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Shards of Earth
- The Final Architecture, Book 1
- Narrated by: Sophie Aldred
- Length: 18 hrs and 41 mins
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Shards of Earth
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Publisher's Summary
From the author of the thrilling science-fiction epic Children of Time, winner of the prestigious Arthur C. Clarke Award. Shards of Earth is the first high-octane, far-future space adventure in Adrian Tchaikovsky' Final Architecture trilogy.
The war is over.
Its heroes forgotten.
Until one chance discovery . . .
Idris has neither aged nor slept since they remade his mind in the war. And one of humanity’s heroes now scrapes by on a freelance salvage vessel, to avoid the attention of greater powers.
Eighty years ago, Earth was destroyed by an alien enemy. Many escaped, but millions more died. So mankind created enhanced humans such as Idris – who could communicate mind-to-mind with our aggressors. Then these ‘Architects’ simply disappeared and Idris and his kind became obsolete.
Now, Idris and his crew have something strange, abandoned in space. It’s clearly the work of the Architects – but are they really returning? And if so, why? Hunted by gangsters, cults and governments, Idris and his crew race across the galaxy as they search for answers. For they now possess something of incalculable value, and many would kill to obtain it.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
Critic Reviews
"One of the most interesting and accomplished writers in speculative fiction." (Christopher Paolini)
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What listeners say about Shards of Earth
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Adam
- 25-07-2021
Beautifully-crafted space opera; intriguing world
Terrific all over, with a very slight tendency towards extraneous tension in the action sequences.
Thoroughly enjoyed this lighter touch from the author of Children of Time.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- David Cole
- 26-06-2022
Really enjoyable book!
This was my first Adrian Tchaikovsky book and I really enjoyed it. It ticked all the space opera books for me, although a bit less descriptive than the likes of Peter F Hamilton (maybe that's not bad though?). I really liked the characters and felt invested in them by the end. The narrator took a bit to get used to and there were points where they didn't quite hit the mark in their reading but they were decent overall. I'll definitely be listening to other books by the author.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Adelaide H
- 09-01-2024
a fun post-war space romp
a fun, episodic space romp in a cleverly constructed universe with great main characters. as a heads up: the places and people are thrown at the reader in rapid enough succession that i found it obfuscated the richness of the setting at times — something i appreciated a lot more on a second read with periodic breaks to digest and reflect. Tchaikovsky has built a complex universe with some realy solid characters, and this book artfully sets up the setting and stakes for the rest of the series. i enjoyed the audio performance greatly, and i heartily recommend this one to sci-fi/fantasy readers.
also, among the standard archetypes, the series has some good queer representation, two great main characters with disabilities, and it isn't entirely uncritical of the social, political and economic implications of the setting — one facet of worldbuilding Tchaikovsky didn't explore in their "Children of ____" series — something i found to be an engaging dimension of this story in its own right.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Pete
- 16-01-2024
Some thought put into changes in lifestyle.
Bit of fresh air with the changes in language and culture, instead of the 21st century carry on as per normal thousands of years in the future. Liked the characters with none being a super star. Small bits of comedy with the language interpretation. Bit of biff and interesting baddies.
Narrator did a good job but did not have a deep enough voice for some of the characters. That cuts the range to spread the characters sounds out more.
I’m keen to start the second book.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Dash57
- 05-06-2021
Enjoyable
I enjoyed listening to this book but I have one small annoyance and that was the characterization of Idris' voice at the end of the book. Over dramatic I thought.
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4 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Sean Lincoln
- 01-09-2021
Fantastic listen
I’ve been looking for a quality sci fit novel for some time (harder to come by than you’d think) and this was fantastic. Can’t wait for the next in series.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Hassan Raza
- 18-08-2021
Hi- fi Sci-fi,
Found this Story on the extreme of SciFi, more detailed in every aspect and less communication between the characters, due to which it's easy to loose attention.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 29-05-2023
Incredible
Absolutely loved this story.
A perfect blend of Sci-fi, mystery, horror and cyberpunk.
Fans of Dune, Star Wars, Children of Time, Nueromancer will love this.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Skubz
- 04-03-2023
Good story, so-so narration
Great story as always by Mr Tchaikovsky, unfortunately I felt it was let down by the narrator. The audio characterisation of Idris was progressively more irritating throughout the story. A book I’d rather read than listen to by this narrator.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
- Aidan
- 18-08-2021
Over too soon
well my heading says it all I really liked it wish it was still going
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