Elder Race

Adrian Tchaikovsky

Nov 2021 · Sold by Tordotcom

About this ebook

"A Ursula Le Guin-like grace... Ten out of 10." —New York Times

In Adrian Tchaikovsky's Elder Race, a junior anthropologist on a distant planet must help the locals he has sworn to study to save a planet from an unbeatable foe.

Lynesse is the lowly Fourth Daughter of the queen, and always getting in the way.

But a demon is terrorizing the land, and now she’s an adult (albeit barely) with responsibilities (she tells herself). Although she still gets in the way, she understands that the only way to save her people is to invoke the pact between her family and the Elder sorcerer who has inhabited the local tower for as long as her people have lived here (though none in living memory has approached it).

But Elder Nyr isn’t a sorcerer, and he is forbidden to help, and his knowledge of science tells him the threat cannot possibly be a demon...

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Ratings and reviews

It aligns well with the world view and technology displayed in 'Children of time'. I am especially fascinated by the understanding along the discrepancy between civilization arisen from tales and science and how view varies in their perspectives.The end remarks a great journey in healing and finding a new identity, though the last few lines about his choice and will is a bit cliche. Still, I consider this as a joyful read after finishing children of time.

nice short story, worth while reading. The misunderstanding between the characters is very credible and entertaining, in the face of a larger threat that is not evil, but very scary. This would make an entertaining movie!

Shares themes with The Expert System's series and The Doors Of Eden. The antagonist's origin story and indeed, its ultimate goal, is a glaring omission which hints (fingers crossed) at a follow up. Perhaps a sufficiently technologically advanced earth's attempt to remotely purge a failed colonisation attempt, or the latest threat against earth, hinted at throughout the story, now continuing its work by going after earth's outposts…

About the author

Adrian Tchaikovsky (he/him) is the author of the acclaimed Shadows of the Apt fantasy series and the epic science fiction blockbuster, Children of Time. He has won the Arthur C. Clarke Award, a British Fantasy Society Award, and has been nominated for the David Gemmell Legend Award. In civilian life he is a lawyer, gamer, and amateur entomologist.