#elder race

[azure-sorceress]

Every few months I have to read Adrian Tchaikovsky because he is an author who constantly puts out speculative fiction in which one of the main themes is always empathy (or lack thereof and how that fucks everyone).

Yes, I know he's not the only one writing this, but he is the only one releasing like three books a year so I never go without them.

[st-just]

They think I’m a wizard. They think I’m a fucking wizard. That’s what I am to them, some weird goblin man from another time with magic powers. And I literally do not have the language to tell them otherwise. I say ‘scientist’, ‘scholar’, but in their language, these are both cognates for ‘wizard’. I imagine myself standing there speaking to Lyn and saying ‘I’m not a wizard. I’m a wizard, or at best a wizard.’

Nyr Illin Tetvitch, Elder Race, by Adrian Tchaikovsky

[rhetoricandlogic]

REVIEW: Elder Race by Adrian Tchaikovsky

I know Adrian Tchaikovsky best from works like Children of Time, Children of Ruin and Dogs of War where he uses other creatures, often affected by humanity’s meddling to talk about very relatable human issues, often dealing with the issue of communicating across species boundaries. Elder Race deals with similar core themes, but all of the protagonists are human. Sort of.

Lynesse Fourth Daughter is an impetuous spare heir in a devolved human society that is at a roughly high medieval state of development (or rather, regression) who seeks the assistance of Nyrgoth, the Elder sorcerer (Elder Race, get it?) to aid against a demon that is afflicting nearby lands. The problem is that Nyrgoth isn’t really a sorcerer but a low level anthropologist who’s notionally supposed to be tracking the development of a colony on behalf of the successors to the more developed human civilisation that originally set them there.

Yes, this is very much nailing the ‘any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic’ trope right on the head, but it does it very well.

Things are complicated by the facts of exactly why Nyrgoth is alone in his tower and has a reputation for coming to these people’s aid in former generations and the story really turns on the difficult relationship between Lynesse and Nyrgoth and their vastly different outlooks on the world.

Elder Race is not a long book, definitely in novella territory but it packs a lot of big ideas and sharp characterisation into the low word count. Tchaikovsky uses the contrast between the core characters as a way to show how people can be very different but also ultimately very much alike.

You have Lynesse being impetuous and determined while Nyr is restrained, overly cerebral and battles depression. Lynesse sees Nyr’s capabilities as magical while he’s all too aware of his limitations and the science at play. At the same time, for wildly different reasons both fear that they are failures and want to prove themselves, to find connection to a kindred spirit or find meaning in their lives.

The difficulties of communication are fun as well, as Nyr’s imperfect translations of Lynesse’s lingual drift leads to him trying to explain science to her but the meanings sound like magical terms, so he ends up saying “I’m not a sorcerer, I’m a magician” and similar to great mutual frustration.

Throw in the way that Nyr often misreads things like how clothing styles are supposed to work or the nuances of local power structures or manners and theres a neat comment on how being a more advanced, supposedly Elder Race and having a near omnipotent viewpoint isn’t as great when you lack context.

Ultimately, the demonic antagonist ends up being almost beyond Nyrgoth’s science anyway, which implies that there’s more going on in this universe than he’d previously been aware of and maybe they have made contact with a genuinely Elder Race and not just a coloniser with some cool toys. The shared existential dread of a genuine Outside Context Moment is a nice subversion of the tone of the story up to that point.

I also detected a fun pun where Lynesse refers to the adversary as a demon, yet how it works seems to be analogous to what a daemon in computer terminology does, except operating on a biological level.

All in all Elder Race is a really fun novella, displaying Tchaikovsky’s trademark sharp prose and big ideas conveyed in interesting ways. It feels like a nice thought experiment that worked out into a compelling story and I’d recommend this to existing Tchaikovsky fans, plus anyone who likes Iain M. Banks, Ann Leckie or Gareth L. Powell.

[tigerlyla-of-metinna]

NPC Wednesday: Hidden Elves of Toussaint

The elves are hiding in plain sight among the human citizens of the Duchy. Try chatting with them and they will insist that they are just ordinary (human) bystanders.

Shots given to me by JellyBearby (IG) and my PS retouches.

[lilareviewsbooks]

More Short SFF Books!

Guys! Thank you so much for the love on my post on short SFF books! It was a lot for a tiny little blog like me lmao, and it made me feel very appreciated - thank you, again! 

I thought that because of all that love, this deserved a second edition. So, since short SFF is definitely my specialty, and I won't stop reading these novellas any time soon, here's some other SFF short books I think might be worth your time!

Also, check out part one of this list if you’d like some more books in this vein :)

The Monk and Robot Duology, starting with A Psalm For The Wild-Built, by Becky Chambers

152 to 160 pages

duology (so far!! I'm hoping and praying, Ms. Chambers!)

queer rep of all kinds, but our protagonist is non-binary! 

If you know me, then it's a surprise this didn't make it into the first edition of this list. I love Monk and Robot! They're My Favorite Books, so rest assured that they come very highly recommended!

This one follows Sibling Dex, a disciple of Allae, the god of small comforts, as they decide to change the course of their professional life and become a travelling tea monk. Along the way, they meet Mosscap, a very friendly robot, with one question - "what do humans need?" There's just one problem: robots have been living in the wild for generations, and they haven't interacted with humans since they gained consciousness. Can Sibling Dex handle this responsibility?

I hardly have the words to describe this one. This is a sci-fi, I guess, but it feels like a fantasy -- it's just so atmospheric and draws you into this utopian and equitable world full of nature and community. Monk and Robot really emphasizes the best parts of life, the best parts of humanity. It will warm your heart because you will see your life in it - in all it's smallness and its gorgeousness. It's perfect if you want something that's short, sweet, and with a conflict that doesn't span the whole entire world, but is focused instead on two people - or, I guess, on one person and a robot. 

Mandatory reading for everyone! Get your hands on a copy, you won't regret it!

Our Lady of Endless Worlds Duology, starting with Sisters of the Vast Black, by Lina Rather

176 to 192 pages

duology

sapphic rep

We're staying on theme here, with another religious-y pick. I give you: Sisters of the Vast Black! This one is about nuns! In space!

Some time into the future, the Catholic Church is alive and well. The sisters of the Order of Saint Rita live on their (get this) living ship, a gigantic animal they use to navigate between space stations and planets. I think this one is worth it just for that concept, I fell in love with it!

This book follows the Sisters as they receive a distress call from a colony, and find out that the Church's means might be more nefarious than they seem. But, mostly, it's about the sisters themselves, as they grapple with their faith, the ever-changing universe and the questionable morality of the Church. 

I loved this one! Not only are the characters very compelling, the setting is just so cool. This concept of the living space ship is so fucking neat, and the duology gets down to the nitty-gritty of it. Not to mention, the idea of religion, and contemporary religion in particular, surviving mostly unchanged into the future is so interesting! I don't know if it's me being nerdy, but I just found the concept here so, so compelling, I couldn't resist bringing these books home with me!

The Seventh Perfection, by Daniel Polansky

176 pages

standalone

I don't remember it being queer, but I could be wrong??

I guess this is also kind of religious in a way lmao. The Seventh Perfection follows Manet as she searches for someone for the God-King, who runs the kingdom she lives in, using her perfect dominion over the seven perfections to help her.

The unique thing about this book, though, is how the story is told. Instead of following Manet's perspective as she goes through her city, interviewing people, we only see one side of her dialogue. As Manet speaks to a shopkeeper, for example, we are only treated to his answers. In this manner, its up to the reader to put some pieces together.

Although it is nothing too complicated, - especially for veterans of books such as The Locked Tomb or fantasy behemoths like A Song of Ice and Fire, with their crazy amount of characters - the structure is pretty unique. Like Esme N pointed out in her Good Reads review of this one, it kind of reads as if you're a POV character in a videogame, going NPC to NPC. I'd say this one is for the anyone who likes different approaches to stories in SFF, and enjoys being a little bit confused!

Elder Race, by Adrian Tchaikovsky 

201 pages

standalone

no queer rep that I remember, either

Elder Race is an interesting one, as well. This one is definitely for fans of books with almost anthropological approaches to culture, such as The Left Hand of Darkness and A Memory Called Empire. Elder Nyr is a scientist, sent to another planet in order to explore it, who lives in his space ship. Except that, for the locals, that space ship is a giant tower, and Nyr is its mysterious sorceror of legend. Now, Lynesse comes to search for him so that he can help her deal with the threat of demon.

The result of the interaction between Lynesse and Nyr, and the fact that each of them have POV chapters, means that this reads as almost two separate books. One of them is a sci-fi, and that's Nyr's perspective, who is from a society with very high-end technology, and sees all problems as matters of science. Meanwhile, Lynesse sees everything as magical, so hers reads almost like a fantasy. It makes for such an interesting experience!

I think about this book constantly, and have been wanting to reread it for ages. I quite liked this particular approach, not to mention the concept! Plus, I love books that go deep into culture like this one. And, of course, it's from prolific and famous author Adrian Tchaikovsky, who wrote the Children of Time series, and although I haven't read the rest of his work, I've heard this is a good starting off point in case you want to get into his other books.

Princess Floralinda And The Forty-Flight Tower, by Tasmyn Muir

146 pages

standalone

non-binary rep

I'm always singing Ms. Muir praise, and that's for a reason! This one follows Princess Floralinda, who is locked up in a (guess!) forty-flight tower by an evil witch. She has placed one monster at every floor, and no prince has managed to get through the first one, let alone trudge up the stairs to rescue Floralinda.

With impeccable sense of humor, which is a trademark of Ms. Muir's fiction, we follow Floralinda's plight as she waits for someone to come rescue her - and then eventually notices no-one might be coming, after all. Her character development is astounding, and it's so satisfying to follow her. It's also just so impressive that so much can be packed into so little pages when it comes to her arc. 

And I forgot to mention - there's a fun fairy character who will help Floralinda on her way! I think it's worth reading just for that!

[wearethekat]

February Book Reviews: Elder Race by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Picked this novella up because I've liked Tchaikovsky books in the past and this one had an interesting premise which reminded me of an excellent Le Guin short story. Nyr is an anthropological observer who has lost contact with his civilization and lives out most of his days in cold sleep. Meanwhile, the former colony he was sent to observe has forgotten technology and its past. When Lynesse Fourth Daughter calls on an old promise in order to gain Nyr's help in fighting a demon, Nyr will be dragged once again into human life.

The premise here is fantastic and the execution is good. I particularly liked a sequence where Nyr's explanation of the planet's past is juxtaposed with how Lynesse hears it-- because of the language and cultural shifts over time, Nyr's story will always render as the myth that Lynesse already knows. He can't even refer to himself as an anthropologist or a scientist, since Lynesse will hear the word as "wizard."

I did find the characters a little emotionally distant and difficult to connect with at times, but much less than with Tchaikovsky's other books. Overall, an excellent demonstration of Clarke's Law that sufficiently advanced science is indistinguishable from magic. Recommended.

[ratsreading]

The whole of Elder Race (Adrian Tchaikovsky) is basically this premise. It's so good. So so good.

Fucked up how humanity discovered electricity and radiation and made machines and learned to make airplanes and cured diseases and our takeaway isnt that "Some Magic Is Real And Here's Why", but that magic is fake this is big boy science and it's totally not magical

[musician-not-magician]

October Books 🎃

I used 🌈 to indicate LGBTQ+ featured characters within the book. I rated each book from ⭐️ - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. The books are listed in the order that I completed them.

“Daindreth’s Assassin” by Elisabeth Wheatley ⭐️⭐️⭐️

“An Enchantment of Ravens” by Margaret Roberson ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“The Wager” by David Grann ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“The Undetectables” by Courtney Smith ⭐️⭐️ • 🌈

“Vampires Never Get Old: Tales with a Fresh Bite” edited by Zoraida Córdova ⭐️⭐️ • 🌈

“A Letter to the Luminous Deep” by Sylvie Cathrall ⭐️⭐️⭐️ • 🌈

“A Clash of Kings” by George R.R. Martin ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“The Assassin’s Blade” by Sarah J. Mass ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“Where the Dark Stands Still” by A.B. Poranek ⭐️⭐️⭐️

“Circe” by Madeline Miller ⭐️⭐️⭐️

“Masters of Death” by Olivie Blake ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ • 🌈

“Elder Race” by Adrian Tchaikovsky ⭐️⭐️⭐️

“The Southern Book Clubs Guide to Slaying Vampires” by Grady Hendrix ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“The Prisoner’s Throne” by Holly Black ⭐️⭐️⭐️ • 🌈

“An Ember in the Ashes” by Sabaa Tahir ⭐️⭐️⭐️

“A Dowry of Blood” by S.T. Gibson ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ • 🌈

“Throne of Glass” by Sarah J. Mass ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“Ship of Destiny” by Robin Hobb ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“The Eye of the World” by Robert Jordan ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“The Final Girl Support Group” by Grady Hendrix ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[nikihawkes]

Novella Review: Elder Race by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Title: Elder Race Author: Adrian Tchaikovsky Series: N/A Genre: Science Fiction Rating: 2.5/5 stars The Overview: 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) and although she still gets in the way, she understands that the only way to save her people is to invoke the pact between…

[smokeskoomaworshipdaedra]

I do love that, at its core, the story of dagoth ur, indoril nerevar, and the tribunal is a story about 5 best friends who REALLY fucked up.

[yourgothdolly]

Make me Shout🖤

[st-just]

'I was sent to watch your people, and see how you lived, so that my people could learn about you....I was sent to watch, and not act. To watch you sicken, to watch you make war, to watch you die so I could learn your funerary practices. To watch and never interfere, in case I contaminate you with my own superior culture.'....I am only now, at the end of three long centuries after loss of contact, beginning to recognize how broken my own superior culture was. They set us here to make exhaustive anthropological notes on the fall of every sparrow. But not to catch a single one of them. To know but very emphatically not to care.

Nyr Illin Tetvitch, Elder Race, by Adrian Tchaikovsky

[dragonknightofsummerset]

A nobinary altmer that's a dk/soul magic user!!!!!

And a necromancer khajiit!!

Both of them below:

[wickedcriminal]

An alternative direction for Stryke Out where Elder gets stuck in a cage, Toothless is the top competitor for more than a few dragon fights, and— what's this? By Thor, there's a colorful mood dragon here, and she can speak Norse! What are the odds of that?

Little does Elder know that wherever this mood dragon is, Camicazi will be close behind.

[ravenekrops]

consider reblogging to reach more people :3

[plutonium-sky]

I bring you a headcannon about those two giant mantas in sanctuary

drawn on @catofaurora 's magma