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The Final Architecture #2
Eyes of the Void
The Arthur C. Clarke award-winning author of Children of Time brings us the second novel in an extraordinary space opera trilogy about humanity on the brink of extinction, and how one man's discovery will save or destroy us all.After eighty years of fragile peace, the Architects are back, wreaking havoc as they consume entire planets. In the past, Originator artefacts – vestiges of a long-vanished civilization – could save a world from annihilation. This time, the Architects have discovered a way to circumvent these protective relics. Suddenly, no planet is safe.Facing impending extinction, the Human Colonies are in turmoil. While some believe a unified front is the only way to stop the Architects, others insist humanity should fight alone. And there are those who would seek to benefit from the fractured politics of war – even as the Architects loom ever closer.Idris, who has spent decades running from the horrors of his past, finds himself thrust back onto the battlefront. As an Intermediary, he could be one of the few to turn the tide of war. With a handful of allies, he searches for a weapon that could push back the Architects and save the galaxy. But to do so, he must return to the nightmarish unspace, where his mind was broken and remade.What Idris discovers there will change everything.
608 pages, Paperback
First published May 3, 2022
2278 people are currently reading
11528 people want to read
About the author
Adrian Tchaikovsky
198 books18.1k followersADRIAN TCHAIKOVSKY was born in Lincolnshire and studied zoology and psychology at Reading, before practising law in Leeds. He is a keen live role-player and occasional amateur actor and is trained in stage-fighting. His literary influences include Gene Wolfe, Mervyn Peake, China Miéville, Mary Gently, Steven Erikson, Naomi Novak, Scott Lynch and Alan Campbell.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,248 reviews
May 7, 2022
“This is the salvage ship Vulture God to whoeverthefuck’s even down there. Call for Idris Telemmier, double urgent. Idris, this is Olli. You remember? Olli, your fucking captain? Being kidnapped doesn’t excuse you from turning up for duty, you skiving bastard. Idris, or Idris’s kidnappers. Say something, damn it!”Adrian Tchaikovsky can be counted on to provide consistently good quality books at such a speed that I suspect he’s either a conglomerate of writers or a clone army — or maybe he just really likes what he does and is very good at it. No, you know what — it *must* be the clone army thing.
In any case, Eyes of the Void is an excellent follow-up to last year’s British Science Fiction Award-winning Shards of Earth, fully convincing me that despite his amazing versatility Tchaikovsky really shines in science fiction realm. It’s a space opera, like its predecessor, and despite including the genre staples that give it a genre classic feel it still manages to remain clever, fresh, gripping and decidedly not silly. A ragtag crew of misfits in space, interstellar travel, wars, politics, space gangsters, alien cultists, AI — you name it — all manage to create quite a delicious science fiction concoction here.
“Because unspace wasn’t real. And when you entered unspace, you weren’t real either. You existed only in the bubble of your own consciousness and, even if you gripped the hand of your neighbour painfully tight, as many of them did, those fingers would become empty the moment the ship dropped from the real.”
“We’re basically standing at the edge of a raw wound between unspace and the real.”
In the face of continued slow destruction of planets and lives by mysterious moon-sized Architects humanity - of fragging course! - has not banded together. Instead it’s business as usual, from petty squabbles to all-out war between humanity’s largest factions, because humans often lack the vision of the bigger picture (“The Architects weren’t only back, they were making up for lost time, losing patience with the universe.”) And our ragtag team on the scavenger ship The Vulture God, having pissed off almost anyone with any semblance of power in the first book, found temporary reprieve among the Parthenon, being viewed as traitors to the greater human race in the meantime. But the reprieve doesn’t last for long as there is not only the continued deadly menace of the Architects but also the continuing squabbles over who gets to “own” Idris Telemmier, an Intermediary whose nature allows him to pilot through Unspace as well as (almost) communicate with the Architects — but doesn’t protect him from being constantly used and kidnapped.
“He hadn’t properly asked himself what he would prefer to do. The idea that it would be relevant had never occurred to him.”
————
“He was the canary in the mine, and you always brought the canary. Nobody cared that the canary didn’t much enjoy its job and would maybe like to be doing something else.”
And the Originator ruins on a planet from hell may just hold enough clues to the mystery of the Architects and the universe itself.
“Then he knew. And it wasn’t what he’d thought. He felt leaden and bitter, even as Ahab exulted that the universe had finally given up its secrets.”
Yes, it’s a middle book in the series that will not give too many answers and that sets up the events to come, but once again it wraps up its storyline nicely, all while continuing wonderful worldbuilding and interesting characters. And while it leaves me wanting more (I need all the answers about the universe, and I want them now! “42” is not a satisfying answer, dammit!) I’m very satisfied with the journey it took me on.
“He didn’t want to take the war to the Architects. He didn’t want to be any part of what might be genocide. But neither the universe nor the war was done with him yet.”
4.5 stars, happily rounding up.
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My review of the first in the series, Shards of Earth, is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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Thanks to NetGalley and Orbit Books for providing me with a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.
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Also posted on my blog.
December 24, 2025
A thoughtful portrayal of the weird and the alien, as usual by Adrian Tchaikovsky. A superb sequel to a great series; both seamlessly anthropomorphic and otherworldly at the same time. Highly recommended!
May 31, 2022
Original review posted on my blog Out of This World SFF:
https://outofthisworldrev.blogspot.co...
Adrian Tchaikovsky is one of my favorite authors for a multitude of reasons, but first and foremost is that he can write brilliantly captivating stories in multiple genres/subgenres. Whether talking about his fantastic Shadows of the Apt fantasy series, his mesmerizing Bio-SF thriller The Doors of Eden, or his monumental space opera work Children of Time, Tchaikovsky's ability to deliver a mind-blowing story is never something that should ever be in doubt. Likewise, his latest series The Final Architecture promises to be yet another classic from the highly-acclaimed author. I had the pleasure of receiving an advance copy of book two in the series EYES OF THE VOID from publisher Orbit and here are my thoughts.
This book is a wonderful continuation in this series and didn't fall prey to the usual middle book pitfalls that plague so many follow-ups. The intrigue is ramped up as the Architects begin to get a little bolder in their probing of vulnerable worlds. For those who don't know, the Architects are moon-sized entities that have destroyed entire civilizations in the past brutally and without mercy. It's almost a sick and twisted game to them as they obliterate and then go into hiding for a time, only to emerge decades later randomly to repeat the process. So getting to feel that tension of a potential attack made this read a lot more dramatic than the first book, Shards of Earth. Would it happen? Would it not? And if it did, how would those aligned against the Architects respond?
Another thing that I love about Tchaikovsky's books, and this one is no different, is that he always injects a central mystery into his stories that make you want to keep turning those pages to discover if that mystery ever gets revealed. And the awesome thing about this series is he gives you TWO mysteries for the price of one. The first being the Originators, an elder civilization that has since disappeared but has left mysterious ruins and artifacts scattered across the universe in their wake. The thought is that some Originators may possibly still exist somewhere, and scholars/scientists have been studying their abandoned settlements in an effort to get more answers. The second mystery involves the enigma known as unspace, which is the underlying nothing beneath the universe. A part of space that allows for travel across light years in just mere moments, but at what cost? And there are those who after journeying through unspace have come out somewhat changed. The reasons for which we are dying to understand. So yes, these tantalizing mysteries are a huge part of this story, besides the political and societal maneuvering that take place between the characters. These elements combined take this SF story to very lofty heights indeed.
EYES OF THE VOID was just the type of sequel that I had hoped it would be. The stakes have been raised considerably, alliances are being formed, enemies are making themselves known, and the epic battle on the horizon promises to be legendary. I'm happy to say that Adrian Tchaikovsky has written another stellar space opera tale that will delight anyone who loves their science fiction smart, tech-heavy, and full of exciting adventure. I don't know how I'm going to pass the time waiting for book three, but if it is anything like these first two books in the series, it will be more than well worth it.
Preorder your copy now because you are not going to want to miss this one. And definitely read the first book in this series, Shards of Earth if you haven't yet because that one is a beautiful introduction to this story. This is space opera the way it should be told. Big ideas, mysterious civilizations, cool alien technology, characters who think and act in ways that surprise, and the ingredient that matters most - it's just downright fun to read. I have visions of this being made into a blockbuster film or TV series someday and I really hope I get the chance to see it. If you are a fan of Iain M. Banks, Peter F. Hamilton, and Gareth L. Powell, then this will be right up your alley for sure.
https://outofthisworldrev.blogspot.co...
Adrian Tchaikovsky is one of my favorite authors for a multitude of reasons, but first and foremost is that he can write brilliantly captivating stories in multiple genres/subgenres. Whether talking about his fantastic Shadows of the Apt fantasy series, his mesmerizing Bio-SF thriller The Doors of Eden, or his monumental space opera work Children of Time, Tchaikovsky's ability to deliver a mind-blowing story is never something that should ever be in doubt. Likewise, his latest series The Final Architecture promises to be yet another classic from the highly-acclaimed author. I had the pleasure of receiving an advance copy of book two in the series EYES OF THE VOID from publisher Orbit and here are my thoughts.
This book is a wonderful continuation in this series and didn't fall prey to the usual middle book pitfalls that plague so many follow-ups. The intrigue is ramped up as the Architects begin to get a little bolder in their probing of vulnerable worlds. For those who don't know, the Architects are moon-sized entities that have destroyed entire civilizations in the past brutally and without mercy. It's almost a sick and twisted game to them as they obliterate and then go into hiding for a time, only to emerge decades later randomly to repeat the process. So getting to feel that tension of a potential attack made this read a lot more dramatic than the first book, Shards of Earth. Would it happen? Would it not? And if it did, how would those aligned against the Architects respond?
Another thing that I love about Tchaikovsky's books, and this one is no different, is that he always injects a central mystery into his stories that make you want to keep turning those pages to discover if that mystery ever gets revealed. And the awesome thing about this series is he gives you TWO mysteries for the price of one. The first being the Originators, an elder civilization that has since disappeared but has left mysterious ruins and artifacts scattered across the universe in their wake. The thought is that some Originators may possibly still exist somewhere, and scholars/scientists have been studying their abandoned settlements in an effort to get more answers. The second mystery involves the enigma known as unspace, which is the underlying nothing beneath the universe. A part of space that allows for travel across light years in just mere moments, but at what cost? And there are those who after journeying through unspace have come out somewhat changed. The reasons for which we are dying to understand. So yes, these tantalizing mysteries are a huge part of this story, besides the political and societal maneuvering that take place between the characters. These elements combined take this SF story to very lofty heights indeed.
EYES OF THE VOID was just the type of sequel that I had hoped it would be. The stakes have been raised considerably, alliances are being formed, enemies are making themselves known, and the epic battle on the horizon promises to be legendary. I'm happy to say that Adrian Tchaikovsky has written another stellar space opera tale that will delight anyone who loves their science fiction smart, tech-heavy, and full of exciting adventure. I don't know how I'm going to pass the time waiting for book three, but if it is anything like these first two books in the series, it will be more than well worth it.
Preorder your copy now because you are not going to want to miss this one. And definitely read the first book in this series, Shards of Earth if you haven't yet because that one is a beautiful introduction to this story. This is space opera the way it should be told. Big ideas, mysterious civilizations, cool alien technology, characters who think and act in ways that surprise, and the ingredient that matters most - it's just downright fun to read. I have visions of this being made into a blockbuster film or TV series someday and I really hope I get the chance to see it. If you are a fan of Iain M. Banks, Peter F. Hamilton, and Gareth L. Powell, then this will be right up your alley for sure.
July 4, 2022
4.5 Stars
Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾
Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾
April 30, 2022
Big scope space opera written by one of my favorite modern authors -- and he is doing a fantastic job yet again.
The first book laid out a great number of weird and fascinating alien species with humans just being one of many, combined with gigantic Architects that go about plopping into real space to completely transform planets into weird sculptures, much to the mind-blowing terror of the millions of people or intelligent species living there.
We followed the crew of the salvage ship Vulture God and barely scraped by one such horrifying encounter with a reveal that the big bad is not, indeed, the Architects, but something else that drove them.
And then there are the Originators, another huge mystery that wraps up all the intelligent species in yet another conundrum.
Of course, that hardly describes the USUAL and NORMAL problems of opportunistic species taking advantage of the chaos to start interstellar wars and the like, but here we are.
And nothing quite beats the terrified scrambling of so many intelligent species with all the collateral damage that implies. It makes for a truly excellent space opera. I look forward to following all these, my favorite characters from the Vulture God and their quest to survive. :)
The first book laid out a great number of weird and fascinating alien species with humans just being one of many, combined with gigantic Architects that go about plopping into real space to completely transform planets into weird sculptures, much to the mind-blowing terror of the millions of people or intelligent species living there.
We followed the crew of the salvage ship Vulture God and barely scraped by one such horrifying encounter with a reveal that the big bad is not, indeed, the Architects, but something else that drove them.
And then there are the Originators, another huge mystery that wraps up all the intelligent species in yet another conundrum.
Of course, that hardly describes the USUAL and NORMAL problems of opportunistic species taking advantage of the chaos to start interstellar wars and the like, but here we are.
And nothing quite beats the terrified scrambling of so many intelligent species with all the collateral damage that implies. It makes for a truly excellent space opera. I look forward to following all these, my favorite characters from the Vulture God and their quest to survive. :)
Read
May 5, 2023This series is about as hard SF as I like (probably not very) but a) it's Tchaikovsky, and b) I do love a ragtag crew of shitty salvage ship premise. (Still trying to recreate the joy of Tales of the Ketty Jay - The Complete Series which is my favourite.)
Very dense plot, lots of politics and lots of weird meta Lovecraftian oddity, but also some excellent knife fights and banter. A satisfyingly diverse cast, including a very severely disabled woman who gets to be one of the most kickass characters ever (she uses a 'walking frame' which is basically a battle mecha, it's brilliant) and is startlingly obnoxious at all times. I love her. In fact, now I think of it, all the most brutal fighters in this series are women. Men are relegated to 'not-doing-that-well spy' and 'mentally collapsing space navigator' plus baddies. Yes thank you.
A huge tome stuffed with dense worldbuilding but nevertheless highly readable. Huge thanks for actually including a 'the story so far' instead of the usual thing where we're dumped back into the story and apparently expected to retain all the detail of an 800pp book we read a year ago, like I can remember my own kids names without a crib sheet.
Very dense plot, lots of politics and lots of weird meta Lovecraftian oddity, but also some excellent knife fights and banter. A satisfyingly diverse cast, including a very severely disabled woman who gets to be one of the most kickass characters ever (she uses a 'walking frame' which is basically a battle mecha, it's brilliant) and is startlingly obnoxious at all times. I love her. In fact, now I think of it, all the most brutal fighters in this series are women. Men are relegated to 'not-doing-that-well spy' and 'mentally collapsing space navigator' plus baddies. Yes thank you.
A huge tome stuffed with dense worldbuilding but nevertheless highly readable. Huge thanks for actually including a 'the story so far' instead of the usual thing where we're dumped back into the story and apparently expected to retain all the detail of an 800pp book we read a year ago, like I can remember my own kids names without a crib sheet.
May 11, 2022
Usually I really like Adrian Tchaikovsky. But sometimes his books are more of a slog, and this series (even only two books in) is definitely proving to be a slog.
It's ostensibly a cool future. There are humans still, but they can be divided into multiple subcategories. There is an all-female group of genetically engineered warriors. There are artificial lifeforms, and aliens, and composite beings made up of an alien surgically attached to a human's spine. There are spaceships, and psychics known as "intermediaries" who pilot those spaceships through subspace.
All of that should be very cool. But, it's too dense.
The author just barely gave me enough characterization to like the rag-tag crew of space mercenaries who are our main characters. One is a kooky female engineer with misshapen limbs, so she built herself a giant metal battle scorpion that she pilots instead of a wheelchair. One of the all-female warriors joined the crew last book. A lifeform composed of a hive of chittering bugs is on the crew. And, of course, our protagonist is a surgically enhanced psychic who can pilot the ship through subspace (or, "nonspace").
But there is just so much happening all the time, and there are really too many species and characters to keep track of. Some of their names aren't necessarily difficult to pronounce, but difficult to remember. We are given enough details about the wacky crew that I like them. But, I feel like the writer really needed to go back and give flashback scenes for these characters more often. Maybe, if I could see a scene where a character was living a quieter life on a farm in their childhood, I could be given time to really identify with them.
Instead, I'm trying to unpack a dense collection of species names and faction names on every page, and I find myself wondering if the story is ever going to slow down and focus on one character long enough for me to feel truly attached to them.
Idris is more or less the primary protagonist, what with his impossibly youthful face and "Intermediary" status driving the plot. I feel pretty invested in him. After him, maybe the next most relatable character in this installment was Emmaneth, a murderous human woman who was then bonded to an alien prawn on her back, forming a new composite being with combined personalities and incredible regenerative powers. She was given depth, what with her past as a killer, and her newfound status causing her constant, unbearable agony.
I have so many books and short stories to read right now. So much stuff came out all at once. This, I endured. But I felt I had to get through it before I could get to newer stuff I would rather read.
It's ostensibly a cool future. There are humans still, but they can be divided into multiple subcategories. There is an all-female group of genetically engineered warriors. There are artificial lifeforms, and aliens, and composite beings made up of an alien surgically attached to a human's spine. There are spaceships, and psychics known as "intermediaries" who pilot those spaceships through subspace.
All of that should be very cool. But, it's too dense.
The author just barely gave me enough characterization to like the rag-tag crew of space mercenaries who are our main characters. One is a kooky female engineer with misshapen limbs, so she built herself a giant metal battle scorpion that she pilots instead of a wheelchair. One of the all-female warriors joined the crew last book. A lifeform composed of a hive of chittering bugs is on the crew. And, of course, our protagonist is a surgically enhanced psychic who can pilot the ship through subspace (or, "nonspace").
But there is just so much happening all the time, and there are really too many species and characters to keep track of. Some of their names aren't necessarily difficult to pronounce, but difficult to remember. We are given enough details about the wacky crew that I like them. But, I feel like the writer really needed to go back and give flashback scenes for these characters more often. Maybe, if I could see a scene where a character was living a quieter life on a farm in their childhood, I could be given time to really identify with them.
Instead, I'm trying to unpack a dense collection of species names and faction names on every page, and I find myself wondering if the story is ever going to slow down and focus on one character long enough for me to feel truly attached to them.
Idris is more or less the primary protagonist, what with his impossibly youthful face and "Intermediary" status driving the plot. I feel pretty invested in him. After him, maybe the next most relatable character in this installment was Emmaneth, a murderous human woman who was then bonded to an alien prawn on her back, forming a new composite being with combined personalities and incredible regenerative powers. She was given depth, what with her past as a killer, and her newfound status causing her constant, unbearable agony.
I have so many books and short stories to read right now. So much stuff came out all at once. This, I endured. But I felt I had to get through it before I could get to newer stuff I would rather read.
September 20, 2022
Eyes of the Void, the second book in Adrian Tchaikovsky's "The Final Architecture" series, manages to avoid many of the typical pitfalls of sequel books.
Readers are thrust immediately into the action of an ever-shifting galactic political landscape, rival factions at each other's throats when the larger threat of the Architects becomes as salient as it had during the first conflict. A conflict where humanity was almost wiped out, along with its alien allies.
Except this time, the Architects, moon-sized entities that use gravity to annihilate whole planets, have managed to circumvent the protection of Originator artifacts that spooked them in the last war.
You'd think humanity and its alien allies would seek a unified approach to this problem, especially since the scare-factor of the Originator artifacts has worn off.
It appears that even the breakaway human religious colonies that joined the protection of the technologically-advanced Hegemony, who have sole dominion over most of the Originator artifacts and can transport them safely, are no longer safe.
Well, to make a long story short, there are powers behind the scenes that are seeing opportunity in the impending destruction and chaos.
Yet, those nominally on the side of a unified front, are seeking a new weapon against the Architects. Among them is our beloved and frankly exhausted Int, Idris Telemmier, capable of interfacing with the Architects and seeing into "unspace," (places where, in theory, nothing made of ordinary matter should be able to exist). Along for the ride is his crew of the salvage ship The Vulture God, led by the new captain, my favorite ever-salty Olli.
When a research expedition on a Hegemony planet known as Arc Pallator goes horribly wrong, Idris is lost to his ship and crew, but lands in the hands of a handful of shady characters on a world named Criccieth's Hell. Let me tell you, this place is aptly named. A planet, formerly more friendly to life, was stripped of its protective atmospheric layers, leaving it vulnerable to their star's harsh radiation.
The only things that survive on the surface are these plants that use a process called "nuclear photosynthesis." I guess when life gives you radioactive lemons, you make radioactive lemonade?
These are scary, scary things, capable of growing faster than plants should, and are literally trying to pry open this facility, waiting for the shields to fail. (I may or may not have nightmares about these murderous plants.)
(Venus flytraps are play-toys compared to the Criccieth's Hell plants.)
Anyways, these renegade scientists have a mysterious "Machine" of Originator origin that is still up-and-running that can see into unspace, the presumed home of the Architects (it is housed in a facility which is barely holding back the life-killing radiation and aggressive plants outside).
Their crew is led by a Naeromathi alien out for revenge against the Architects. (Get this, the alien's name is Ahab.) They need Idris's Int abilities to interface with unspace and find some critical clue that was missed in the disaster of the Arc Pallator expedition.
Spoiler alert, they do find the key to the universe they are looking for. Of course, I won't spoil what it is, but let's just say all hell breaks loose, and Idris and company is trapped in Criccieth's Hell with time running out to get away and share the game-changing knowledge Idris has gained.
Eyes of the Void is an engaging sequel that ups the ante for what appears to be a last stand of humanity and its alien allies in the next (and final) book. It is a trilogy after all, and the way things stand at the end of Eyes of the Void, it's going to be spectacular, I'm sure.
Happy reading!
Find this book and other titles within our catalog.
Readers are thrust immediately into the action of an ever-shifting galactic political landscape, rival factions at each other's throats when the larger threat of the Architects becomes as salient as it had during the first conflict. A conflict where humanity was almost wiped out, along with its alien allies.
Except this time, the Architects, moon-sized entities that use gravity to annihilate whole planets, have managed to circumvent the protection of Originator artifacts that spooked them in the last war.
You'd think humanity and its alien allies would seek a unified approach to this problem, especially since the scare-factor of the Originator artifacts has worn off.
It appears that even the breakaway human religious colonies that joined the protection of the technologically-advanced Hegemony, who have sole dominion over most of the Originator artifacts and can transport them safely, are no longer safe.
Well, to make a long story short, there are powers behind the scenes that are seeing opportunity in the impending destruction and chaos.
Yet, those nominally on the side of a unified front, are seeking a new weapon against the Architects. Among them is our beloved and frankly exhausted Int, Idris Telemmier, capable of interfacing with the Architects and seeing into "unspace," (places where, in theory, nothing made of ordinary matter should be able to exist). Along for the ride is his crew of the salvage ship The Vulture God, led by the new captain, my favorite ever-salty Olli.
When a research expedition on a Hegemony planet known as Arc Pallator goes horribly wrong, Idris is lost to his ship and crew, but lands in the hands of a handful of shady characters on a world named Criccieth's Hell. Let me tell you, this place is aptly named. A planet, formerly more friendly to life, was stripped of its protective atmospheric layers, leaving it vulnerable to their star's harsh radiation.
The only things that survive on the surface are these plants that use a process called "nuclear photosynthesis." I guess when life gives you radioactive lemons, you make radioactive lemonade?
These are scary, scary things, capable of growing faster than plants should, and are literally trying to pry open this facility, waiting for the shields to fail. (I may or may not have nightmares about these murderous plants.)
(Venus flytraps are play-toys compared to the Criccieth's Hell plants.)
Anyways, these renegade scientists have a mysterious "Machine" of Originator origin that is still up-and-running that can see into unspace, the presumed home of the Architects (it is housed in a facility which is barely holding back the life-killing radiation and aggressive plants outside).
Their crew is led by a Naeromathi alien out for revenge against the Architects. (Get this, the alien's name is Ahab.) They need Idris's Int abilities to interface with unspace and find some critical clue that was missed in the disaster of the Arc Pallator expedition.
Spoiler alert, they do find the key to the universe they are looking for. Of course, I won't spoil what it is, but let's just say all hell breaks loose, and Idris and company is trapped in Criccieth's Hell with time running out to get away and share the game-changing knowledge Idris has gained.
Eyes of the Void is an engaging sequel that ups the ante for what appears to be a last stand of humanity and its alien allies in the next (and final) book. It is a trilogy after all, and the way things stand at the end of Eyes of the Void, it's going to be spectacular, I'm sure.
Happy reading!
Find this book and other titles within our catalog.
May 29, 2022
The sequel and middle book. I really liked Shards of Earth, it was one of my favourites of last year and a great adventure yarn of a misfit crew and found family. Ambitious space opera.
I struggled to stay focused though. So many characters, ships, planets, alien races and concepts. And there seems to be so much filler and endless talking. I think picking the audiobook was the wrong choice in this case.
The audiobook narration is well done, if slightly over the top and a little grating at times. The complex and very dense story had me constantly struggling to keep everybody and everything straight. My mind kept wandering off, waiting for some action and plot progression.
So, great concept, world building, plot and well-fleshed out, likeable characters, but the execution of this story just didn‘t captivate me. I had to make an effort to make it to the end, it was a slog. I would pick up another book in the series though, when it is published, to get closure on all those unresolved plotlines.
I struggled to stay focused though. So many characters, ships, planets, alien races and concepts. And there seems to be so much filler and endless talking. I think picking the audiobook was the wrong choice in this case.
The audiobook narration is well done, if slightly over the top and a little grating at times. The complex and very dense story had me constantly struggling to keep everybody and everything straight. My mind kept wandering off, waiting for some action and plot progression.
So, great concept, world building, plot and well-fleshed out, likeable characters, but the execution of this story just didn‘t captivate me. I had to make an effort to make it to the end, it was a slog. I would pick up another book in the series though, when it is published, to get closure on all those unresolved plotlines.
May 20, 2022
"The architects are like the universe's will, are they not? Desperate to grind us down and reduce us to dust. And not even through malice, just as a side effect of what they do and what they are."
The central mystery surrounding the originators, unspace and the architects remains thoroughly compelling, and the planetary scale chaos is most gratifying, but the science (usually Tchaikovsky's strong point and wow factor) and character development remain weak spots, the latter in part due to POV overload.
The central mystery surrounding the originators, unspace and the architects remains thoroughly compelling, and the planetary scale chaos is most gratifying, but the science (usually Tchaikovsky's strong point and wow factor) and character development remain weak spots, the latter in part due to POV overload.
January 3, 2024
Reread: Jan 2024
Tchaikovsky excels at writing character driven speculative fiction and this is no exception. Eyes of the Void is the second installment of the Architect series and this review will contain some mild spoilers for the first, so read that before this. We left off the first installment with the Architects returning to 'reshape' inhabited planets after 40 years or so. Idris, one of the first 'Ints', or intermediaries, is now almost 70 but he has not aged a day (or slept) since they finished rearranging his brain to become an Int. Ints are able to tolerate 'unspace', a tenuous layer (alternative dimension?) beneath real space that allows for FTL travel, and hence typically serve as navigators on ships. It was also discovered that they can communicate with the Architects and were key in repelling the invasion 40 years ago, basically by just getting their notice ('hello! I am here and alive').
When they started returning at the end of the first installment, Idris was key in once again repelling them, but he also learned that they are acting on orders from something else (aliens? we do not know). In any case, with the Architects returning, the demand for Ints skyrockets, but it is a horrible process to transform a person into an Int and the success rate is very low. Idris agrees to help the Parthenon develop some of their own and hence is taken under their wing. The Parthenon is an all women army or 'force' that during the first Architect war served as the 'shield' to the beleaguered colonial forces to help them evacuate planets before they became macabre artworks.
So, with the Architects returning, and even worse, the strange alien artifacts that the Hegemony (an empire of clams no less) utilized to protect planets no longer working, it would seem that the various factions of humanity and the surrounding alien empires would come together to face the common threat. Of course not! Instead, we have various factions of humanity with different visions if you will of the future and on the brink of going to war with each other...
The characters in this space opera are what really makes it stand out. Olli, the abrasive drone specialist/captain of the Vulture God (the salvage vessel featured in the last installment) is perhaps my favorite. We also have Solace, a Partheni soldier and agent, who was originally sent to recruit Idris, who is slowly reevaluating the world now that she is working in colonial space. Most of the characters from the first installment are back and it was rewarding to see them develop further, even the strange Unspeakable Aklu, the clam gangster!
The science is perhaps the weakest part of this opera however, but if you can ignore the handwaves and just go with the flow it works. Unspace, for example, plays a key role in the story, but it is never quite clear what exactly it is. Another dimension? Yes, unspace allows for FTL travel, which is key, so I can see why it needs to be in the story, but I would have appreciated a bit more on it.
While the middle volume in a trilogy tends to be a 'placekeeper' for the series, this does not feel that way. Yes, many things are not resolved and lots of space for the concluding volume, but the main story arcs wrap up nicely. Tchaikovsky adroitly shifts among a variety of POVs here which really helps to flesh out the characters. Also, we are treated here to more aspects of the world here, learning more about the Hannilambra (crab like aliens) and the Hegemony. Idris really steals the show, however, as he learns more and more about Unspace and the Architects in general; you know he will be key in the conclusion.
So, to wrap up: Great job of keeping the story moving along nicely and excellent character development, a bit weak on the science front, but a very satisfying installment that did not suffer from a sophomore crisis. 4 Clammy stars!!
Tchaikovsky excels at writing character driven speculative fiction and this is no exception. Eyes of the Void is the second installment of the Architect series and this review will contain some mild spoilers for the first, so read that before this. We left off the first installment with the Architects returning to 'reshape' inhabited planets after 40 years or so. Idris, one of the first 'Ints', or intermediaries, is now almost 70 but he has not aged a day (or slept) since they finished rearranging his brain to become an Int. Ints are able to tolerate 'unspace', a tenuous layer (alternative dimension?) beneath real space that allows for FTL travel, and hence typically serve as navigators on ships. It was also discovered that they can communicate with the Architects and were key in repelling the invasion 40 years ago, basically by just getting their notice ('hello! I am here and alive').
When they started returning at the end of the first installment, Idris was key in once again repelling them, but he also learned that they are acting on orders from something else (aliens? we do not know). In any case, with the Architects returning, the demand for Ints skyrockets, but it is a horrible process to transform a person into an Int and the success rate is very low. Idris agrees to help the Parthenon develop some of their own and hence is taken under their wing. The Parthenon is an all women army or 'force' that during the first Architect war served as the 'shield' to the beleaguered colonial forces to help them evacuate planets before they became macabre artworks.
So, with the Architects returning, and even worse, the strange alien artifacts that the Hegemony (an empire of clams no less) utilized to protect planets no longer working, it would seem that the various factions of humanity and the surrounding alien empires would come together to face the common threat. Of course not! Instead, we have various factions of humanity with different visions if you will of the future and on the brink of going to war with each other...
The characters in this space opera are what really makes it stand out. Olli, the abrasive drone specialist/captain of the Vulture God (the salvage vessel featured in the last installment) is perhaps my favorite. We also have Solace, a Partheni soldier and agent, who was originally sent to recruit Idris, who is slowly reevaluating the world now that she is working in colonial space. Most of the characters from the first installment are back and it was rewarding to see them develop further, even the strange Unspeakable Aklu, the clam gangster!
The science is perhaps the weakest part of this opera however, but if you can ignore the handwaves and just go with the flow it works. Unspace, for example, plays a key role in the story, but it is never quite clear what exactly it is. Another dimension? Yes, unspace allows for FTL travel, which is key, so I can see why it needs to be in the story, but I would have appreciated a bit more on it.
While the middle volume in a trilogy tends to be a 'placekeeper' for the series, this does not feel that way. Yes, many things are not resolved and lots of space for the concluding volume, but the main story arcs wrap up nicely. Tchaikovsky adroitly shifts among a variety of POVs here which really helps to flesh out the characters. Also, we are treated here to more aspects of the world here, learning more about the Hannilambra (crab like aliens) and the Hegemony. Idris really steals the show, however, as he learns more and more about Unspace and the Architects in general; you know he will be key in the conclusion.
So, to wrap up: Great job of keeping the story moving along nicely and excellent character development, a bit weak on the science front, but a very satisfying installment that did not suffer from a sophomore crisis. 4 Clammy stars!!
May 14, 2022
4.0 Stars
This was a fantastic sequel in this epic space series. For me, the draw is the incredible worldbuilding. This imagined future is vast and complex with intricate politics between the different factions. The series technically hits on several classic tropes of the genre, yet the story never feels derivative or tired. Instead I love how these elements how these handled.
Once again, the prose is solid. My only drawback appears to be a personal one, but I find that the author always keeps his readers at a distance from his characters. While I love the overarching story, I fail to form much attachment, even for characters that we followed for two books. Despite those small quibbles, I really enjoyed this book.
I would highly recommend this series to science fiction readers but you will need to start back at the beginning with Shards of Earth.
Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from the publisher.
This was a fantastic sequel in this epic space series. For me, the draw is the incredible worldbuilding. This imagined future is vast and complex with intricate politics between the different factions. The series technically hits on several classic tropes of the genre, yet the story never feels derivative or tired. Instead I love how these elements how these handled.
Once again, the prose is solid. My only drawback appears to be a personal one, but I find that the author always keeps his readers at a distance from his characters. While I love the overarching story, I fail to form much attachment, even for characters that we followed for two books. Despite those small quibbles, I really enjoyed this book.
I would highly recommend this series to science fiction readers but you will need to start back at the beginning with Shards of Earth.
Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from the publisher.
May 3, 2022
The middle books in trilogies usually are the most "boring" ones. Not this.
Idris has made contact with the architects in the last book and found out that nothing is as it seemed so far. While the aliens are grotesquely reshaping / destroying planets, they are apparently forced to do so by a master race. Are they the Originators of which there are artifacts all around the known universe, which used to protect a civilisation from the destruction by an Architect? Or have the Masters, perhaps, destroyed the Originators? And what the hell IS Unspace?
While Idris is still reeling, he decides that he'll help in the effort to make more Intermediaries like himself by making sure only real volunteers are used (anything else won't work when trying to persuade the Architects to stand down). The problem begins with the differnet known alien races and their definition of "volunteers". *lol*
But there is also the chaos after a staggering number of attacks by the architects and politics, intrigues and a fair number kidnapping.
In the middle of it all, with or beside Idris, is the crew of the Vulture God.
Galactic weapons, bionics, disorientingly alien cultures and the seriously mindbending theories about the artifacts, Architects, Originators, Unspace and Masters (if they indeed exist). You keep zooming through space trying to answer one question after another and finding a way to ensure at least SOME may survive.
I loved the ragtag band(s) fighting on their ships and negotiating on planets. Though I have to admit that for me, the main thing has always been Idris. No, he wouldn't be where he is without the others and I love their loyalty, but he is the key. No idea why him especially, could be a coincidence that could have happened to any Intermediary. But one thing is for sure: we will only get the final puzzle pieces through him.
What I definitely appreciate very much is that we don't just get quirky characters and situations that make you smirk, we get actual science. Hard science. Mind-shattering science. With a healthy dose of speculation drawn from real-life research.
This series is glorious, it really is - brilliantly interweaving so many aspects and warping them into such a wonderful story. Can't wait for the next and final volume!
Idris has made contact with the architects in the last book and found out that nothing is as it seemed so far. While the aliens are grotesquely reshaping / destroying planets, they are apparently forced to do so by a master race. Are they the Originators of which there are artifacts all around the known universe, which used to protect a civilisation from the destruction by an Architect? Or have the Masters, perhaps, destroyed the Originators? And what the hell IS Unspace?
While Idris is still reeling, he decides that he'll help in the effort to make more Intermediaries like himself by making sure only real volunteers are used (anything else won't work when trying to persuade the Architects to stand down). The problem begins with the differnet known alien races and their definition of "volunteers". *lol*
But there is also the chaos after a staggering number of attacks by the architects and politics, intrigues and a fair number kidnapping.
In the middle of it all, with or beside Idris, is the crew of the Vulture God.
Galactic weapons, bionics, disorientingly alien cultures and the seriously mindbending theories about the artifacts, Architects, Originators, Unspace and Masters (if they indeed exist). You keep zooming through space trying to answer one question after another and finding a way to ensure at least SOME may survive.
I loved the ragtag band(s) fighting on their ships and negotiating on planets. Though I have to admit that for me, the main thing has always been Idris. No, he wouldn't be where he is without the others and I love their loyalty, but he is the key. No idea why him especially, could be a coincidence that could have happened to any Intermediary. But one thing is for sure: we will only get the final puzzle pieces through him.
What I definitely appreciate very much is that we don't just get quirky characters and situations that make you smirk, we get actual science. Hard science. Mind-shattering science. With a healthy dose of speculation drawn from real-life research.
This series is glorious, it really is - brilliantly interweaving so many aspects and warping them into such a wonderful story. Can't wait for the next and final volume!
July 23, 2022
Can't wait for the next one.
October 6, 2024
“Yes, the universe was built on a certain common logic that could be expressed by numbers, but those numbers themselves were an arbitrary construct that was culturally specific.”
This is the second in the Final Architecture trilogy and is another slice of space opera, following many of the characters from the first novel, centred again on Idris Telemmier. Again the crew of the salvage ship The Vulture God are heavily involved. There are a mixture of species and the interactions and misunderstandings are well handled. The series revolves around the concept of unspace, which is how spaceships get around the universe. The primary threat to all species are the Architects who are moon sized and destroy planets (earth included). This instalment uncovers the reason why this is happening. It is definitely setting the scene for the final part, but Tchaikovsky adds detail and depth to the concepts he has introduced.
There is thought behind this and one reviewer has compared the structure of the novel to Sartre’s Being and Nothingness because of the use of the concept of negation which is central to Tchaikovsky’s idea of unspace. I did find that interesting and can see the point of the comparison.
Tchaikovsky plays with a lot of ideas. Central is an examination of diaspora. The earth has been destroyed and humans scatter all over the known universe taking wildly divergent intellectual directions as well. He also looks at cloning and disability over the series as well.
The series is written from multiple points of view and it works pretty well. It’s entertaining without being empty and mindless.
“The conspiracy theorist’s dream, the cabal of the mighty getting together to obliterate the bulk of humanity just so they could be kings of what remained”
This is the second in the Final Architecture trilogy and is another slice of space opera, following many of the characters from the first novel, centred again on Idris Telemmier. Again the crew of the salvage ship The Vulture God are heavily involved. There are a mixture of species and the interactions and misunderstandings are well handled. The series revolves around the concept of unspace, which is how spaceships get around the universe. The primary threat to all species are the Architects who are moon sized and destroy planets (earth included). This instalment uncovers the reason why this is happening. It is definitely setting the scene for the final part, but Tchaikovsky adds detail and depth to the concepts he has introduced.
There is thought behind this and one reviewer has compared the structure of the novel to Sartre’s Being and Nothingness because of the use of the concept of negation which is central to Tchaikovsky’s idea of unspace. I did find that interesting and can see the point of the comparison.
Tchaikovsky plays with a lot of ideas. Central is an examination of diaspora. The earth has been destroyed and humans scatter all over the known universe taking wildly divergent intellectual directions as well. He also looks at cloning and disability over the series as well.
The series is written from multiple points of view and it works pretty well. It’s entertaining without being empty and mindless.
“The conspiracy theorist’s dream, the cabal of the mighty getting together to obliterate the bulk of humanity just so they could be kings of what remained”
April 3, 2024
4.5 stars.
I thought the first book, Shards of Earth, was just a little lacking in a couple of places in terms of the progress of the story. We were introduced to new things at various points and then there would be little flashback chapters that told us a little bit more about them and I didn't like that so much. I didn't like the way that it broke up the storytelling as I was going along, but the audio narration really helped to tie it all together quite nicely.
In this second book we had less of the looking back, it was more to do with looking forward, or I guess the present as the story was being told, and I really appreciated that. It definitely felt like we were well into a series rather than having all of those little introductory elements brought into it, so it was definitely an improvement for me over Shards of Earth.
I loved some of the elements of the storytelling in here but it's the characters that have really driven this series for me so far. I really like the literal character voices (in the audio) of some of the crew of the ship that a lot of the story takes place on. I like that we saw some new places as well as we're going through the story and we’re introduced to some new storylines which are left open for Lords of Uncreation, book three in the series. As far as book two goes, as I say, it was a definite improvement for me on book one and I'm hoping book three continues that nice trajectory when I get to it.
I thought the first book, Shards of Earth, was just a little lacking in a couple of places in terms of the progress of the story. We were introduced to new things at various points and then there would be little flashback chapters that told us a little bit more about them and I didn't like that so much. I didn't like the way that it broke up the storytelling as I was going along, but the audio narration really helped to tie it all together quite nicely.
In this second book we had less of the looking back, it was more to do with looking forward, or I guess the present as the story was being told, and I really appreciated that. It definitely felt like we were well into a series rather than having all of those little introductory elements brought into it, so it was definitely an improvement for me over Shards of Earth.
I loved some of the elements of the storytelling in here but it's the characters that have really driven this series for me so far. I really like the literal character voices (in the audio) of some of the crew of the ship that a lot of the story takes place on. I like that we saw some new places as well as we're going through the story and we’re introduced to some new storylines which are left open for Lords of Uncreation, book three in the series. As far as book two goes, as I say, it was a definite improvement for me on book one and I'm hoping book three continues that nice trajectory when I get to it.
May 13, 2022
Felt like a kid at Christmas when Eyes of the Void appeared in my library and was peering back at me. Completely forgotten about the pre-order I’d placed months earlier and had to immediately stop what I was reading mid-chapter!!
It was good to catch up with Idris and co, not heard from them for almost a year, if you loved Shards of Earth then you’ll like this too, its’ not too dissimilar from the first book.
Destruction of worlds, webs of conflict drawn from supremacism, politics and piety, space battles, radioactive plants and a scrappy bunch of misfits fighting against it all, what’s not to love.
Olli has to be my favourite character; I like the dark humour she brings to the narrative, and Tchaikovsky doesn’t disappoint in developing a host of weird and wonderful beings.
It’s another excellent book, I kind of enjoyed the first one more, but the journey is still captivating, and I was both happy finishing the book and disappointed that I now have to wait for the next one.
It was good to catch up with Idris and co, not heard from them for almost a year, if you loved Shards of Earth then you’ll like this too, its’ not too dissimilar from the first book.
Destruction of worlds, webs of conflict drawn from supremacism, politics and piety, space battles, radioactive plants and a scrappy bunch of misfits fighting against it all, what’s not to love.
Olli has to be my favourite character; I like the dark humour she brings to the narrative, and Tchaikovsky doesn’t disappoint in developing a host of weird and wonderful beings.
It’s another excellent book, I kind of enjoyed the first one more, but the journey is still captivating, and I was both happy finishing the book and disappointed that I now have to wait for the next one.
July 11, 2022
Four well deserved stars.
Very enjoyable, as much as the first book. For me, the best space opera that is currently being published.
The author constructs a story that has you captivated at all times and knows how to combine it with varied characters and a fascinating worldbuilding.
Looking forward to the third and last novel, entitled Lords of Uncreation (it will be published in 2023).
Very enjoyable, as much as the first book. For me, the best space opera that is currently being published.
The author constructs a story that has you captivated at all times and knows how to combine it with varied characters and a fascinating worldbuilding.
Looking forward to the third and last novel, entitled Lords of Uncreation (it will be published in 2023).
December 24, 2022
‘Nothing matters,’ Shinandri echoed, but in a different tone, a speculative one. He understood. Unspace, the Originator walls, the Throughways, the universe, from the void between the stars to the whirling emptiness of atoms, it was all about the nothing and how you arranged it. Which meant that there were no walls at all, if you could just bend the pieces of nothing the right way. This was what a ship’s gravitic drive did, every time it passed into or out of unspace. Even reality was subordinate to nothing. You could take a vessel and make it a dream, and then throw that dream across the universe and make it real again around another star.
So #1 was about the mystery of the Architects, while #2 ups the ante by tackling the horrors and wonders of Unspace.
Review to follow.
So #1 was about the mystery of the Architects, while #2 ups the ante by tackling the horrors and wonders of Unspace.
Review to follow.
July 23, 2023
Going into this, I wasn't sure it would grab me. I figured I wouldn't need the next book - I thought I didn't need to know how this would all end.
Now I'm desperate for it!
What a fantastic read this was!! Thrilling, intriguing, tense ... I flew through it, actually. Couldn't wait to get back to it, every time I ran out of reading time.
The characters stole my heart in the last book, so it was great to hang out with them again. Olli's hostility towards everyone and everything just makes her so endearing to me and it somehow adds a gritty reality to everything that occurs.
This book really delves into Idris's Intermediary skills and it's so satisfying. We're starting to crack open some of the mysteries of this universe and it is a lot of FUN.
Some new players coming in to mess things up, and some really interesting turns that should make the next book pretty epic.
Of course most of the science goes a bit over my head but it's easy enough to get the bigger picture.
Such a great series and I'm firmly on board now! Need the next one soon!
With thanks to Macmillan for a copy
Now I'm desperate for it!
What a fantastic read this was!! Thrilling, intriguing, tense ... I flew through it, actually. Couldn't wait to get back to it, every time I ran out of reading time.
The characters stole my heart in the last book, so it was great to hang out with them again. Olli's hostility towards everyone and everything just makes her so endearing to me and it somehow adds a gritty reality to everything that occurs.
This book really delves into Idris's Intermediary skills and it's so satisfying. We're starting to crack open some of the mysteries of this universe and it is a lot of FUN.
Some new players coming in to mess things up, and some really interesting turns that should make the next book pretty epic.
Of course most of the science goes a bit over my head but it's easy enough to get the bigger picture.
Such a great series and I'm firmly on board now! Need the next one soon!
With thanks to Macmillan for a copy
March 28, 2024
He was the canary in the mine, and you always brought the canary. Nobody cared that the canary didn’t much enjoy its job and would maybe like to be doing something else.
It’s going to be a tough haul.
Idris Telemmier has already saved Humanity twice from the Architects, mysterious intelligent crystal planetoids capable of transmuting whole planets into chaotic fractal spirals of debris, the first time in the original assault that destroyed the Earth, and the second time in the opening book of the series, several decades later.
Idris feels he is due some slack, some vacation time free from stress, some quality time with his new oddball friends aboard the Vulture God , an independent salvage spaceship.
But Idris is an Intermediary, one of the precious few original mutant humans capable of navigating Unspace, the underlying nothing beneath the universe that permits FTL travel between inhabited worlds. Without an Intermediary, space ships will get lost in the Unspace, and their human cargo will be destroyed by unimaginable terrors.
Which means Idris Telemmier is hunted by every political faction and secret organization of the Polyaspora , as the spread of humanity through the known galaxy is known. Between Hegemony, Parthenon, Assemblies, major Hannilambra cartels, Castigar World-chain, Council of Human Interests and other interested parties, Idris and the crew of the Vulture God become pawns in a secret game of galactic proportions.
“The conspiracy theorist’s dream, the cabal of the mighty getting together to obliterate the bulk of humanity just so they could be kings of what remained”
This is a typical middle of the series instalment, further developing the setting and the characters introduced in the first book, but being a little coy with the important reveals that are saved for what promises to be a spectacular finale.
From my introduction, I think it can be observed that there are certain similarities in plot and characters with the Expanse series, but Adrian Tchaikovsky is a skilled storyteller who manages to develop his own particular flavor of dystopian future, even if the original inspiration for the series might have come from somebody else.
As with other fantasy and science-fiction books of his, Tchaikovsky excels at creating odd alien lifeforms: the giant clams called Essiel, the unkillable spider-human symbiotes, the Leviathan like Naeromathi, or the composite Hiver cyborgs with their tiny spider nano-technologies.
The author is also very good at action scenes, maintaining here a good balance between the expected political backstabbing or betrayals and actual fighting, either planet-side, on orbital stations or in space between gigantic ships and Architects.
That said, the main attraction of this second book for me was the scientific speculation about the fabric of the universe, the Ariadne’s thread that guides the reader through this byzantine labyrinth of special interests and deadly conspiracies.
This is relevant because none of the known big players on the galactic game board manage to get their hands on Idris Telemmier. He is kidnapped instead by a rogue team of scientists who want to use his Intermediary abilities to discover the truth about Unspace, with the help of artefacts from an extinct ancient civilization known as the Originators.
“The lens we can use, to understand the universe. But we are none of us fit to look into that lens, Menheer. For that, we need an Intermediary. A real one, with decades of experience in gazing into the abyss. We need you.”
Every time an Intermediary goes into Unspace, he must face some primeval subconscious horror of an unseen entity chasing them though that impossible medium. A normal, unshielded mind cannot experience Unspace without going mad. It’s the old adage of gazing into the abyss, and the author makes sure the reader gets this:
He was abruptly out of the universe and gazing into the abyss with his mind’s eye, which had no lid and couldn’t close nor refuse to see.
It was as though he was an insect with his legs spread across the surface of a pond. Everything that happened upon or within the water came to him through the ripples, and every motion of his own caused ripples in turn, expanding and expanding.
Being heard.
I liked this concept borrowed from the horror playbook, of keeping the monsters hidden in the dark, and letting the anxiety build up to create tension. According to the scientists who operate this Originator lens mechanism, even the dreaded Architects are afraid of what is hidden within Unspace.
It seems like whatever small chance humanity has of surviving the latest Architect invasion is still held by the altered mind of Idris Telemmier.
Or so claims that other mysterious alien who appears only to predict more doom in the near future.
Ash, speaking all languages, bearing ominous warnings, a Cassandra whom people had learned soon enough to heed.
Who or what is Ash? and how will Idris and the crew of the Vulture God defeat the Architects?
Luckily for me, the third and final volume is already out. Adrian Tchaikovsky is outpacing even Brandon Sanderson in high quality output.
March 30, 2022
Eyes of the Void, the second in the newest series The Final Architecture by Adrian Tchaikovsky, meets all I hoped for in a middle book: a well integrated summary of the first book ( by which I mean there wasn’t a huge info dump), added complexities in the plots, and yet more questions about the Architects and the unknown alien race that has compelled them to destroy inhabited planets. All the players from before are here, meeting up during a last minute effort to understand one of the largest Originator ruins: various humans from Earth’s colonies and their progeny the Huvers and Parthoni; Havaer the Mordant House operative; the Hegemony crowd. And, of course, there are the folks from the Vulture God salvage ship.
When Shards of Earth came to an end Idris, one of the last Intermediaries who can pilot a ship through the spooky unspace without going insane (mostly), had chosen to help the Parthoni Int training program, over the Council of Human Interests, because of their promise that only volunteers be used, volunteers who are aware of the overwhelming possibility that they will not survive. Idris is a haunted sad-sack who the other misfits on this venture rally around, protecting him from the rest of the universe that sees him as a traitor to humankind and it’s savior- if only they can get their hands in him. He just wants to be left alone, protesting, “I ended the war. I saved the world.” And is met with the question, “Yeah but what have you done recently?”
My favorite characters are the shivers and Kittering, the Hanni. Their straightforward dialogue adds humor amidst the conniving humans. One scene has the Hanni setting up a rigged board game to de-escalate an arguments between two academics- cutting them both down to size and turning potential violence between factions to shared laughter.
Everyone is on a knife’s edge and war seems inevitable, yet it’s hard to know who is on whose side when the sides keep changing. Readers will be eagerly awaiting the final book in this series and it’s good to know Tchaikovsky will not keep ya waiting long.
When Shards of Earth came to an end Idris, one of the last Intermediaries who can pilot a ship through the spooky unspace without going insane (mostly), had chosen to help the Parthoni Int training program, over the Council of Human Interests, because of their promise that only volunteers be used, volunteers who are aware of the overwhelming possibility that they will not survive. Idris is a haunted sad-sack who the other misfits on this venture rally around, protecting him from the rest of the universe that sees him as a traitor to humankind and it’s savior- if only they can get their hands in him. He just wants to be left alone, protesting, “I ended the war. I saved the world.” And is met with the question, “Yeah but what have you done recently?”
My favorite characters are the shivers and Kittering, the Hanni. Their straightforward dialogue adds humor amidst the conniving humans. One scene has the Hanni setting up a rigged board game to de-escalate an arguments between two academics- cutting them both down to size and turning potential violence between factions to shared laughter.
Everyone is on a knife’s edge and war seems inevitable, yet it’s hard to know who is on whose side when the sides keep changing. Readers will be eagerly awaiting the final book in this series and it’s good to know Tchaikovsky will not keep ya waiting long.
May 31, 2022
I’m a big fan of Adrian Tchaikovsky’s (AT) Children of Times series, it’s how I discovered his work. He has tremendous talent with world-building and alien/advanced animal cultures but I think he is average at best at character development and is pretty hit or miss with his books.
This series is a pretty classic space opera formula of having a ragtag group of spacers finding themselves in the middle of circumstances of galactic consequence. To me, it reads a bit like an AT take one The expanse (not a rip off, just similarities), but without creating three-dimensional characters with understandable motives that made the translation to TV work so well IMO
Again, to me…Ollie is just pure hate and a jerk with virtually no character arc. All we know is she was born missing limbs. So I must deduce that that is the reason for all her vitriol. And I find that super weak!
Kris actually has an awesome potential backstory, being from a school of lawyers who also duel with blades, yet we barely know about her past. Idris is a one note complainer, which got so old to me. And so on. Instead of diving deeper into these main characters, AT just adds more and more characters, aliens, ships, political groups etc. and they spend the entire book bickering and running around fighting, but accomplishing little.
Overall, while in the minority, I found this book a complete slog fest. I had read reviews that said it gets better towards the end (and it did) but I still felt like very little happened to move our story forward or have a deeper understanding of our primary characters. For my reading preferences, those are the most important things.
Obviously, most readers seemed to have loved it, and that’s great. You like what you like, and it doesn’t bother me that others have a different experience than me. I just wanted to like this so much but couldn’t.
I will probably not read the third installment, but will definitely read the third book in the Children of Time series, whenever that may be.
This series is a pretty classic space opera formula of having a ragtag group of spacers finding themselves in the middle of circumstances of galactic consequence. To me, it reads a bit like an AT take one The expanse (not a rip off, just similarities), but without creating three-dimensional characters with understandable motives that made the translation to TV work so well IMO
Again, to me…Ollie is just pure hate and a jerk with virtually no character arc. All we know is she was born missing limbs. So I must deduce that that is the reason for all her vitriol. And I find that super weak!
Kris actually has an awesome potential backstory, being from a school of lawyers who also duel with blades, yet we barely know about her past. Idris is a one note complainer, which got so old to me. And so on. Instead of diving deeper into these main characters, AT just adds more and more characters, aliens, ships, political groups etc. and they spend the entire book bickering and running around fighting, but accomplishing little.
Overall, while in the minority, I found this book a complete slog fest. I had read reviews that said it gets better towards the end (and it did) but I still felt like very little happened to move our story forward or have a deeper understanding of our primary characters. For my reading preferences, those are the most important things.
Obviously, most readers seemed to have loved it, and that’s great. You like what you like, and it doesn’t bother me that others have a different experience than me. I just wanted to like this so much but couldn’t.
I will probably not read the third installment, but will definitely read the third book in the Children of Time series, whenever that may be.
May 16, 2022
2nd read: May 2022 - even better the second time. There is so much going on.
-------------------
The second book of the Architect series did not disappoint.
Adrian Tchaikovsky managed to keep the story tight, avoided any dragging (sub)plots that sometimes make a middle book a bit of a chore, but served more hints and tiny reveals about the two mysterious species the quarreling aliens and humans are facing.
The changing POVs stayed on plot the whole time while simultaneously developing further the characters we got to know in the first book. Each one of them interesting, layered and with their unique voice. I especially loved the interaction between the two opposites Solace and Olli which made for great banter and (forced) team work. Idris slowly going down the path of the mad scientist was equally fascinating to witness..
I listened to the audiobook version narrated by Sophie Aldred. Her sassy voices and the tongue-in-cheek character writing of Tchaikovsky are a match made in heaven.
After another book inbetween I will listen to this a second time, because there was so much to unpack here.
-------------------
The second book of the Architect series did not disappoint.
Adrian Tchaikovsky managed to keep the story tight, avoided any dragging (sub)plots that sometimes make a middle book a bit of a chore, but served more hints and tiny reveals about the two mysterious species the quarreling aliens and humans are facing.
The changing POVs stayed on plot the whole time while simultaneously developing further the characters we got to know in the first book. Each one of them interesting, layered and with their unique voice. I especially loved the interaction between the two opposites Solace and Olli which made for great banter and (forced) team work. Idris slowly going down the path of the mad scientist was equally fascinating to witness..
I listened to the audiobook version narrated by Sophie Aldred. Her sassy voices and the tongue-in-cheek character writing of Tchaikovsky are a match made in heaven.
After another book inbetween I will listen to this a second time, because there was so much to unpack here.
June 10, 2025
¿Qué hace que una historia de aventuras sea una gran historia de aventuras? Toma personajes interesantes, mételos en situaciones precarias y observa cómo salen de ellas. Repetir una y otra vez. Es una fórmula milenaria y Adrian Tchaikovsky la domina a la perfección en La mirada del vacío, libro 2 de la serie The Final Architecture. La mirada del vacíocontinúa la tradición de aventuras llenas de acción que inició en el libro 1: Huérfanos de la Tierra, involucrando a sus personajes en nuevos conflictos con viejos némesis y desarrollando los misterios de su universo.
Un añadido a mi máxima de las historias de aventuras es que una gran historia de aventuras de ciencia ficción también tiene una construcción de mundo creativa, creíble e intrigante, y aquí, una vez más, Tchaikovsky supera las expectativas. Y dado que la naturaleza de su universo es uno de los misterios centrales de la serie, Tchaikovsky lo construye de forma consciente y gradual, de una manera que mantiene al lector curioso y expectante aún más.
Pero si bien me encanta el universo que ha creado, me encantan aún más los personajes. Este es el típico grupo de héroes improbables y variopinto. Tengo la sensación de que no podrían triunfar individualmente ni formar, para mí, la familia perfecta como tripulación del *Dios Buitre*.
Dicho esto y a pesar de que me ha encantado, creo que el segundo libro sufre un poco, solo un poquito, del síndrome del segundo libro. La mayor parte del desarrollo de los personajes y los conflictos en las relaciones se abordan en el primer libro, mientras que el segundo se centra más en las aventuras trepidantes (casi demasiado) y en en la trayectoria general de la trama "problemática". Y como me encantaron tanto los personajes, me hubiera gustado que se añadieran más detalles sobre ellos.
Si te gustó el primer volumen, probablemente te guste la secuela.
Un añadido a mi máxima de las historias de aventuras es que una gran historia de aventuras de ciencia ficción también tiene una construcción de mundo creativa, creíble e intrigante, y aquí, una vez más, Tchaikovsky supera las expectativas. Y dado que la naturaleza de su universo es uno de los misterios centrales de la serie, Tchaikovsky lo construye de forma consciente y gradual, de una manera que mantiene al lector curioso y expectante aún más.
Pero si bien me encanta el universo que ha creado, me encantan aún más los personajes. Este es el típico grupo de héroes improbables y variopinto. Tengo la sensación de que no podrían triunfar individualmente ni formar, para mí, la familia perfecta como tripulación del *Dios Buitre*.
Dicho esto y a pesar de que me ha encantado, creo que el segundo libro sufre un poco, solo un poquito, del síndrome del segundo libro. La mayor parte del desarrollo de los personajes y los conflictos en las relaciones se abordan en el primer libro, mientras que el segundo se centra más en las aventuras trepidantes (casi demasiado) y en en la trayectoria general de la trama "problemática". Y como me encantaron tanto los personajes, me hubiera gustado que se añadieran más detalles sobre ellos.
Si te gustó el primer volumen, probablemente te guste la secuela.
April 12, 2023
6/10 stars
My full review on my blog.
Welp. I have a lot of sentiment for Tchaikovsky, mostly for his truly outstanding fantasy series, Shadows of the Apt. I respect his writing skill and his imagination, I admit our views on many things are generally aligned, and I suspect he’s a really nice guy to boot. But for all that, I find it increasingly difficult to find a book of his that really awes me, makes me think, or at least fully entertains. I had some hopes for his new SF series, of which Eyes of the Void is the second installment. The first book, Shards of Earth, was quite interesting – maybe not very original, but pretty enjoyable. Alas, I’m sad to say that with Eyes of the Void it’s just more of the same, only without any length limitations, to the further detriment of the whole endeavor.
I’d dearly wish to say it’s the case of “it’s me, not you,” but I can’t. Tchaikovsky’s SF concepts are unoriginal, and for me SF should be, first and foremost, about originality: about creating visions of the future that aren’t simple extrapolations or copies of the past. Admittedly, this bar is set pretty high; not many books pass it, and even fewer can also boast of being entertaining and well-written at the same time. Eyes of the Void is not only mostly unoriginal in terms of the future humanity’s fate, but also somewhat uneven in its views on humanity’s propensities: a generic D&D optimism that rules Tchaikovsky’s worldbuilding in the aspects of coexistence of various sentient species is juxtaposed with his views on humanity itself. The contrast is jarring enough to break the suspension of disbelief; we’re all great pals with clam aliens and crab aliens and insect aliens and even AI aliens, but wage war with ourselves because the worst enemies of man are, obviously, other men. Or women. Well, if history and biology teach us anything, it’s that humans are extremely tribal. It took thousands of years for such a concept as universal human rights to emerge, and even now, in the 21st century, it is not universally accepted or adhered to.
[...]
So, sorry, but it seems quite probable to me that the first thing humanity would do when faced with intelligent aliens would be to hastily raise the walls between ‘us’ and ‘them’ and treat anyone noticeably different with a large dose of suspicion, not to say paranoia. But here, the worst villain is a huffy medieval Russian noble, spoiled rotten by his rich and powerful family and too stupid to even scheme properly. Man, it just seems lazy.
[...]
Yeah, first part of my rant is out of the way. Let's get on with the second. It's the length, guys. As things stand these days, 600 pages is a huge investment on my part. I like to feel that my time is well spent. If I don't learn anything new, it's a pity, but it can still be all right - maybe at least I'll decompress and have a good time. Eyes of the Void didn't deliver on either account. At least a few dozen pages could've been cut out without any adverse effects - on the contrary, the removal of repetition and unending descriptions would do the book good. I swear, I developed an allergy to the word 'unlovely.' The ship belonging to the main characters was almost never described in any other way, and 'unlovely' popped up so many times it seemed to have become an honorific for Vulture God. I know, it sounds like a funny sort of criticism when a reader complains of too many words; but this is the case here. There are lengthy descriptions of unspace, which, being first described as undescribable, is being described in great detail. There are descriptions of various inexplicable alien and human guild rituals, which clearly should convey a portentious meaning, but mostly just bored me out of my mind. There's seemingly a lot going on, but it's going nowhere; only in the last few chapters there's a discernible direction to the frenetic zigzagging through the galaxy that the main characters are exposed to. I had a general feeling that the characters are passive; things happen to them, but they don't have much agency - and all right, that's probably how the world works for most of us, but in this case it didn't feel relatable or profound, just... indifferent, really. It doesn't help that the main protagonist is such a wet ball of neuroses, always complaining about being used and not wanting to be a hero. Yeah, we got it the first fifty times. The rest of the characters is not much better, because they seem to serve as poster boys, and girls, and aliens, for the moral superiority that can be clearly juxtaposed with the immorality of our boyarin villains and the shortsighted corruption of other bigwigs in the human society. Well, not Ollie, because Ollie is in a league of herself, the only not one-dimensional character in the entire cast - I guess that's why even the Hegemonic Lucifer likes her.
[...]
My full review on my blog.
Welp. I have a lot of sentiment for Tchaikovsky, mostly for his truly outstanding fantasy series, Shadows of the Apt. I respect his writing skill and his imagination, I admit our views on many things are generally aligned, and I suspect he’s a really nice guy to boot. But for all that, I find it increasingly difficult to find a book of his that really awes me, makes me think, or at least fully entertains. I had some hopes for his new SF series, of which Eyes of the Void is the second installment. The first book, Shards of Earth, was quite interesting – maybe not very original, but pretty enjoyable. Alas, I’m sad to say that with Eyes of the Void it’s just more of the same, only without any length limitations, to the further detriment of the whole endeavor.
I’d dearly wish to say it’s the case of “it’s me, not you,” but I can’t. Tchaikovsky’s SF concepts are unoriginal, and for me SF should be, first and foremost, about originality: about creating visions of the future that aren’t simple extrapolations or copies of the past. Admittedly, this bar is set pretty high; not many books pass it, and even fewer can also boast of being entertaining and well-written at the same time. Eyes of the Void is not only mostly unoriginal in terms of the future humanity’s fate, but also somewhat uneven in its views on humanity’s propensities: a generic D&D optimism that rules Tchaikovsky’s worldbuilding in the aspects of coexistence of various sentient species is juxtaposed with his views on humanity itself. The contrast is jarring enough to break the suspension of disbelief; we’re all great pals with clam aliens and crab aliens and insect aliens and even AI aliens, but wage war with ourselves because the worst enemies of man are, obviously, other men. Or women. Well, if history and biology teach us anything, it’s that humans are extremely tribal. It took thousands of years for such a concept as universal human rights to emerge, and even now, in the 21st century, it is not universally accepted or adhered to.
[...]
So, sorry, but it seems quite probable to me that the first thing humanity would do when faced with intelligent aliens would be to hastily raise the walls between ‘us’ and ‘them’ and treat anyone noticeably different with a large dose of suspicion, not to say paranoia. But here, the worst villain is a huffy medieval Russian noble, spoiled rotten by his rich and powerful family and too stupid to even scheme properly. Man, it just seems lazy.
[...]
Yeah, first part of my rant is out of the way. Let's get on with the second. It's the length, guys. As things stand these days, 600 pages is a huge investment on my part. I like to feel that my time is well spent. If I don't learn anything new, it's a pity, but it can still be all right - maybe at least I'll decompress and have a good time. Eyes of the Void didn't deliver on either account. At least a few dozen pages could've been cut out without any adverse effects - on the contrary, the removal of repetition and unending descriptions would do the book good. I swear, I developed an allergy to the word 'unlovely.' The ship belonging to the main characters was almost never described in any other way, and 'unlovely' popped up so many times it seemed to have become an honorific for Vulture God. I know, it sounds like a funny sort of criticism when a reader complains of too many words; but this is the case here. There are lengthy descriptions of unspace, which, being first described as undescribable, is being described in great detail. There are descriptions of various inexplicable alien and human guild rituals, which clearly should convey a portentious meaning, but mostly just bored me out of my mind. There's seemingly a lot going on, but it's going nowhere; only in the last few chapters there's a discernible direction to the frenetic zigzagging through the galaxy that the main characters are exposed to. I had a general feeling that the characters are passive; things happen to them, but they don't have much agency - and all right, that's probably how the world works for most of us, but in this case it didn't feel relatable or profound, just... indifferent, really. It doesn't help that the main protagonist is such a wet ball of neuroses, always complaining about being used and not wanting to be a hero. Yeah, we got it the first fifty times. The rest of the characters is not much better, because they seem to serve as poster boys, and girls, and aliens, for the moral superiority that can be clearly juxtaposed with the immorality of our boyarin villains and the shortsighted corruption of other bigwigs in the human society. Well, not Ollie, because Ollie is in a league of herself, the only not one-dimensional character in the entire cast - I guess that's why even the Hegemonic Lucifer likes her.
[...]
May 19, 2022
Adrian Tchaikovsky writing is, as always. masterfully done. In my opinion he is one of the best contemporary SFF authors.
The audiobook was also a lot of fun, though again I would recommend people to take a look in the glossary as not to loose track of all the characters and factions.
The audiobook was also a lot of fun, though again I would recommend people to take a look in the glossary as not to loose track of all the characters and factions.
July 19, 2022
Grāmatai nav ne vainas, bet slimo ar visām otrajām sērijas grāmatām raksturīgām kaitēm. Palielinās risināmās problēmas apjoms; visas iesaistītās puses kļūst spēcīgākas; iepriekšējās grāmatas notikumi ir sīkums salīdzinot pret jaunajiem; autoram vairs nav iekšās nomušīt kādu no galvenajiem varoņiem un, protams, ļaunie ir nesaprasti jēriņi. Visādi citādi izcils uzmanību piesaistošs un noturošs stāsts.
April 18, 2022
This is the second volume of Adrian Tchaikovsky’s The Final Architecture (start reading with his 2021 novel, Shards of Earth). It concerns a very large number of spacefaring intelligent species and polities, characters, worlds, and spaceships. So many, in fact that there is a reference glossary of each of those at the end of the novel, as well as a timeline of events as revealed in volume one. There is also a recap of the plot of volume one at the beginning of this novel. I am thinking that I can discuss general attributes of this novel without plot spoilers regarding the earlier one, and that recapping the plot of volume two is not the purpose of a review anyway.
The characters of principal interest continue to be Idris Telemmier, and Mymidon Executor Solace, and the shifting crew of the independent salvage vessel Vulture God. Idris is an “Int” or Intermediary, adept at entering unspace, where faster-than-light travel is navigated, but also where the planet-destroying Architects can be sensed. Solace is a member of a parthenogenic race of human warrior women, who has some history with Idris. In addition, there is a newly sympathetic character, Havaer Munday, an Intervention Board agent of “Hugh” or the Council of Human Interests. Species, polities, and characters re-align on a constant basis, challenging the reader to keep up. But I followed those characters as my touchstones, even while I began to disregard the rest. This writing is just too broad, populated with relentless conflict, and unfathomable superlatives for my taste.
Modern space opera exists in a continuum between hard-sf and space fantasy. Tchaikovsky’s The Final Architecture is definitely to the side of space fantasy, bearing relationship to his straight-up fantasy writing. “We’re basically standing at the edge of a raw wound between unspace and the real. There’s a lot of fluctuation we don’t fully understand. Interference in the basic substructure of the matter universe,” the cyborg offered which was a lot of words to not really enlighten Solace any further.” As this passage illustrates, pretty much anything required by plot tension is possible, with regard to world-building.
The mystery of the Architects and unspace is further developed in the second half of the novel with the use of an enigmatic “Machine” in the vicinity of a particularly inhospitable planet Criccieth’s Hell. However, there is plenty left unexplained, so a third volume must certainly be in the works. Do not plan on stopping with volume two.
I read an Advance Reader Copy of Eyes of the Void in ebook, which I received from Orbit Books through netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review on social media platforms and on my book review blog. This new title is scheduled for release on 3 May 2022.
The characters of principal interest continue to be Idris Telemmier, and Mymidon Executor Solace, and the shifting crew of the independent salvage vessel Vulture God. Idris is an “Int” or Intermediary, adept at entering unspace, where faster-than-light travel is navigated, but also where the planet-destroying Architects can be sensed. Solace is a member of a parthenogenic race of human warrior women, who has some history with Idris. In addition, there is a newly sympathetic character, Havaer Munday, an Intervention Board agent of “Hugh” or the Council of Human Interests. Species, polities, and characters re-align on a constant basis, challenging the reader to keep up. But I followed those characters as my touchstones, even while I began to disregard the rest. This writing is just too broad, populated with relentless conflict, and unfathomable superlatives for my taste.
Modern space opera exists in a continuum between hard-sf and space fantasy. Tchaikovsky’s The Final Architecture is definitely to the side of space fantasy, bearing relationship to his straight-up fantasy writing. “We’re basically standing at the edge of a raw wound between unspace and the real. There’s a lot of fluctuation we don’t fully understand. Interference in the basic substructure of the matter universe,” the cyborg offered which was a lot of words to not really enlighten Solace any further.” As this passage illustrates, pretty much anything required by plot tension is possible, with regard to world-building.
The mystery of the Architects and unspace is further developed in the second half of the novel with the use of an enigmatic “Machine” in the vicinity of a particularly inhospitable planet Criccieth’s Hell. However, there is plenty left unexplained, so a third volume must certainly be in the works. Do not plan on stopping with volume two.
I read an Advance Reader Copy of Eyes of the Void in ebook, which I received from Orbit Books through netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review on social media platforms and on my book review blog. This new title is scheduled for release on 3 May 2022.
May 8, 2024
Just barely a 4. It was definitely a middle book of a trilogy, moved the story forward a bit but really was just setting the stage for the conclusion. I had to force myself to pay attention at times. The crew is all there, the cast of species is there, the dire consequences for humanity and the thought provoking idea of a race not tied to planets is there, I just wasn't.
I will definitely read the next but I probably need to read something other than space operas for a while.
I will definitely read the next but I probably need to read something other than space operas for a while.
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