Book Review: Elder Race by Adrian Tchaikovsky

I don’t know how Adrian Tchaikovsky pulls it off. He is a prolific, versatile writer who seems to make a hit after a hit. Elder Race is definitely a hit. He manages to mix sci-fi elements with fantasy with such ease that it leaves me to wonder why it’s a rarity. He plays with the concepts of magic and science, proposing magic turns into science through knowledge and understanding. Without having a concept or even a rudimentary imagination of what things like radiation are, it’s easy to see the effects as magical.

Elder Race follows an anthropologist, Nyr, who is conflicted by his duty to study the cultures and customs of the planet without interfering and the ethical choice of helping the people who are plagued by monsters left there by such interference. Nyr breaks his rules as an anthropologist and sets out to help Lynesse, the Fourth Daughter of a queen, vanquish a demon that is causing havoc in the countryside. Tchaikovsky switches between Nyr’s and Lynesse’s perspectives, giving insight into how the dichotomy of magic and science, as well as customs and cultures, play out from different perspectives.

I enjoyed the book a lot. Tchaikovsky always has some theme in his books that he loves to explore. Like in all of his other books I have read also, in Elder Race, he threatens on lightly with the theme, but it’s never a deep dive, just something to scratch the surface, yet he manages to give gravitas to the story, making it more enjoyable. The Elder Race is an odd book. It has a very flimsy construction. What I mean is that the characters, the culture, and the subject are not constructed to the point some lengthier books would demand. They are soft and hazy at the edges, playing a lot for readers’ imagination to color the rest from their previous reading experiences. Nyr and Lynesse are not fully formed, nor is the planet and the culture, yet you get the sense they are who they are because Tchaikovsky gives you just enough to make it work. You get a sense that the culture is matriarchal and has a heavy reliance on duty and fighting skills, but it’s never fully fleshed out, just enough to give meaning to the interaction between Nyr and Lynesse and her bodyguard and the peasants they meet. I didn’t mind the soft world- and character-building. It was refreshing to read a story written for the sake of the story, as they did in the old times with speculative fiction.

Thank you for reading ❤ Have a magical day!