Just finished my first book of the year, Alien Clay by Adrian Tchaikovsky. I think he’s now my favorite author, at least currently writing. He’s so good at so many things, from hard SF to fantasy. He’s created some really interesting worlds, and populated them with interesting characters.
So far, I’ve read these books of his (order I read them, not order published):
- Children of Time
- Children of Ruin
- Children of Memory
- Made Things
- Walking to Aldebaran
- Service Model
- Shroud
- City of Last Chances
- Alien Clay
Each of these is a gem. The children of time series has to be an all-time great SF trilogy. If you want my little paragraph of spoiler-free notes on why of them, let me know.
He was one of the first writers that imho was able to create truly alien species and really bring them to life. I’ve read and watched SF for decades and almost always the aliens were like humans in a humanoid body, with human emotions and desires. But the spiders and the octopus species were truly alien, while he was able to create them as wonderful species in their own right.
So far i’ve only read the first two ‘Children of…’
You’re exactly right - he’s got a knack for creating really novel aliens, and for me that’s one of the joys of SF. I was really thinking that while reading Shroud was well.