. MOST DEFINITELY WORTH THE READ/LISTEN!!! I believe Mr. Adrian is the voice in the audiobook for it so you know the characters have the right tone. For the love of all that is holy, read his books! The man is a genius and his characters seem so real! Even when they're diving into unspace or visiting a shard of time before it expires (because obviously past time is broken now because how would we even know)!
@@WordsinTime Oh for sure! It's hilarious to me! A [$%$%*%&*] that eats people while the "Farmer" uses the best tech scrounged from all times to build the perfect farm for the perfect place that sits at the end of all time! Oh, what a perfect day! :) No spoilers since I believe the 1st words of the book are "Another perfect day at the end of all time." -Altho I may be off by a bit! I just love it so much! Tchaivosky will talk with you most likely! I connected on Twitter fairly easily. Nice as any other author except Michael Chricton! Michael can eat a bag of... ya know what? I'm over it ;)
@@WordsinTime I should add I guess... my left eye has decided to get lazy as I get older. It's hard for me to read and that really REALLY is a problem for someone who has a walk-in closet library worth of books :( So... I guess I have to sort of depend on really REALLY getting into a book after I get the audiobook. Otherwise, I need about 3 days straight or more to read a 650 page book. So I listen to a lot of audiobooks with a sleep timer set so I don't get too far ahead as I fall to sleep. I absolutely LOVE the voice actor that performs Shards of Earth and Eyes of the Void. She does such an amazing job! It's like having your animated mother reading you a bedtime story!
I had the *exact* same criticism. The story was crazy imaginative, but lacking structure which made it feel sloppy at times! I also feel like the characters were written to be overly cold. Otherwise though, it was an enjoyable read!
Olian "Olli" Timo would disagree, harshly. Olli is a STAR!!!! She gets more play in the second book but honestly she could have her own spin-off series! :)
Too many POVs is normally one of my pet peeves. I find it can be confusing and tedious to read. I have to admit that for me this book didn't really suffer from that problem. Overall I enjoyed the characters, the story, and Tchaikovsky's typical big concepts. It may not have quite hit the level of Children of Time, but for me it's still a very good book and we'll worth reading.
Excellent review. I have only read The Children series, and was really impressed. But I think this one will go on the back burner for now. I learned he’s a pretty prolific writer though, got a pretty big catalogue
Thank you so much for this review. It's really helpful both as someone who wants to read this, and as an author currently working on a large space opera trilogy.
@@akaidatenshi I agree the unspace was the best part. I haven’t felt compelled to continue the series. You might be able to find a plot summary online.
@@WordsinTime Hey regarding Children of Time, I'm new to Space Opera and honestly haven't read any hard SciFi yet, do you think Children of Time is hard to understand and anything i should keep in mind not to overcomplicate things for me? :)
@@muttineni03 I would describe the level of hard sci-fi as medium. There is a fair amount of science but I think it is all fairly well explained. I don’t think you will feel too lost even if you are newer to the genre.
I'm about 200 pages into this at the moment. The book feels a bit bloated out with information and "stuff". An analogy I'd use is, it's like bringing two suitcases with you for a day trip somewhere.
This was very helpful! I've only read CoT and want to pick up more by this author. That cover intrigues me! But I think I'll check out some other works first
I think it’s worth checking out but there might be some other Tchaikovsky books that I might enjoy even more. I’ve heard good things about Dogs of War. I’ll also get around to Children of Ruin at some point. Let me know your thoughts if you read any of his other books!
I recently heard about "Dogs of War" and "One Day this will All be Yours" and I really want to read them! Unfortunately, can't find a phyiscal copy of the latter so haven't pulled the trigger on picking them up quite yet. He has so many works, I'm overwhelmed! Lol
@@dipinbk8852 No, I haven’t felt compelled to return to the series. I have since read Dogs of War, which I liked more than Shards of Earth but not as much as Children of Time.
@@WordsinTime I'm on a Tchaikovsky kick right now. I'm currently reading book 5 of Shadows of the Apt and will then read books 6&7. Then the final three books come out March so I'll be finishing this series. Then with Eyes of the Void in May, I'm going to have a good beginning of 2022.
@@angelamccollister I'm just seeing this comment now as TH-cam held it for review for some reason. Sorry about that. That's cool to hear that you're enjoying Tchaikovsky. He's a writing machine! Some of my friends that are fantasy readers have enjoyed Shadows of the Apt.
@@WordsinTime I'm actually reading book 6 of Shadows of the Apt right now. It is the fantasy book I need to complete before I start the Texcallan duology.
@@angelamccollister Nice! Let me know what you think of the Teixcalaan books. I enjoyed A Memory Called Empire and will be starting A Desolation Called Peace in the next few weeks!
I agree with all your points but I'd add the book felt like a mashup of popular tropes. For example Solace and the Parthenon felt like Wonder Woman and the Amazons but without the magic. Also the oh so tired wizard who has to dig deep over and over and who has nothing left, just to dig even deeper to save the day... again and again. I'm sure it was coincidence but the Architects and Ents felt like direct copy of Sandersons Delvers and Cytonics in his cytoverse books. I'd have given it a 6.5 out of 10. I did like it overall and I just started book 2.
🚀 This is locked in for me (I too adored the Children of… pair) so I almost didn’t watch your review because I’m gonna get it anyway - normal size p/b for me please.
Haha Children of Time is awesome! Let me know what you think of Shards of Earth. Something I forgot to mention was the quality of the paperback is really nice. I love a good paperback haha
The audiobook is read by Sophie Aldred. First time I'd come across her as an audiobook narrator. She's absolutely outstanding and will take you painlessly through this tome. Honest
That’s great to hear! I’m glad you enjoyed the audio!
I'm at book two now. The first book was absolutely a page-turner. I love the depiction of space civilizations, the heroic tale, and how aliens are so 'alien' (i.e. the most powerful known space empire being a hegemony of giant clams & the main antagonist being a moon-sized crystal). I also like that the book is not as depressive and full of suffering as other modern space operas. It's actually light and humorous.
@@mpandunky I’m glad you’re enjoying it!
Excellent review and I agree on pretty much all your points. It's not quite as messy as Neal Asher's sci-fi but there were definitely a lot of ideas in it that took some time to get used to
Thanks, I’m glad you enjoyed it! Not everything came to me but there were some good ideas in this book.
Very comprehensive book review. Thanks dude
That’s much appreciated Jason, I’m glad it was helpful!
That give the book an eight out ten with the potential to be a start to a very good series that surpasses the first book. There's some world building he has to do. He has to build some characters. Some of these perspectives that may not be as interesting might be necessary for narrative purposes or for an emotional payout later, supposing something happens to that character. So I don't take issue with how he did it. I listen to the audiobook and I think the narrator did quite a good job differentiating the different characters, and did a careful reading so that they knew which character was which in conversations where many characters are speaking.
I’m glad you enjoyed it and that they did a good job with the audiobook!
I enjoyed Children of Time although I had to suspend disbelief about some of the virology. I have struggled to get through this book, and so far it has fallen pretty flat. I'll continue to read along since you teased a good ending. To give perspective, my pantheon of SF includes Dune (1,3,4), the 3BP trilogy, The Foundation, and House of Suns.
My enjoyment of this book went up towards the end, but it was still a slight disappointment after Children of Time. That’s a great pantheon of SF list. House of Suns is also one of my all-time favourites, and I will actually be reading 3BP in March!
@@WordsinTime THe 3BP includes a rather accurate representation of the absurdities that took place during the Cultural Revolution -which can put people off. The Dark Forest has some interesting ideas, and the most beautiful ending I have read. Death's End simply fantastic. The 3BP Triology is also unique because it offeres a different point of view written by a non-westerner with different cultural contexts than we are often accustomed to but nonetheless helps the greater story. I hope you enjoy the ride!
@@drnaturalist Thanks for the info, it sounds like an exciting journey! I am doing a buddy read with Your Brain on Books. Can’t wait to start!
Just finished Eyes of the Void (second book in that series), couldn’t recommend enough!!! The first third of the first book will feel like information overload, but after that it’s so amazing. Love the arc with Idris and discovering the hidden secrets of the universe.
That’s great to hear, I’m glad you enjoyed book 2! I haven’t read it yet, but I believe the paperback comes out soon.
@@WordsinTime the Audiobook narration is fantastic on Audible as well
@@Delta0001-y I listen to both weekly at least for the past.... longer than I can recount!!!! :D FANTASTIC STORYTELLING!!!! May be better in audiobok form so you *get* all the accents: Patho = French while Magdan = Russian/Eastern European, Hannilambra = to the AI type voice that would come from a bunch of bugs that together form a consciousness!!!! The Hannii are one of my favorite species in the series. I hope we hear more about the Catasgar in the next book but I also like thinking of them as more of a unique and mysterious alien species for hire. Oh... I didn't mention the Clams and Barnacle talk? Well, for whatever reason I .... I.... everyone, please join me as we pledge alegience to the Hegemony! The Naeromahi locust arcs? You just need to read to find out why they .... and what they ....and how they fight b...... Yeah, read these books! Anyone who comes across this revie and loves the author's books! It is SO worth it!!!!!
@@sammywise2001 yeah I agree I really love the Hanni, and Idris’ plot with unspace and all has me at the edge of my seat! can’t wait for the next book! In the meantime Children Of Memory just came out so make sure to read it (and the rest of the Children of Time series)
@@Delta0001-y FOR SURE! Working on Children of Memory right now! So far... I'm still at the beginning, so I will call it good ;) I cannot WAIT for Lords of Uncreation though!!!!!
I HATE that no one listens to the man that FREAKING SPOKE TO AN ARCHITECT about how these entities have (you know whats), while all the others are hell-bent on revenge in order to genocide Architect babies. Not really a spoiler until you read both books!!!!! But yeah, sure, keep ignoring Idris and all his insights into their minds!!!!
I'm hoping for an unimaginable (but somewhat imaginable in our feeble minds) ending to the series. I sort of feel like Thanos and want to say that the Universe MUST be balanced or it will collapse into nothingness! Maybe that's the "presence" in unspace? I don't feel like the presence is like, the ultimate Evil or similar, but I am so so soooooo SOOOOO curious as to how Tchaikovsky explains the ultimate unspace denizen!
Also, what does the Harbinger Ash have to say about the denizen vs what we know? Apparently, the Esiel, Ash, and NOW Idris can travel via.... [spoilers]... thru unspace. I LOVE the idea of concentric circles NOT mattering but the [redacted] in between!!!!!
NOTHING MATTERS! NOTHING!!!! MATTERS!!!!! *squealing voice of Ahab* !!!!! OMG May 2nd (3rd?) can't get here soon enough!!!
At the end of Shards, I sort of felt like Idris was reading the minds of people as well. Like of Borodir. Even if not, hopefully after the Partheni and Mermedon Graves gene line goes into more mass production, maybe we will find out more about the "holes" in the brain that cause *gasp* SPACES in the brains of Ints that help to...
Okay, have to shut up and go to bed!!!
Nice to meet you! I'm from podunk southern mid-west Estados Unidos, mostly a redneck area... my brain probably has cursed holes and "spaces" as well!!!!! If you know a place where fans get together, please let me know! See right!?!?!?
Fair review. I agree that unspace was a home run. Very well described. Such a trippy, and creepy place. I had difficulty caring very much for our main characters and felt like the book ended much similar to how we started out as far as conflict and unknowns.
It sounds like we had a similar experience. Unspace was definitely a highlight!
The ending of The Expanse (both the book series and the TV show) left a huge void in my chest.
Shards of Earth helped fill that void somewhat, not fully, but it helped.
I find it impossible not to compare this first entry in The Final Architecture trilogy(?) to The Expanse and even with Mass effect to a degree. There are so many similarities that simply can't be ignored.
From characters, plot devices and certain locations, to the antagonist.
While for the most part I did enjoy Shards of Earth (which is why I give it four stars) I can't say that it blew me away like The Expanse and Children of Time did.
- The characters are memorable, but a tad too many of them. At least in the beginning.
- The factions and their relations and politics between them are intriguing, but again, there are too many of them. At certain points in the book I was "Who are these people again? I knew I should have written down notes about who is who". But by the end it mostly clicked.
- The planets we visit in the adventure all sound rather interesting, but we don't explore almost any of them. We just know them by name and maybe a thing or two about them. And once that chapter is over, we never go there again.
- The main cast is well described, but their descriptions and achievements in life are repeated so many times throughout the book. Do I really need to be told 15 times that a certain character was there when the war ended? That a certain character is a good soldier that will always listen to orders no matter what? That a certain character is a lawyer after all and so on. There are so many things that were repeated to me in this book, irrelevant things mostly. Those sentences could have been used to describe something of importance instead.
With all that being said, I still enjoyed this book but it did not reach the heights of Children of Time for me. I'll definitely continue this series after a little break. Don't really feel like continuing with the next entry immediately as the ending wasn't all that cliffhanger-y in my opinion.
Lots of excellent points here! I see some of the similarities to The Expanse, which I recently finished. And I agreed there were some interesting elements in The Shards of Earth, but perhaps a bit too much going on at times. I may continue the Final Architect series, but it’s not currently a top priority.
@@WordsinTime A small correction, I've noticed a lot of people call this series "The Final Architect". It's actually called "The Final Architecture".
And yeah, it's not currently a top priority for me either. Might go do a little bit of fantasy before I come back to this series.
As for The Expanse, I am so happy that at least we are getting a graphic novel soon which will cover the story of the time gap between book 6 and 7! And a video game at some point apparently.
@@uros.u.novakovic It’s funny, because I’m usually good with those details, but I’ve messed up The Final Architecture series name a couple of times haha
An Expanse video game would be interesting!
A bit late to your channel, but I am glad I found it! I am currently reading “Shards..”. This is my first book by A.T. I am glad I am not the only one that found it a bit hard to follow at times. I used the glossary a lot while reading the first half of the book. Have you read the rest of the series?
@@WordsinTime Adrian himself told me I should read Dogs of War but I haven't listened to him yet! I cant get enuff of these 2 plus the Children of [Time] as well as One Day all This Will Be Yours!!!! That last one is not very long and deals with time travel in one of the most interesting ways I've read about! It's also a dark humor comedy in some ways. MOST DEFINITELY WORTH THE READ/LISTEN!!! I believe Mr. Adrian is the voice in the audiobook for it so you know the characters have the right tone. For the love of all that is holy, read his books! The man is a genius and his characters seem so real! Even when they're diving into unspace or visiting a shard of time before it expires (because obviously past time is broken now because how would we even know)!
@@sammywise2001 I bought Dogs of War and plan to read it soon! I’ll have to check out One Day All This Will Be Yours. Thanks!
@@WordsinTime Oh for sure! It's hilarious to me! A [$%$%*%&*] that eats people while the "Farmer" uses the best tech scrounged from all times to build the perfect farm for the perfect place that sits at the end of all time! Oh, what a perfect day! :) No spoilers since I believe the 1st words of the book are "Another perfect day at the end of all time."
-Altho I may be off by a bit! I just love it so much! Tchaivosky will talk with you most likely! I connected on Twitter fairly easily. Nice as any other author except Michael Chricton! Michael can eat a bag of... ya know what? I'm over it ;)
@@WordsinTime I should add I guess... my left eye has decided to get lazy as I get older. It's hard for me to read and that really REALLY is a problem for someone who has a walk-in closet library worth of books :(
So... I guess I have to sort of depend on really REALLY getting into a book after I get the audiobook. Otherwise, I need about 3 days straight or more to read a 650 page book. So I listen to a lot of audiobooks with a sleep timer set so I don't get too far ahead as I fall to sleep. I absolutely LOVE the voice actor that performs Shards of Earth and Eyes of the Void. She does such an amazing job! It's like having your animated mother reading you a bedtime story!
@@sammywise2001 Sorry to hear about your eye problem, but I’m glad you’ve been able to enjoy audiobooks!
I had the *exact* same criticism. The story was crazy imaginative, but lacking structure which made it feel sloppy at times!
I also feel like the characters were written to be overly cold.
Otherwise though, it was an enjoyable read!
Sounds like we had a similar experience, in which case I hope you also loved Children of Time haha
Olian "Olli" Timo would disagree, harshly. Olli is a STAR!!!! She gets more play in the second book but honestly she could have her own spin-off series! :)
Too many POVs is normally one of my pet peeves. I find it can be confusing and tedious to read. I have to admit that for me this book didn't really suffer from that problem. Overall I enjoyed the characters, the story, and Tchaikovsky's typical big concepts. It may not have quite hit the level of Children of Time, but for me it's still a very good book and we'll worth reading.
I’m glad you enjoyed the book and the characters Michael! I recently read Babylon’s Ashes and it had about 18 POVs. Now that’s a lot of POVs!
@@WordsinTime 😱
Excellent review. I have only read The Children series, and was really impressed. But I think this one will go on the back burner for now. I learned he’s a pretty prolific writer though, got a pretty big catalogue
Children of Time is also a favorite of all time btw! Great choice!!
Thanks! Yes, Tchaikovsky’s output is incredible. I think Dogs of War might be what I will try next.
Thank you so much for this review. It's really helpful both as someone who wants to read this, and as an author currently working on a large space opera trilogy.
You’re welcome! And best of luck with your books!
@@WordsinTime Thank you!
I got lost, sadly. Need to find a review with spoilers because I don't have the energy to read it again. The unspace part was awesome, tho
@@akaidatenshi I agree the unspace was the best part. I haven’t felt compelled to continue the series. You might be able to find a plot summary online.
I just finished reading it, your evaluation is dead on.
@@MatthewMartinDean Thanks Matthew!
I'm having a lot of trouble visualizing the characters, places and ships. Hoping it gets better.
I agree that some things were described in more detail than others.
Great Review, i just bought this book, not sure when I'll pick up and read though, but I'm definitely intrigued.
Thanks Krishna! It didn’t quite reach the high bar of Children of Time for me, but some of the concepts are really cool. I hope you enjoy it!
@@WordsinTime Hey regarding Children of Time, I'm new to Space Opera and honestly haven't read any hard SciFi yet, do you think Children of Time is hard to understand and anything i should keep in mind not to overcomplicate things for me? :)
@@muttineni03 I would describe the level of hard sci-fi as medium. There is a fair amount of science but I think it is all fairly well explained. I don’t think you will feel too lost even if you are newer to the genre.
@@WordsinTime Thanks alot, you are awesome and helpful as always 👍
@@muttineni03 You are very kind! I’m happy to help!
I'm about 200 pages into this at the moment. The book feels a bit bloated out with information and "stuff". An analogy I'd use is, it's like bringing two suitcases with you for a day trip somewhere.
That’s a fair analogy.
This was very helpful! I've only read CoT and want to pick up more by this author. That cover intrigues me! But I think I'll check out some other works first
I think it’s worth checking out but there might be some other Tchaikovsky books that I might enjoy even more. I’ve heard good things about Dogs of War. I’ll also get around to Children of Ruin at some point. Let me know your thoughts if you read any of his other books!
I recently heard about "Dogs of War" and "One Day this will All be Yours" and I really want to read them! Unfortunately, can't find a phyiscal copy of the latter so haven't pulled the trigger on picking them up quite yet. He has so many works, I'm overwhelmed! Lol
@@CD287- Yes, his output is insane haha. And he writes in a variety of genres, which is impressive. I’m interested to see how his other works compare.
So true! Good review!👍👍👍📚🤖🚀🐲
@@khomo12 Thanks!
I just recently got this book also i just bought a memory called empire because of your review
That’s awesome to hear! Let me know what you think of them!
Did you get to books 2 and 3?
@@dipinbk8852 No, I haven’t felt compelled to return to the series. I have since read Dogs of War, which I liked more than Shards of Earth but not as much as Children of Time.
Is the final architecture trilogy finish?
Book 2 comes out later this month on the 26th, and the 3rd and final book should come out in 2023.
BOOK 2 WAS AWESOME!!
You had me sold on Space Opera 😂
Haha I love a good space opera too!
I loved this book and can't wait until the sequel comes out in May.
That’s awesome to hear Angela! I loved parts of it, and look forward to exploring those more in the sequel. Eyes of the Void is a cool title!
@@WordsinTime I'm on a Tchaikovsky kick right now. I'm currently reading book 5 of Shadows of the Apt and will then read books 6&7. Then the final three books come out March so I'll be finishing this series. Then with Eyes of the Void in May, I'm going to have a good beginning of 2022.
@@angelamccollister I'm just seeing this comment now as TH-cam held it for review for some reason. Sorry about that. That's cool to hear that you're enjoying Tchaikovsky. He's a writing machine! Some of my friends that are fantasy readers have enjoyed Shadows of the Apt.
@@WordsinTime I'm actually reading book 6 of Shadows of the Apt right now. It is the fantasy book I need to complete before I start the Texcallan duology.
@@angelamccollister Nice! Let me know what you think of the Teixcalaan books. I enjoyed A Memory Called Empire and will be starting A Desolation Called Peace in the next few weeks!
I agree with all your points but I'd add the book felt like a mashup of popular tropes. For example Solace and the Parthenon felt like Wonder Woman and the Amazons but without the magic. Also the oh so tired wizard who has to dig deep over and over and who has nothing left, just to dig even deeper to save the day... again and again.
I'm sure it was coincidence but the Architects and Ents felt like direct copy of Sandersons Delvers and Cytonics in his cytoverse books.
I'd have given it a 6.5 out of 10. I did like it overall and I just started book 2.
Great points Russell! It did feel like an ode to some other works, and I’m sure there are references I didn’t pick up.
🚀 This is locked in for me (I too adored the Children of… pair) so I almost didn’t watch your review because I’m gonna get it anyway - normal size p/b for me please.
Haha Children of Time is awesome! Let me know what you think of Shards of Earth. Something I forgot to mention was the quality of the paperback is really nice. I love a good paperback haha
@@WordsinTime those trade paper backs are the S Tier way to read tbh
Children of Memory had all of the same fails.
Interesting. I loved Children of Time but haven’t read Ruin or Memory.
@WordsinTime It didn't help that I read Project Hail Mary (excellent) right before Children of Memory. The big reveal in CoM was kinda dumb.
@@3wandjina PHM is great!