The only fault with this style is the switch from 3 rd person to 1 st person present tense can be jarring at times, taking me out of the story. I really enjoyed seeing the world from each of their perspectives and how that changed the style of the book itself. It’s a super unique style of book and there’s one chapter in particular that knocked my socks off with how it was written. Lyn, the princess’s story is told from typical 3 rd person fantasy POV, while Nyr, the sorcerer’s is told from first person present tense with a distinct sci-fi feel and flavor. In each proceeding chapter, the story flips the perspective of the narrative. His crew has left him and he is awoken from sleep asked to join the princess on her quest.

The premise of the story hinges on the fact that the great sorcerer is actually an anthropologist sent from Earth to study a far off distant colony as they evolve and grow. Ok, if you want a few more details, minor spoilers for the story follow (worth noting that other reviews include many of these minor spoilers as does the basic description).

Well written, good characters and filled with interesting ideas and developments, this is a great novella. I don’t want to spoil this too much, so if a different kind of fantasy story mixed with science intrigues you, I highly recommend picking this up. However, this is Tchaikovsky, so nothing is quite as it seems. I had yet to dive into any of his novellas, and when I saw this*, I knew I needed to read it.Įlder Race begins as a classic fantasy story with a young princess out on a quest to prove herself by going to get the reclusive of a sorcerer to come fight the demon hurting her people.

Children of Time and Cage of Souls are two of my favorite sci-fi books and I’ve read a few other of his books as well. Lynesse is the lowly Fourth Daughter of the queen, and always getting in the way.īut 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 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).īut Elder Nyr isn’t a sorcerer, and he is forbidden to help, for his knowledge of science tells him the threat cannot possibly be a demon… 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.

Tchaikovsky elder race