What do you think?
Rate this book
The Final Architecture #3
Lords of Uncreation
The Arthur C. Clarke award-winning author of Children of Time brings us the third and final 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.
Lords of Uncreation is the final high-octane installment in Adrian Tchaikovsky's Final Architecture space opera trilogy.
The Final Architecture
Shards of Earth
Eyes of the Void
Lords of Uncreation
Lords of Uncreation is the final high-octane installment in Adrian Tchaikovsky's Final Architecture space opera trilogy.
The Final Architecture
Shards of Earth
Eyes of the Void
Lords of Uncreation
608 pages, Hardcover
First published April 27, 2023
About the author
Adrian Tchaikovsky
171 books13.5k 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.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 836 reviews
May 7, 2023
“I have no objection to saving the species,” he told nothing and no one, as he hung in the void. “I have an objection to exterminating another species to do it.”
The final book in a trilogy has one job — stick the landing. And with this one I needn’t have worried — it’s Tchaikovsky, after all. My fangirl status is justified.
Adrian Tchaikovsky just never disappoints. The Final Architecture series is a classic space opera with ridiculously fast space travel, all sorts of aliens, spaceships, space arcs and space colonies, and - of course - a ragtag crew of misfits. Plus a serious threat not just to humanity, but all the sentient life in this Universe, where there just may be something sinister hiding at the center, deep under the thin skin of what we perceive as “real”.
It’s a story of “sheer human bloody-mindedness against the universe”. And I loved it.
Adrian Tchaikovsky has clearly become one of my favorite science fiction writers. Somehow he easily keeps the classic genre feel without it feeling stale. And he follows on character arcs satisfactorily, with the resolutions actually feeling earned.
“Fine.” He made it sound as grudging as he possibly could, and was secretly, wretchedly grateful that here, at the end of all things, he had people like this who had his back.”
Tchaikovsky manages to have the incredible task of saving the universe as you know it by more or less regular persons (some human, some not — and even the Unspeakable Aklu, the Razor and the Hook) seem not as ridiculous as it should be, and that’s quite a feat to accomplish. The matters of existential threat and plain human petty power trips are nicely balanced, as are space battles and genuine human (and nonhuman) moments. And he concludes all the storylines in a way that I didn’t quite anticipate, and it works quite well — since at its heart it’s not a story about winning or losing, but about the power of understanding and empathy and bonds between us.
“As Diljat had said, there were people back home who wanted a nice, comprehensible, winnable war. Or even just a fightable war.”
And humor. I appreciate a bit of humor even in serious stuff, and Tchaikovsky so perfect for that (I swear, we share the exact same sense of humor and it’s perfect for me). As usual, Olli does a bit of comic relief while still having a compelling storyline with a very suitable end to it, and her character arc, other than Idris’, was perhaps the most satisfying.
“Olli is assaulting the Uskaro shuttle.”
“With who?”
“With Olli.”
It’s a very satisfying conclusion of a fun, interesting story. 4.5 stars, happily rounding up.
—————
My review of the first book, “Shards of Earth”
My review of the second book, “Eyes of the Void”
——————
Thanks to NetGalley and Orbit Books for providing me with a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.
——————
Also posted on my blog.
July 4, 2023
3.5 Stars
Video Review: https://youtu.be/smJkPBN9j1o
This was a solid ending to an epic science fiction novel. I liked the first two books, but I didn't love this third one quite as much. I felt this one dragged too much in the first half which really pulled my enjoyment down.
The later half was stronger than the first with an ending that fit the story. Yet as a someone who judges books more as a journey than a destination, my excitement was dulled by the time that the story picked up.
I would recommend this one to fans of the first and second book and are looking for a conclusion. While not the most satisfying ending, I'm still glad I saw it through.
Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from the publisher.
Video Review: https://youtu.be/smJkPBN9j1o
This was a solid ending to an epic science fiction novel. I liked the first two books, but I didn't love this third one quite as much. I felt this one dragged too much in the first half which really pulled my enjoyment down.
The later half was stronger than the first with an ending that fit the story. Yet as a someone who judges books more as a journey than a destination, my excitement was dulled by the time that the story picked up.
I would recommend this one to fans of the first and second book and are looking for a conclusion. While not the most satisfying ending, I'm still glad I saw it through.
Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from the publisher.
July 9, 2024
A worthy conclusion to a spectacular series.
Humanity has been harried for over a century by some alien inter-dimensional sculptors called 'The Architects' ever since first contact occurred between humanity's probes and the wider galactic diaspora.
This is the endgame (among many other plot threads) and it's been well orchestrated; a very good hard science fiction read from a brilliant and talented author, I'll highly recommend the whole series.
2023 Read
Humanity has been harried for over a century by some alien inter-dimensional sculptors called 'The Architects' ever since first contact occurred between humanity's probes and the wider galactic diaspora.
This is the endgame (among many other plot threads) and it's been well orchestrated; a very good hard science fiction read from a brilliant and talented author, I'll highly recommend the whole series.
2023 Read
May 8, 2023
The central mystery surrounding the originators, unspace and the architects remains thoroughly compelling, and the epic 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 first 3/4 of this felt overlong, revolving as it did around the infighting and conflicts between and among the myriad human and alien factions. Only in the final stretch did things really start to get interesting, with the revelation of some of the mind blowing mysteries at the heart of the story. Overall, his first space opera trilogy was very well done and certainly worthy for fans of the genre.
January 21, 2023
Look, this is the third book in the series. You’re not reading this review if you’re curious to know what it’s about, you want to know if Tchaikovsky can stick the landing. And, boy, have I got good news for you.
Lords Of Uncreation triumphantly crowns one of the best space opera series of recent years. There are exciting action sequences, both cosmic and hand to hand (the set piece almost exactly halfway through the book is spectacular). The implacable, unknowable, hostile aliens from another dimension aren’t a disappointing damp squib (hello, The Expanse!). The characters we’ve come to know through the last two books all get their fair share of screen time, and their storylines mostly tie up satisfactorily. It’s a great conclusion to a great series, and some of the most fun I’ve had with SF in a good while.
Lords Of Uncreation triumphantly crowns one of the best space opera series of recent years. There are exciting action sequences, both cosmic and hand to hand (the set piece almost exactly halfway through the book is spectacular). The implacable, unknowable, hostile aliens from another dimension aren’t a disappointing damp squib (hello, The Expanse!). The characters we’ve come to know through the last two books all get their fair share of screen time, and their storylines mostly tie up satisfactorily. It’s a great conclusion to a great series, and some of the most fun I’ve had with SF in a good while.
April 1, 2024
Wonderful end of the series
May 24, 2023
My god(s), what a culmination!
Finally, humanity has found a way to repel an Architect. Maybe even two. And what happens? Betrayal. ARGH!
Thankfully, enough people have learned from past experiences and realized that cooperation is better so there is an uprising and a strike back.
However, just when this unnecessary distraction (unnecessary not as in the author added something to make the book bigger but unnecessary because aggravating and people should have been better) is over, the shit is hitting the fan. Yes, it was to be expected, the chickens had to come home to roost - which is why that coup was rather like a wrench thrown into gears. Nevertheless, we finally have confirmation that there is "something" in Unspace and it is not well pleased. Idris is sooo close to finally grasping it and giving us readers the answers we've been begging for since volume 1 ...
Suffice it to say that it isn't as easy as all that because something that can control almost unimaginably powerful creatures like the Architects must be absolutely formidable. Spoiler (not really): they are.
I loved that this finale not only gave us the answers to the questions we've been asking, but also focused on the unasked questions. Like how the survivors might fare even if everything went splendidly. If people would be able to get a grip and become allies. The inter-personal exploration was as interesting as Idris going into Unspace even deeper to find .
Seriously, this was even more engaging than the previous two installments. If anyone had asked me if I thought this was possible, I would have answered "no". I couldn't have imagined it. And yet, here I was, tearing my hair out, screaming in frustration, whooping and cheering in other moments and cackling madly.
This made me feel all the feels and even had me reduced to tears (see a particular status update) and the pages raced by with he holding on during this mad dash for dear life. There was no lull, no respite, just constant curve balls thrown at one or all.
The characterizations were so brilliant, I found myself caring for, well, everyone (positively and negatively) to an immeasurable degree. Plus, the worldbuilding was cranked up to 11, too! No, I have no idea how the author keeps pulling it off but he does. I can't adequately and sufficiently sing his praise, honestly.
Sadly, it's over now. But I rather have a strong ending than something peetering out. Closing the covers of my hardcover edition and putting the book back on its shelf had me sigh contently. This is one hell of a scifi tale and I can only wish fervently that it will be adapted (and perfectly) because I'd LOVE to revisit this world in a different medium and dive even deeper than Idris.
Finally, humanity has found a way to repel an Architect. Maybe even two. And what happens? Betrayal. ARGH!
Thankfully, enough people have learned from past experiences and realized that cooperation is better so there is an uprising and a strike back.
However, just when this unnecessary distraction (unnecessary not as in the author added something to make the book bigger but unnecessary because aggravating and people should have been better) is over, the shit is hitting the fan. Yes, it was to be expected, the chickens had to come home to roost - which is why that coup was rather like a wrench thrown into gears. Nevertheless, we finally have confirmation that there is "something" in Unspace and it is not well pleased. Idris is sooo close to finally grasping it and giving us readers the answers we've been begging for since volume 1 ...
Suffice it to say that it isn't as easy as all that because something that can control almost unimaginably powerful creatures like the Architects must be absolutely formidable. Spoiler (not really): they are.
I loved that this finale not only gave us the answers to the questions we've been asking, but also focused on the unasked questions. Like how the survivors might fare even if everything went splendidly. If people would be able to get a grip and become allies. The inter-personal exploration was as interesting as Idris going into Unspace even deeper to find .
Seriously, this was even more engaging than the previous two installments. If anyone had asked me if I thought this was possible, I would have answered "no". I couldn't have imagined it. And yet, here I was, tearing my hair out, screaming in frustration, whooping and cheering in other moments and cackling madly.
This made me feel all the feels and even had me reduced to tears (see a particular status update) and the pages raced by with he holding on during this mad dash for dear life. There was no lull, no respite, just constant curve balls thrown at one or all.
The characterizations were so brilliant, I found myself caring for, well, everyone (positively and negatively) to an immeasurable degree. Plus, the worldbuilding was cranked up to 11, too! No, I have no idea how the author keeps pulling it off but he does. I can't adequately and sufficiently sing his praise, honestly.
Sadly, it's over now. But I rather have a strong ending than something peetering out. Closing the covers of my hardcover edition and putting the book back on its shelf had me sigh contently. This is one hell of a scifi tale and I can only wish fervently that it will be adapted (and perfectly) because I'd LOVE to revisit this world in a different medium and dive even deeper than Idris.
May 30, 2023
Very satisfying
Yeah this series is a total winner. The third installment really rounds out the story and fleshes out the characters in ways I didn't expect. Throughout this series I've enjoyed the characters and the plot but I didn't think this third book would exceed my expectations but I got to say Adrian not only stuck the landing but elevated the entire series with the final book.
First, the characters are just phenomenal. From Idris, Solace, Olli and Kris the humans from the incredible cast of alien creatures including Kit, Ash, Aklu and many more, a huge world with cultures and quirks is expanded on with each book. And then amazing developments happen with every character because the author does that magical thing where he makes every character matter. There are some epic developments particularly with Olli and Idris and the complexity of the character relationships deepen as well with the plot developments. The author even brings in newer POV of lesser prior characters and also makes them matter. What we get is an awesome narrative told through a diverse cast which makes for an engaging page turner.
The plot was so, so solid and the ending was so cool and so touching. The mysterious thread throughout the series is definitely resolved in unexpected ways and it totally worked for me. Now, Adrian's story-telling may be a problem for a lot of readers. There is quite a bit of exposition and info-dumping and telling over showing. Also some of the sci-fi plot mechanics are definitely hand wavy and get a little ethereal. This will irk some readers but I can say it worked well for me because I had buy-in right up front. This last book is the best in the series followed by the first and the second remains the classic middle book.
Yeah this series is a total winner. The third installment really rounds out the story and fleshes out the characters in ways I didn't expect. Throughout this series I've enjoyed the characters and the plot but I didn't think this third book would exceed my expectations but I got to say Adrian not only stuck the landing but elevated the entire series with the final book.
First, the characters are just phenomenal. From Idris, Solace, Olli and Kris the humans from the incredible cast of alien creatures including Kit, Ash, Aklu and many more, a huge world with cultures and quirks is expanded on with each book. And then amazing developments happen with every character because the author does that magical thing where he makes every character matter. There are some epic developments particularly with Olli and Idris and the complexity of the character relationships deepen as well with the plot developments. The author even brings in newer POV of lesser prior characters and also makes them matter. What we get is an awesome narrative told through a diverse cast which makes for an engaging page turner.
The plot was so, so solid and the ending was so cool and so touching. The mysterious thread throughout the series is definitely resolved in unexpected ways and it totally worked for me. Now, Adrian's story-telling may be a problem for a lot of readers. There is quite a bit of exposition and info-dumping and telling over showing. Also some of the sci-fi plot mechanics are definitely hand wavy and get a little ethereal. This will irk some readers but I can say it worked well for me because I had buy-in right up front. This last book is the best in the series followed by the first and the second remains the classic middle book.
August 5, 2023
This is a series that I got in on pretty early and have read each book in the year of its release. The reason for that is because it's really freakin good. I've read quite a bit of Tchaikovsky including Children of Time, Children of Ruin, Children of Memory, and 5 books of The Shadows of The Apt. On the strength of this last book in The Final Architecture I think this is my favorite series of his and this is my favorite sci fi book of his that I've read.
The best thing I can say about it is that it does exactly what the last book in a trilogy should do. It soundly lands the plane in a satisfying way. The characters have become some of my favorites and they all get plenty to do with great development amd satisfying arcs. The action and the various factions have at times in the series been a bit chaotic and harder to follow. Here everything is fleshed out and written in a way where it's easier to grasp as pieces of the story start getting resolved. And finally I just live the true space opera feel of this. It has everything and it all works. There are inscrutable aliens that don't feel too human, there's space battles, there's interesting concepts and themes, high stakes, cool tech, and even some cosmic horror. I'd recommend this to anyone who is a fan of Tchaikovsky or space opera generally. And you can go in knowing that each book is better than the last and the ending isn't going to let you down.
The best thing I can say about it is that it does exactly what the last book in a trilogy should do. It soundly lands the plane in a satisfying way. The characters have become some of my favorites and they all get plenty to do with great development amd satisfying arcs. The action and the various factions have at times in the series been a bit chaotic and harder to follow. Here everything is fleshed out and written in a way where it's easier to grasp as pieces of the story start getting resolved. And finally I just live the true space opera feel of this. It has everything and it all works. There are inscrutable aliens that don't feel too human, there's space battles, there's interesting concepts and themes, high stakes, cool tech, and even some cosmic horror. I'd recommend this to anyone who is a fan of Tchaikovsky or space opera generally. And you can go in knowing that each book is better than the last and the ending isn't going to let you down.
July 4, 2023
This is a mostly satisfying conclusion to an epic trilogy. I'm reluctant to criticize because it's fantastically imagined, beautifully written, tightly plotted, and thought provoking, but I did find the second half a bit of a slog. It seemed poor Idris was having the same dreadful experience descending into the unreal over and over. Ollie on the run over and over from the architects, Havaer having repetitive frustrating interactions with bureaucracy, Kris and Solace spinning their wheels getting nowhere. The final encounter with the ultimate enemy, when it finally occurs, ends up being a little bit underwhelming, but I was grateful for the last chapter where you find out where everyone goes afterwards. The main characters are each in their own way endearing over the course of the trilogy. Overall, a fascinating world with multiple, masterfully imagined alien species, artificial intelligences, advanced technologies, and conflicting human cultures with plausible political situations, and well worth reading.
April 30, 2023
Please note that while none of the spoilers I mention are particularly notable, there will be spoilers in this review. This is also not my most generous of reviews, and is more of a rant about what the series could have been than what it was:
Thank you netgalley and Orbit for the galley e-copy.
***
When I originally reviewed Shards of Earth as unequivocally my favourite book of 2021, I did mention that there was a little too much action that seemed padding and unnecessarily during the Broken Harvest section. I similarly found this to a lesser extent in Eyes of the Void, but I had bigger issues with the lack of characterization in the first half of that novel.
It is unfortunate to me that I have to reiterate both negatives but more egregiously towards the third and final of these novels. Narratively, I am satisfied, and the cosmic unknowability of the Originators and the Presence and all of Unspace was played perfectly and poetically and with enough distance and fear that I am satisfied with the universe Tchaikovsky built and the questions that it leaves me about the Essiel and the world after the Architects.
But this novel's first half is entirely unnecessary padding that absolutely bored me to tears. It is action scene after action scene after action scene, space battle after space battle, with an occasional hand-to-hand battle thrown in for good measure. It is pointless to the rest of the novel and story; it treads THE EXACT SAME GROUND as the second half of Eyes of the Void. It is another long battle against the Ark Ship faction conspiracy that was finished in the last book, and of which nothing new happens except some players that could have just expired are wiped off the board.
But worse, the characterization is atrocious. The entire first half of the book is predicated on Olli wanting to genocide the Parthenon. Her anger at the Parthenon was addressed in the previous books, but for some reason her entire personality changes to become a genocidal maniac who starts screaming conspiracies for eighty pages, causing a bloody war, and then she REGRETS it in a single sentence. It is then never touched again. Then Olli is made a hero for the rest of the book through Essiel magic and gets to live a happy lesbian life at the end. But what does Olli think of this? Nothing, really, she kind of just goes along with it, and we never get anything deeper than quips. It's an atrocious arc for a character I praised Tchaikovsky for writing in the first book as a justifiably righteous pain in the ass. Here she's a blank quip machine that thinks genocide is good.
The other issue and one I didn't touch in previous reviews but felt ambivalent about: Kris. I do not find Kris interesting. She is framed as the main character of this book despite the fact that she... doesn't do anything. She is captured and becomes a spy-on-the-inside against her friends but nothing comes of that except to get her on the same ship as her friends so she can escape. We also never see her struggle with spying on her friends or what information she has to struggle with to give or not give her captures. After that, she thinks heavily about Idris, and she's there for all the big moments where Idris is finally believed by the scientists and Ints on the Eye, and she is the chapters VOICE during those moments.... but it is Solace that believes him and speaks in defence of him... and it is Jaine that is his rock in real space while Solace and him are in Unspace.
She even is a bitter person at the reunion at the end because her friends are more successful than her. Which is a fine characteristic in theory that I would appreciate but seems to come out of nowhere and is part of this weird attempt to make her more of a main character than she is. This would have worked if there had been *any* use of her legal and diplomatic skills, but she is just... there, but not really there or important or relevant to any of the story.
I have more complaints, about how long and almost meta-purposefully everyone ignores Idris so that there can be more action scenes, how characters aren't mourned for for more than a second, but... all my complaints aside, I am generally satisfied with how the story concluded. I would find it immensely difficult to recommend this series to anyone now, unlike when I read the first book. It has a particular flavour of space-action that is not what I enjoy - as you can clearly tell. I don't think it's bad, it just became and focused on the wrong things in a series I thought would be character driven and instead was meant to be a huge action series instead.
Thank you netgalley and Orbit for the galley e-copy.
***
When I originally reviewed Shards of Earth as unequivocally my favourite book of 2021, I did mention that there was a little too much action that seemed padding and unnecessarily during the Broken Harvest section. I similarly found this to a lesser extent in Eyes of the Void, but I had bigger issues with the lack of characterization in the first half of that novel.
It is unfortunate to me that I have to reiterate both negatives but more egregiously towards the third and final of these novels. Narratively, I am satisfied, and the cosmic unknowability of the Originators and the Presence and all of Unspace was played perfectly and poetically and with enough distance and fear that I am satisfied with the universe Tchaikovsky built and the questions that it leaves me about the Essiel and the world after the Architects.
But this novel's first half is entirely unnecessary padding that absolutely bored me to tears. It is action scene after action scene after action scene, space battle after space battle, with an occasional hand-to-hand battle thrown in for good measure. It is pointless to the rest of the novel and story; it treads THE EXACT SAME GROUND as the second half of Eyes of the Void. It is another long battle against the Ark Ship faction conspiracy that was finished in the last book, and of which nothing new happens except some players that could have just expired are wiped off the board.
But worse, the characterization is atrocious. The entire first half of the book is predicated on Olli wanting to genocide the Parthenon. Her anger at the Parthenon was addressed in the previous books, but for some reason her entire personality changes to become a genocidal maniac who starts screaming conspiracies for eighty pages, causing a bloody war, and then she REGRETS it in a single sentence. It is then never touched again. Then Olli is made a hero for the rest of the book through Essiel magic and gets to live a happy lesbian life at the end. But what does Olli think of this? Nothing, really, she kind of just goes along with it, and we never get anything deeper than quips. It's an atrocious arc for a character I praised Tchaikovsky for writing in the first book as a justifiably righteous pain in the ass. Here she's a blank quip machine that thinks genocide is good.
The other issue and one I didn't touch in previous reviews but felt ambivalent about: Kris. I do not find Kris interesting. She is framed as the main character of this book despite the fact that she... doesn't do anything. She is captured and becomes a spy-on-the-inside against her friends but nothing comes of that except to get her on the same ship as her friends so she can escape. We also never see her struggle with spying on her friends or what information she has to struggle with to give or not give her captures. After that, she thinks heavily about Idris, and she's there for all the big moments where Idris is finally believed by the scientists and Ints on the Eye, and she is the chapters VOICE during those moments.... but it is Solace that believes him and speaks in defence of him... and it is Jaine that is his rock in real space while Solace and him are in Unspace.
She even is a bitter person at the reunion at the end because her friends are more successful than her. Which is a fine characteristic in theory that I would appreciate but seems to come out of nowhere and is part of this weird attempt to make her more of a main character than she is. This would have worked if there had been *any* use of her legal and diplomatic skills, but she is just... there, but not really there or important or relevant to any of the story.
I have more complaints, about how long and almost meta-purposefully everyone ignores Idris so that there can be more action scenes, how characters aren't mourned for for more than a second, but... all my complaints aside, I am generally satisfied with how the story concluded. I would find it immensely difficult to recommend this series to anyone now, unlike when I read the first book. It has a particular flavour of space-action that is not what I enjoy - as you can clearly tell. I don't think it's bad, it just became and focused on the wrong things in a series I thought would be character driven and instead was meant to be a huge action series instead.
January 4, 2024
Tchaikovsky seldom disappoints, but he really nailed the final installment in this trilogy. This picks up just where the prior installment left off and utilized the same main characters as previously, oscillating among them as the narrative unfolds. What I really liked about this series relates to how Tchaikovsky wrapped up the big mysteries and puzzles with a bow, unlike a few recent trilogies I read where the final installment ruined the series altogether (e.g., The Forgetting Moon and The Poppy War).
Quite a ride! The series started with a rag-tag crew of spacers in an old space tug just getting by, surviving in the aftermath of the 'Architect war', which was really pretty one sided after all in favor of the 'Architects'-- gigantic sentient beings that arose from 'unspace' to transform planets into a macabre art. For some reason, the only planets they transmogrified were full of people. Why? Well, we finally get an answer here, but I am not going to spoil it! Our main protagonist of the series, Idris, was one of the first generation of Intermediaries, or 'Ints', who somehow made contact with the Architects and then they retreated, leaving the planet alone.
For Idris, that was 50 some years ago when the series started, although he has not changed much; he never sleeps or ages. A relatively cowardly type of guy, Idris just wants to be left alone, which is why he has been working on a deep space tug as their navigator, for, being an Int, he can steer off the main unspace travel ways. Idris can be one obsessive SOB however, and at the conclusion of the last volume, this became evident with the 'builders' artifact he 'found' that lets one (if you are an Int), see into unspace; something like a telescope. He wants, no, needs to know why the Architects do what they do; his 'conversations' with them revealed that they are acting under coercion. Who, or what, however, orders around a being that can transform worlds into art objects in the blink of an eye?
The other mystery thread that animated the series concerned the 'presence' felt by everyone who entered unspace; never seen, but you just knew it was horrible and going to do you harm with extreme prejudice, even if scholars of unspace kept telling you it was only in your mind. Irdis, the oldest Int still working, has been haunted by the 'presence' for a long time, but it never goes away, or even gets easier...
What made this series so fun concerned the intriguing cast rather than the science, making this really a character driven adventure with technology and such being merely the backdrop and largely handwaves. Definitely not 'hard' science fiction, but so it goes. The series also constitutes something of a homage to Golden Age science fiction, being an epic adventure cast in space, but with all too recognizable humans with all their strengths and weaknesses (and prejudices). You could easily represent this as a critique of today's jingoism, nationalism and calls for racial 'purity', but I will let that dog lie. I will say, like most good science fiction, Tchaikovsky explores the human condition here warts and all.
I did have a few issues with the series as a whole. Tchaikovsky gets a bit repetitious at times, such as constantly noting how spacer culture 'just makes do', repairing things on the fly, or his rather ornate attempts to decipher unspace into language because it is just so different from reality as we know it. Nonetheless, a totally binge worthy series and something different from Tchaikovsky. The guy just keeps reinventing the wheel, breathing new life into old tropes, and in the last 5 years or so, has quickly become one of my favorite authors. 4.5 clam gangsters!
Quite a ride! The series started with a rag-tag crew of spacers in an old space tug just getting by, surviving in the aftermath of the 'Architect war', which was really pretty one sided after all in favor of the 'Architects'-- gigantic sentient beings that arose from 'unspace' to transform planets into a macabre art. For some reason, the only planets they transmogrified were full of people. Why? Well, we finally get an answer here, but I am not going to spoil it! Our main protagonist of the series, Idris, was one of the first generation of Intermediaries, or 'Ints', who somehow made contact with the Architects and then they retreated, leaving the planet alone.
For Idris, that was 50 some years ago when the series started, although he has not changed much; he never sleeps or ages. A relatively cowardly type of guy, Idris just wants to be left alone, which is why he has been working on a deep space tug as their navigator, for, being an Int, he can steer off the main unspace travel ways. Idris can be one obsessive SOB however, and at the conclusion of the last volume, this became evident with the 'builders' artifact he 'found' that lets one (if you are an Int), see into unspace; something like a telescope. He wants, no, needs to know why the Architects do what they do; his 'conversations' with them revealed that they are acting under coercion. Who, or what, however, orders around a being that can transform worlds into art objects in the blink of an eye?
The other mystery thread that animated the series concerned the 'presence' felt by everyone who entered unspace; never seen, but you just knew it was horrible and going to do you harm with extreme prejudice, even if scholars of unspace kept telling you it was only in your mind. Irdis, the oldest Int still working, has been haunted by the 'presence' for a long time, but it never goes away, or even gets easier...
What made this series so fun concerned the intriguing cast rather than the science, making this really a character driven adventure with technology and such being merely the backdrop and largely handwaves. Definitely not 'hard' science fiction, but so it goes. The series also constitutes something of a homage to Golden Age science fiction, being an epic adventure cast in space, but with all too recognizable humans with all their strengths and weaknesses (and prejudices). You could easily represent this as a critique of today's jingoism, nationalism and calls for racial 'purity', but I will let that dog lie. I will say, like most good science fiction, Tchaikovsky explores the human condition here warts and all.
I did have a few issues with the series as a whole. Tchaikovsky gets a bit repetitious at times, such as constantly noting how spacer culture 'just makes do', repairing things on the fly, or his rather ornate attempts to decipher unspace into language because it is just so different from reality as we know it. Nonetheless, a totally binge worthy series and something different from Tchaikovsky. The guy just keeps reinventing the wheel, breathing new life into old tropes, and in the last 5 years or so, has quickly become one of my favorite authors. 4.5 clam gangsters!
June 5, 2023
I'm not convinced this is a good ending to the series at all. The first part of the book is padded with irrelevant and inconsequential filler material. It's the same tired route of humanity's factions turning on each other yet again, until there's yet again the external threat.
The scenes in the "unspace" are too metaphysical to be interesting, and I think the attempted descriptions of the action in this place where things "are" but not really, are difficult to follow. The frequency with which they are entering and being pulled out of that place to deal with yet more inconsequential filler turned the book into a slog.
What's worse is how utterly useless everyone else becomes in the face of the external unspace metaphysical threat, they are pretty much just standing around as the author struggles to find stuff for them to fill the pages. It doesn't help their case that there are a huge number of characters and species (often poorly explained) that are interspersed and interacting.
Idris the lone hero is very conveniently ignored so that he can do his thing. But the absolute silliest, stupidest part was when the "great voice" starts speaking to them and Kris uses her lawyer skills to argue with omnisentient beings who so far have been thinking beyond human thought but are now suddenly caught in a shitty word trap as they hand wave away all explanations. Really.
Overall this should have been a two part series and the mystery not dragged out so much. The answers behind the mysteries are weak and in many cases not worth the effort it took to get there.
The scenes in the "unspace" are too metaphysical to be interesting, and I think the attempted descriptions of the action in this place where things "are" but not really, are difficult to follow. The frequency with which they are entering and being pulled out of that place to deal with yet more inconsequential filler turned the book into a slog.
What's worse is how utterly useless everyone else becomes in the face of the external unspace metaphysical threat, they are pretty much just standing around as the author struggles to find stuff for them to fill the pages. It doesn't help their case that there are a huge number of characters and species (often poorly explained) that are interspersed and interacting.
Idris the lone hero is very conveniently ignored so that he can do his thing. But the absolute silliest, stupidest part was when the "great voice" starts speaking to them and Kris uses her lawyer skills to argue with omnisentient beings who so far have been thinking beyond human thought but are now suddenly caught in a shitty word trap as they hand wave away all explanations. Really.
Overall this should have been a two part series and the mystery not dragged out so much. The answers behind the mysteries are weak and in many cases not worth the effort it took to get there.
May 18, 2023
Excellent space opera! Five stars for the entire trilogy 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
June 19, 2023
Tā nu esmu nonācis līdz Arhitektu triloģijas beigām. Jāsaka ka ceļojums bija visnotaļ aizraujošs. Par autora spēju uzrakstīt aizraujošu stāstu es nekad nešaubījos. Mani kā lasītāju kosmiskās operas pievelk kā naktstauriņu iedegta spuldze. Līdz ar to šai triloģijai praktiski nebija nekādu iespēju mani pievilt.
Kā jau tas piedien triloģiju trešajām grāmatām, apskatāmās problēmas izmērs ir sasniedzis zināmā un nezināmā visuma izmērus. Vulture God apkalpei nu ir nopietnākas problēmas par viena lokāla Arhitekta uzbrukumu, viņi ir pievērsuši pašu visuma valdnieku uzmanību. Lai dzīve nebūtu rožu dārzs autors ir nolēmis pamanipulēt ar dažādu frakciju lojalitāti. Kādreizējie draugi kļūst par ienaidniekiem un civilizācijas, kurām šķiet viss bija vienalga pēkšņi kļūst ieinteresētas.
Šoreiz vislabāk man patika ieskats Hegemonijas civilizācijā. No malas šķiet, ka kults kurā visi pielūdz austerveidīgus radījumus, kuriem pati ideja par kustību šķiet ķecerība. Viņas sūtņi izskatās pēc klaunu bara, kas brīvi interpretē savu saimnieku teikto. Bet Hegemonijas tehnoloģija un birokrātija ir tik attīstīta, ka neviens viņiem neko nevar padarīt. Un ja vēl spēlē iesaistās Aklu the Unspeakable (the Razor and the Hook) par kura nozīmi Hegemonijā var tikai minēt, tad lietas, kļūst pavisam dīvainas.
Patiesu prieku sagādāja tas, ka autors stāstu bija izstrādājis jau no pirmās grāmatas (vismaz tāds iespaids radās) un tādēļ neviena grāmata nešķita atrauta no pārējām. Pasaule ir izveidota perfekti, palīdz arī tas, ka notikumi tiek apskatīti tieši tik daudz cik vajadzīgs grāmatai, neieslīgstot pārmērīgās detaļās. Arī zinātniskās detaļas stāstam ir līmenī, nav nekādu iekšēju pretrunu un uz beigām pazūd arī maģijas piegarša, jo viss top atklāts.
Grāmatas galvenais pārsteigums bija loģiskas un stāstu noslēdzošas beigas, kosmiskajās operās tāda lieta nebūt nav garantēta. 10 no 10 ballēm, joprojām esmu gatavs lasīt visu ko autors uzrakstīs.
Kā jau tas piedien triloģiju trešajām grāmatām, apskatāmās problēmas izmērs ir sasniedzis zināmā un nezināmā visuma izmērus. Vulture God apkalpei nu ir nopietnākas problēmas par viena lokāla Arhitekta uzbrukumu, viņi ir pievērsuši pašu visuma valdnieku uzmanību. Lai dzīve nebūtu rožu dārzs autors ir nolēmis pamanipulēt ar dažādu frakciju lojalitāti. Kādreizējie draugi kļūst par ienaidniekiem un civilizācijas, kurām šķiet viss bija vienalga pēkšņi kļūst ieinteresētas.
Šoreiz vislabāk man patika ieskats Hegemonijas civilizācijā. No malas šķiet, ka kults kurā visi pielūdz austerveidīgus radījumus, kuriem pati ideja par kustību šķiet ķecerība. Viņas sūtņi izskatās pēc klaunu bara, kas brīvi interpretē savu saimnieku teikto. Bet Hegemonijas tehnoloģija un birokrātija ir tik attīstīta, ka neviens viņiem neko nevar padarīt. Un ja vēl spēlē iesaistās Aklu the Unspeakable (the Razor and the Hook) par kura nozīmi Hegemonijā var tikai minēt, tad lietas, kļūst pavisam dīvainas.
Patiesu prieku sagādāja tas, ka autors stāstu bija izstrādājis jau no pirmās grāmatas (vismaz tāds iespaids radās) un tādēļ neviena grāmata nešķita atrauta no pārējām. Pasaule ir izveidota perfekti, palīdz arī tas, ka notikumi tiek apskatīti tieši tik daudz cik vajadzīgs grāmatai, neieslīgstot pārmērīgās detaļās. Arī zinātniskās detaļas stāstam ir līmenī, nav nekādu iekšēju pretrunu un uz beigām pazūd arī maģijas piegarša, jo viss top atklāts.
Grāmatas galvenais pārsteigums bija loģiskas un stāstu noslēdzošas beigas, kosmiskajās operās tāda lieta nebūt nav garantēta. 10 no 10 ballēm, joprojām esmu gatavs lasīt visu ko autors uzrakstīs.
May 30, 2023
Last part of a trilogy. I really loved the first book Shards of Earth and sadly struggled with the middle book Eyes of the Void. At the end I think I could have done without books 2 and 3 and would have preferred one standalone and closed novel with less padding and all the plotlines tidied up.
Favourite characters are Olli and Kittering. Idris is really kind of a drag in this one, especially his forays into Unspace with their lengthy descriptions of what he sees and feels. My eyes glazed over a few times. Ollis‘ entire story was the most fun. I did enjoy Solace and Kris as well, although Kris only played a minor part. Too bad that she ended up so bitter at the end.
I struggled again, same as in the second book, to remember who all of the characters were and what they did before. So many of them! It‘s a good thing that the print edition has a list of characters at the back. Too many characters.
Massive world-building effort. Loved the concept of the Eye. Crux was also a fascinating place to be.
Abit lot on the overly long side. The entire trilogy is too long. A duology would have done nicely. I had to re-listen to the last three chapters, because I had run out of steam at the end and reaching the end I realized that I hadn‘t retained any of it, including the grand finale. It‘s a pity that by the end I was mostly glad to be finally done with this trilogy.
Bittersweet ending. 👁️👁️👁️½☆, rounded up. It‘s probably me.
Shards of Earth | My review
Eyes of the Void | My review
I really think I do not need trilogies anymore. Or novels that are a 1000 pages long. What a drag. Why torture it to those formats with all this padding and endless reminiscing, if you can tell a compelling story in one novel of average length?
Ok, yes, I did enjoy the entire trilogy of Children of Time. So sue me.
Favourite characters are Olli and Kittering. Idris is really kind of a drag in this one, especially his forays into Unspace with their lengthy descriptions of what he sees and feels. My eyes glazed over a few times. Ollis‘ entire story was the most fun. I did enjoy Solace and Kris as well, although Kris only played a minor part. Too bad that she ended up so bitter at the end.
I struggled again, same as in the second book, to remember who all of the characters were and what they did before. So many of them! It‘s a good thing that the print edition has a list of characters at the back. Too many characters.
Massive world-building effort. Loved the concept of the Eye. Crux was also a fascinating place to be.
A
Bittersweet ending. 👁️👁️👁️½☆, rounded up. It‘s probably me.
Shards of Earth | My review
Eyes of the Void | My review
I really think I do not need trilogies anymore. Or novels that are a 1000 pages long. What a drag. Why torture it to those formats with all this padding and endless reminiscing, if you can tell a compelling story in one novel of average length?
Ok, yes, I did enjoy the entire trilogy of Children of Time. So sue me.
April 14, 2023
As always with the review of the final book of a series, the burning question is: does the book stick the landing? Is the journey worth it? Happy to say that for the Final Architecture the answer is a resounding “Yes!”
Most people here have read books 1 and 2, so I’m going to assume you know the premise of the series and aren’t really looking for the sell.
I found the first half of the book rather slow, to be honest. It was mostly focused on squabbles among the assorted human and human-adjacent factions. There wasn’t anything wrong with it; it just wasn’t what I wanted. Yes yes, the nobles from Magda are bastards, there are competing factions within the Hugh, let’s just get on with the Architects, please.
Which we do, for the second half of the book, and I had a great deal of trouble putting the book down.
So there are two big challenges in any story dealing with eldritch horrors from beyond space and time. One is the problem of explaining the unexplainable. A balance has to be struck between providing enough explanation for the readers to be satisfied but leaving enough unknown to preserve the mystery. The other is providing a way for our relatively mundane protagonists to fight back without straining credulity. Happy to report that Tchaikovsky manages to pull off both. There’s a good ending for the story, and the characters get endings that all feel well-earned.
All in all, another good one from one of my favorite authors.
My blog
Most people here have read books 1 and 2, so I’m going to assume you know the premise of the series and aren’t really looking for the sell.
I found the first half of the book rather slow, to be honest. It was mostly focused on squabbles among the assorted human and human-adjacent factions. There wasn’t anything wrong with it; it just wasn’t what I wanted. Yes yes, the nobles from Magda are bastards, there are competing factions within the Hugh, let’s just get on with the Architects, please.
Which we do, for the second half of the book, and I had a great deal of trouble putting the book down.
So there are two big challenges in any story dealing with eldritch horrors from beyond space and time. One is the problem of explaining the unexplainable. A balance has to be struck between providing enough explanation for the readers to be satisfied but leaving enough unknown to preserve the mystery. The other is providing a way for our relatively mundane protagonists to fight back without straining credulity. Happy to report that Tchaikovsky manages to pull off both. There’s a good ending for the story, and the characters get endings that all feel well-earned.
All in all, another good one from one of my favorite authors.
My blog
June 26, 2024
Most of this book was really great - a direct follow-on to its predecessor Eyes of the Void that I really loved. I still love the crazy team of Idris, Kris, Kit, Solace, and Olli and was happy to travel and live these adventures with them. However, I felt the end was a bit of a shortcut, not jumping the shark exactly, but kinda. I still liked this whole trilogy more than the Children of Time trilogy, but there is something about how Tchaikovsky kind of rushes his endings that bothers me (as it does for Peter F Hamilton as well).
March 14, 2024
4.5 stars, review to come
May 29, 2023
The third volume of what should NOT have been a trilogy, Lords of Uncreation bears the greater burden of the chronic bloating, padding, filler, and regurgitation that stretches this story out for well over 1500 pages. Tchaikovsky has become one of my favorite current SF authors, but Orbit Books blatantly exposes their Revenue Generation priorities in the editing and packaging of this space-opera.
Yes, the core story is intriguing and yes, the cast of characters is pretty groovy. But the superfluous bunny-trails, the overly-frequent and unnecessary shoot-'em-up scenes, the constant conniving between factions with no resolutions, and the repeated, identical forays into Idris' weaknesses and failings (as well as the entire swaths of hand-wavium, metaphysical blather about the nature of unspace) make this feel like a nine-hour long Marvel Comics movie. It took me weeks to read a book that would normally have taken three days because I got too bored to continue. The final wound comes with the resolution: it occurs nearly in passing and is not referenced again: very unsatisfying.
I should have waited for the movie.
Yes, the core story is intriguing and yes, the cast of characters is pretty groovy. But the superfluous bunny-trails, the overly-frequent and unnecessary shoot-'em-up scenes, the constant conniving between factions with no resolutions, and the repeated, identical forays into Idris' weaknesses and failings (as well as the entire swaths of hand-wavium, metaphysical blather about the nature of unspace) make this feel like a nine-hour long Marvel Comics movie. It took me weeks to read a book that would normally have taken three days because I got too bored to continue. The final wound comes with the resolution: it occurs nearly in passing and is not referenced again: very unsatisfying.
I should have waited for the movie.
September 24, 2023
3.2⭐
The rip snorting conclusion to Tchaikovsky's far flung space opera trilogy.
First, the villains ( slave holding aristocrats; human supremacists; man hating Amazons) disrupt our heros' (plucky space crew; cute AI robots/aliens; good Amazons) efforts to save the universe from inscrutable, genocidal, all powerful aliens.
The good guys rally and mount a breathless, last minute, do or die mission ( that lasts the final third of the book).
Happy endings all around.
What's not to like?
Sure the prose is slightly purple; the technobabble is piled high and deep and it's more science fantasy than science fiction. I can live with all that.
Mostly for fans of the genre, I would say.
-30-
The rip snorting conclusion to Tchaikovsky's far flung space opera trilogy.
First, the villains ( slave holding aristocrats; human supremacists; man hating Amazons) disrupt our heros' (plucky space crew; cute AI robots/aliens; good Amazons) efforts to save the universe from inscrutable, genocidal, all powerful aliens.
The good guys rally and mount a breathless, last minute, do or die mission ( that lasts the final third of the book).
Happy endings all around.
What's not to like?
Sure the prose is slightly purple; the technobabble is piled high and deep and it's more science fantasy than science fiction. I can live with all that.
Mostly for fans of the genre, I would say.
-30-
June 23, 2023
Lords Of Uncreation has the misfortune to belong to a glut of space opera where the antagonist is "an unknowable force from before time hellbent on stopping space travel". Of course, there is nothing wrong with going back to the same well as others as long as you bring something new, and usually, Adrian Tchaikovsky can be trusted to do that. But what has been interesting about this trilogy as it has unfolded is that the balls he threw in the air in the first book haven't quite landed where they might. It feels like an embarrassing problem to have to create a few too many charismatic characters, but as the focus shifted between books, it feels like Tchaikovsky's own interest changed, and certainly, the character who felt like the lead in the first book, has been nearly sidelined by the end. His grumpy old science experiment "hyperspace" jumper is still in the middle and still quite a dull info-dump guy, but the paraplegic in her mechs, and even a bunch of the bad guys start to overshadow the book before we get to the metaphysical ending.
I've enjoyed this trilogy but I don't think that it quite hung together. It is chock full of interesting ideas, and its initial setting (the diaspora of Earth once it has been destroyed) is instantly interesting. But Perhaps the addition of alien races, the Space Warrior Nuns, the generation ship faction, the archaeologists, fencing lawyers and - my biggest problem - calling the diaspora of humanity Hugh. In many ways the ebbs and flows of the characters felt very organic, and for all the cynicism built into the series about how bad humanity can act, and the entropic evil before the beginning of time, there is still a lot of heroic hope here. But its probably Tchaikovsky's general success rate that I found this a smidge disappointing.
I've enjoyed this trilogy but I don't think that it quite hung together. It is chock full of interesting ideas, and its initial setting (the diaspora of Earth once it has been destroyed) is instantly interesting. But Perhaps the addition of alien races, the Space Warrior Nuns, the generation ship faction, the archaeologists, fencing lawyers and - my biggest problem - calling the diaspora of humanity Hugh. In many ways the ebbs and flows of the characters felt very organic, and for all the cynicism built into the series about how bad humanity can act, and the entropic evil before the beginning of time, there is still a lot of heroic hope here. But its probably Tchaikovsky's general success rate that I found this a smidge disappointing.
December 21, 2023
CHARACTERS
🔲 mary-sue party
🔲 mostly 2D
🔲 great main cast, forgettable side characters
🔲 well-written
✅ complex and fascinating
🔲 hard to believe they are fictional
PLOT
🔲 you've already heard this exact story a thousand times
🔲 nothing memorable
🔲 gripping
✅ exceptional
🔲 mind=blown
WORLDBUILDING
🔲 takes place in our world
🔲 incoherent
🔲 OK
🔲 nicely detailed
✅ meticulous
🔲 even the last tree in the forest has its own story
ATMOSPHERE
🔲 nonexistent
🔲 fine
🔲 immersive
✅ you forget you are reading a book
PACING
🔲 dragging
🔲 inconsistent
🔲 picks up with time
✅ page-turner
🔲 impossible to put down
I'm gonna miss this series.
🔲 mary-sue party
🔲 mostly 2D
🔲 great main cast, forgettable side characters
🔲 well-written
✅ complex and fascinating
🔲 hard to believe they are fictional
PLOT
🔲 you've already heard this exact story a thousand times
🔲 nothing memorable
🔲 gripping
✅ exceptional
🔲 mind=blown
WORLDBUILDING
🔲 takes place in our world
🔲 incoherent
🔲 OK
🔲 nicely detailed
✅ meticulous
🔲 even the last tree in the forest has its own story
ATMOSPHERE
🔲 nonexistent
🔲 fine
🔲 immersive
✅ you forget you are reading a book
PACING
🔲 dragging
🔲 inconsistent
🔲 picks up with time
✅ page-turner
🔲 impossible to put down
I'm gonna miss this series.
May 2, 2023
Superb. A wonderful conclusion to this series. How does this man do it? Is there nothing he can’t do? It’s really not very British at all when you think about it.
It was close run but I think Olli stole the show for me so I’ll conclude with a quote (no spoilers):
Sathiel blinked and swallowed, I don’t feel you’re treating this with the seriousness it deserves.
…
Tell the Resplendent it is fucking on, she said to Sathiel, and by extension everyone else in system.
It was close run but I think Olli stole the show for me so I’ll conclude with a quote (no spoilers):
Sathiel blinked and swallowed, I don’t feel you’re treating this with the seriousness it deserves.
…
Tell the Resplendent it is fucking on, she said to Sathiel, and by extension everyone else in system.
May 28, 2023
Kind of disappointed in the last book in this series. This one has expanded POVs that I didn’t care about, confusing action scenes, and it just felt like a lot of padding. I pretty much skimmed the last 50 pages just to get it over with but I give the whole series 4 stars as a whole and hopefully I’ll understand it more on a reread and will give it 5 stars!
June 3, 2023
Under all the idiotic amount of unnecessary characters, stupid plot devices, multiple deus ex machina twists, obvious plot armour, etc, etc, etc is a hidden, crazy good 200-250 page story, which could have been awesome.
Shame.
Shame.
May 18, 2023
Suite directe de Eyes of the Void, je ne parlerai pas plus du scénario pour ne pas spoiler, comme j’ai un souvenir assez nébuleux du deuxième mais juste … Wow. C’est une conclusion absolument magistrale, que je n’ai honnêtement pas vu venir. Les personnages sont fantastiques, l’histoire grandiose, les enjeux juste inégalés. On parle beaucoup trop peu de cette trilogie pour sa qualité, sa dimension et son déroulement. C’est juste une des meilleures histoires SF que j’ai lu depuis très longtemps.
May 9, 2023
Tchaikovsky sticks the landing on this space opera trilogy. Kudos to him for making this a three part arc with a real and satisfying ending instead of trying to leave it open for more sequels. there’s too many long series out there that keep churning out watered down, pot boilers.
Books like this are why Tchaikovsky is my favourite modern science fiction writer.
Books like this are why Tchaikovsky is my favourite modern science fiction writer.
May 6, 2023
Fun adventures, big ideas, satisfying conclusion to the trilogy, what's not to like? Well, the prose, oh the sluggish prose. Every POV change reads like a dry info dump. All tell, not show. Every character keeps repeating things about themselves, exposition galore. This was a slog to read. Satisfying, but could be so much more.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 836 reviews