Eyes of the Void by Adrian Tchaikovsky

I would like to thank Tor UK for a copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review

Publisher – Tor UK

Published – Out Now

Price – £18.99 hardback £9.99 kindle ebook

Warning this is a sequel to the great Best Science Fiction - Shards of Earth by Adrian Tchaikovsky so there will be mild spoilers. I strongly recommend you read it though!

What waits in the shadows as we fight our greatest foe?

After one great battle, the Architects disappeared. Yet humanity’s fragile peace is brief. For, forty years later, the galaxy’s greatest alien enemy has returned. This time, the artefacts that preserved entire worlds from destruction are ineffective. And no planet is safe.

The Human Colony worlds are in turmoil as they face extinction. Some believe alliances with other species can save them. Others insist humanity must fight alone. But no one has the firepower or technology to ensure victory, as the Architects loom ever closer.

Idris spent decades running from the last war’s horrors. Yet as an Intermediary, altered to navigate deep space, he’s one of humanity’s only weapons. He’s therefore forced back into action. With a handful of allies, Idris must find something – anything – to stop the Architects’ pitiless advance. But to do so, he must return to the nightmare of unspace, where his mind was broken and remade. What he discovers there will change everything.

The Joy of space opera is the scale and complexity of the universe we get to enter. The planets, the societies and the technologies of the future all smashing together for adventure and intrigue. I am delighted to say that Adrian Tchaikovsky’s second volume in his Final Architect’s trilogy the great Eyes of the Void delivers all of that plus a great plot, the return of a cast we got to love and continues a sweeping suitably huge storyline where the galaxy itself is on the line.

We met the crew of the salvage vessel the Vulture God just as the universe went to hell. The mysterious architects – moon sized entities that travel through space; can dissolve planets, spaceships and lifeforms into strange art floating in space – which includes the planet earth amongst their victims have finally returned. Only the last-ditch efforts of various people including the unique former Int (Intermediary) Idris; a volunteer for dangerous experiments that now allow him to sense Architects and also travel the strange warp-like dimension known as Unspace; plus a host of others managed to stop a disaster but for how much longer? Various factions and would be empires all vie for power while in the depths of space the Architects are preparing to do their master’s biddings once again.

If you enjoyed Shards of Earth as much as I did then the good news is that Eyes of the Void is equally as entertaining and delivers some damn fine space opera in the process. If the first volume was more of an almost quest for answers this time Tchaikovsky gives us a story exploring the tensions that exist in the galaxy that even the presence of the Architects isn’t going to stop. There is something depressingly familiar about people facing annihilation and sections of the galactic community too busy plotting increasing their own powerbases and refusing to work together. The novel shows this to devastating effect when the Vulture God Crew are summoned to a planet which contains a city built by the mysterious Originators - an ancient, vanished race whose objects seem to be the only thing that can stop an Architect (which is now no longer the case).

The planet everyone is on has an actual moon sized architect above it and the crew instead that’s not the immediate threat as instead everyone has to find how to navigate a way to survive between the mysterious religious cult empire known as the Hegemony (run by a species that resembles giant clams but are incredibly ruthless); the genetically enhanced Partheni, the nefarious human Coloniesand the arrogant but dangerous aristocratic Magdans whose wealth often influences human affairs plus the sentient technology race known as Hivers for good measure. The first half is a story of intrigue, danger, fights, escapes, and concludes with awe inspiring set of space battles that have real depth, scale and emotional impact. But they also underline we are not yet in a position as a collection of species to bring th fight to the Architects

The latter half o the novel then deals with he after math of these events. The Vulture God crew get separated; face dangers and importantly most for Idris finally start to get some answers about Unspace, what is it who may live in it and its wider connections to the Architects. This moves us into secret technology, the mystical and the strange and allows for moments of horror and again a glorious amount of set pieces all allowing the various great characters we have met a moment to shine…and create havoc.

I really like the Vulture God crew and again they all come back (those who survived last time!) to do good, make a profit or just seek a quiet life. Idris is again a central character not as lost as he was in the first novel but still someone seeking to run from his past as an Int but this has intriguingly now led him to become a trainer of new Ints for the Partheni. Notably he is more confident taking a stand in particular that he will not train those who have not volunteered for the Int process. As the story also develops Idris finds that he too really wants to know what Unspace is and actually finds this sis something he will put ahead of his crew and even his own potential survival. His path looks like it will have ever more danger in the future.

In addition, we have the return of the glorious Ollie now Captain of the Vulture God. A continually grumpy technical genius who also does not the universe get in the way of her just because she is physically disabled (again her giant attack chair known as the Scorpion makes many devastating appearances!). I also liked again the dual nature of the lawyer Kris who not only knows how to make the law do what she wants she knows when to pull out her sword for the true cut and thrust of legal and this time even academic debate. Fans of the first novel should also be aware that the solider Solace and spy Havaer (representing both Partheni and Colony interests) find themselves continually wrapped again into the crew’s adventures and ever closer to taking a side their bosses will not be impressed with. Indeed, the theme of this novel is all about co-operation being a necessity to survival. One intriguing storyline is for some people there will always be those making it only about their own survival and power to rule others

I am very pleased to say Eyes of the Void is a rollercoaster taking us into swirling hoops of adventure, plunging us into danger and giving us a new direction to move into. Great characters, fascinating civilizations and still an intriguing mystery as to what is causing all of this destruction all around. The impression I get is a huge galactic war is coming! I very much look forward to the next book! Strongly recommended!