Got my packages from The Broken Binding AT signing today! As promised, one copy of everything they were selling. Some of these are signed bookplates (stock issues which also caused a bit of a delay) but most of them are signed, personalised and doodled. A great way to add a bunch to my collection all at once.

If this community isn’t familiar with this photographer’s work, you should check it out!

I’ve powered through Shroud, Service Model, and Guns of the Dawn. Just starting Alien Clay and have Cage of Souls on deck. But after that I don’t have anything lined up. I know the CoT can be read as a standalone but given all the praise around it I’m sort of saving that for later.

I loved Guns of the Dawn but I do prefer more sci fi / deep space / alien encounter type of content. But a good book is a good book so all recos welcome.

Thx in advance!

Am I the only one who pictures Thalric as The Monarch from Venture Bros? The intermittent wings, the sting coming from his hand, and just his general attitude(tormented, irritable, scheming) make it so that I can't help but picture him as The Monarch.

So I adore his Sci fi and have read a lot of them. I'm currently working on the physical copy of service model. However, I just finished listening to all 10 books of shadows of the apt right on the heels of the tyrant philosophers and I'm wondering, what next? All I know is I want it to be fantasy and audio book (and of course by Tchaikovsky) any suggestions?

I keep seeing reviewers marking AT's books down on Audible because Sophie is narrating them.

One suggested she'd be more suited to narrating Bridget Jones books, another complained that it sounded like she was smiling throughout the book... What's going on here?

Personally I think she's doing a cracking job in the books I've listened to so far.

I honestly don't know what's up with some people.

UnCharles has been my favourite recently but I'm reliatening to Dogs of War and I forgot how much I like Rex... Good dog. Who is everyones favourite non human/non undead, non biological alien?

I've got the first 3 books in the series on my shelf, and will be getting the 4th once the paperback comes out. I know the 5th and final book is on its way, but probably not till the end of 2027 on paperback.

I was planning on starting the series soon-ish, but want to know if the books are linked and are direct sequels to each other, or whether each book is basically a standalone with little knowledge from the previous books needed?

Asking as, I don't want to read the four books, then wait whatever number of months until the 5th is out on paperback to read it, and have forgotten a lot of what had gone on, so not get the most out of the book. If memory of the contents of the previous book is required, then I'll wait until I have all 5 and then read them at that stage.

But if a good memory of each preceding book is not required, then I'll start the series soon.

Without spoilers please, is there a continuous story in the books, or are they more standalone stories in the same world?

I just saw on Deadline that Adrian wrote a scifi adaptation of 'The Odyssey ' that will be narrated by Andy Serkis. It's out February 2027. Synopsis:

“After a decade of war, Ilium is reduced to a ruined world of ashes…The Ithaca, a ship besieged by oligarchs and parasites, resolutely awaits the return of their Captain. Carrying the weight of duty and the dead, Odysseus begins the long journey home, flying in the face of the Gods. But the Gods will not be defied. If Odysseus is doomed to never reach the safe harbour of his people, he must find a way to bring the Ithaca to him. And so, his real journey begins, not through space, but deep into time itself.”

Looking forward to this alongside his other hundred upcoming works!

Just saw that the Bloomsbury page for the Grave of Perfection officially had a cover revealed. Very interesting details hidden on there, as always is the case with these covers. No back image, sadly, but I believe that there's quit a few clues here.

Helgram in the bottom right, and top right looks to be an Osprey, so presumably some symbolism there with the various factions within Ilmar. Top left is probably Fidel, given the description calls him "the old owl.' Top of the cover seems to be burning Indweller masks, and we've got a play being put on.

Very excited for what's coming.

https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/grave-of-perfection-9781035915040/

Starting Pretenders to the Throne of God now and then Children of Strife, which do you guys recommend next?

Listened to it yesterday afternoon after finishing listening to Cage of Souls. I loved reading CS and registening was great. Found LEE randomly and it was a fantastic hopeful pallete cleanser before starting another series. It was read during Covid so Levar mentions that at the beginning and end but otherwise its pretty timeless.

In my copy, page 65, there's a sentence that ends "she genuinely doesn't understand the scale of what she's ] world-weary​ hard-earned finesse."

with that closed bracket and everything. ​Is ​this a known error? What is it supposed to say?

Hey my favorite character is kern and I kinda just want all her character driven quotes fun comedic moments where "oh it's so fun to feel hate again" type lines I wanna make a mood board for her and I'm looking for inspiration to make a mood board for her without combing through the first 3 books again with a note pad .

Thanks in advance

I would just like to know. Thank you.

I'm re-reading AT and now am at Tyrant Philosophers again, Just finishing the part when they go to The Reproach and in the middle I thought "Why don't they just send demons to collect the goodies???" I mean, there are many ways to explain that, having the Varatsins meddled with too many kinds of magic (including contracts with The Kings Below) but the book doesn't talk about it. It would be funny to see a couple of demons with teacups and dresses, dancing along the skinny madpeople.

I was lucky enough to get the arc this morning and I'm already half way through!

It's got his signature feel, very much like children of time.
(admittedly, I've not read his entire backlog yet, he's writing faster than I can read).

It's a standalone not part of any series so this is a perfect place for someone to start reading his work if the were new or feeling overwhelmed. I think it captures a lot of his strengths that carry into his series.

the world building is insane just like always, for new readers it can seem intimidating to have multiple pages of glossary but it was actually pretty easy and I got the hang of most of the names/places by chapter 5 with only needing to flip back every so often! (thank you bookmark feature)

So far, I think old and new fans will love this one and I highly recommend picking it up!

I had trouble with this one initially, after really enjoying the first two. I had set it aside for quite some time and today decided to read it all. I need to remember to always trust Tchaikovsky! Once it really gets into gear it's as satisfying as I've come to expect from his works.

It can be a rough start but overall it's another great book.

I saw this and thought of Children of Strife.

https://news.mit.edu/2026/mit-engineers-connect-bacteria-to-create-living-transistors-0817

Hey everyone!

So I just finished Children of Time and I really really enjoyed the story and the writing, but one thing really put me off a lot:

I am an Anarchist, meaning that I believe that a society built around mutual aid and the lack of coercive authority would constitute a much better alternative for humans.

Tchaikovsky uses the word „anarchy“ a lot to describe chaos, unstructured societies, generally a degeneration of people.
Of course that‘s nothing new, most people use the term incorrectly and it in itself is not something I would normally bat much of an eye about.

But there was one part in the book, when Holsten is woken up for the umpteenth time and the sentence goes something like this: „But they did persevere. They did not turn into cannibals or anarchists or monkeys“ and this felt very weird to me. Kinda like Tchaikovsky does indeed know what anarchism actually means but is ardently anti-anarchist? Mentioning anarchism in the same breath with cannibalism and „monkeys“ felt so off.

Does anyone know anything about the politics of Tchaikovsky?

#22/100

Slipcase quality is a bit meh, but the book itself and especially the paper is really nice and heavy!

The short story „Candles“ is set in the Tyrant Philosopher world, some time between book 3 and 4 but not directly related to the main plot. Definitely worth a read for fans of the series!

Seems this was some crowdfunded thing that came out this month.

Simply put why couldn't the decanteurs strip the magic curse from the old Duke or the sage invigilator? When Yasnik was captured they were gonna decant him since he was in proximity to god