I love a space adventure that lures me on with the promise of revealing the fundamental nature of a fictional universe, preferably through a dazzling experience that only the hero has earned the right to have. Well, no one can really explain the nature of everything, at least not very clearly, so far, but Adrian Tchaikovsky brings us marvelously close to feeling we’re right on the brink in Eyes of the Void, second part of The Final Architecture series that began with Shards of Earth.

By the time this series begins, a war has been fought with the Architects, moon-sized entities that destroy any planet they appear over. The war ended when a specially trained and surgically altered intermediary named Idris Telemmier made mental contact with an Architect that somehow caused the invader to disappear. Nevertheless, the great destruction caused by the Architects resulted in the diaspora of humans across space. The giant entities are now back and seem to be breaking the mysterious rules that led them to avoid certain planets in the past. Because Idris is everyone’s best hope to once more save the day, the plot of Eyes of the Void centers on different groups trying to kidnap him and control the use of his powers.

Idris has the specially altered intellect enabling him to navigate and understand unspace, the stratum of the universe – or that thing outside the real – that permits instantaneous space travel by means of Throughways. These are connective passages created by a long-gone species known as the Originators who also left relics of their civilization scattered across various planets. But there is a lot more to unspace than the Throughways. It is the home of the Architects and the medium through which Idris and a select few others can establish contact with them.

But there is something more that Idris glimpses, the stuff that ties the universe together, as well as a disturbing presence he cannot quite grasp. It is that frightening presence that causes many intermediaries and less highly trained people visiting unspace to tear themselves to pieces out of sheer terror. Idris is compelled to go with anyone anywhere to deepen his contact with unspace and finally grasp the nature of the universe.

.....
The Final Architecture series is dense with ideas and adventure and crowded with the wild characters of Tchaikovsky’s incredible and prolific imagination. There are plenty of questions remaining at the end of Eyes of the Void, and I guess I just have to wait another year or so to see how this series answers them. I wish I could plunge into the third book right now.

Read the full review at https://www.scifimind.com/eyes-of-the-void-tchaikovsky/

I had a hard time immersing myself into the plot. I did generally like the characters, but the writing and narrative was not for me.

Great follow up story. Amazing plot and character development
Highly recommend for all Adrian Tchaikovsky fans. A must buy!

I didn't think I was a mood reader but maybe I what I like to read or want to read is decided by my mood. I don't think I was in the mood to read this book. I usually like or love books by A. Tchaikovsky but not sure about this book. It felt like really going through a slog and didn't enjoy reading it but thinking about the writing and story in general I can't say it was bad. Certainly, think people will enjoy this book if they like this author previous books. I will need to do a reread at some point for sure.

I first started reading Adrian Tchaikovsky when Children of Time was released. I find that he brings intriguing and compelling stories to life. Eyes of the Void is indeed an intriguing story and is an excellent follow up to Shards of Earth.

On a purely technical level, the writing and narrative is sharp and engaging. Where Adrian Tchaikovsky excels though is in the world building. We continue to learn more of what drives members of the different aliens as well as what is driving Idris, Solace and the crew of the Vulture God and at the end of the day we learn small bits of what is driving the Architects. The action moves the story from well built locales flawlessly. The crew of the Vulture God continue to be the central part of this story and that's good.

To say much more would be to spoil this book, and this is most definitely worth taking time to read. I found that once I started reading the book I had a very hard time putting the book back down.

In this action-packed sequel to Shards of Earth we once again have multiple points of view, many intriguing alien races, and a ton of weird and wonderful worlds and settings, and there just seems to be more of everything this time around. The stakes are raised even higher as we have multiple Architects appearing at once to attack and reshape the world of Arc Pallator while Idris and his companions are on the surface of the planet. There are also more of the divine Essiel, Tothiat and Hiver characters introduced than we met in book 1.

There are many ongoing mysteries in this series - the Originators’ ruins, the Presence sensed by travelers in unspace, and just who exactly are the slave drivers behind the destructive behaviour of the Architects. These are all intriguingly further explored in Eyes of the Void, but we will have to wait for the final book for their resolutions.

All of the characters we got to know and love in the first book of this series are back again in Eyes of the Void, and we learn more about them and their species. Particularly interesting to me were the symbiotic Tothiats and the life cycles of the crablike Hannilambra, whose colonized world of Ittring we get to visit and which I found to be a very interesting location.

Idris is kidnapped by a Tothiat and taken to a deadly radioactive planet which is home to an Originator city containing an ancient machine, which he is able to use via his Int capabilities to see into unspace and learn some of its surprising secrets.

Havaer Mundy (the spy working for Mordant House) is also back and turns double agent on discovering a plot hatched by a few elite families. The plot aims to save humanity from planetary destruction by the Architects by building a small fleet of enormous Ark ships. If there will soon be no habitable planets left this might seem to be a viable solution, but how would the candidates for survival upon the Arks be chosen and who by?

The lawyer, Kris has a lot more focus on her in this story and shows her badass side via the dueling talents she learnt at university, which become an unexpected life-saving skill. She was one of my favourite characters in this book.

Eyes of the Void has an amazing amount of action going on. There are kidnappings, rescue attempts, war between the Parthenon and Hugh, political machinations and a lot of heart-warming camaraderie amongst the close-knit crew of the Vulture God. If you enjoyed Shards of Earth you will undoubtedly love it!!

<i>Shards of Earth</i> was a splendid start to a space opera series, and <i>Eyes of the Void</i> continues in the same vein. The book does a good job of refreshing the reader on the events of the first book -- helped, to some degree, by the fact that the plot of the first book doesn't <i>really</i> matter (<spoiler>the whole "uncovering a conspiracy to make it seem like the Architects are returning" loses its import the moment the Architects ACTUALLY return at the end of the book</spoiler>) -- and expanding on the worldbuilding from last time. Highlights there include:

* the introduction of not just artifacts left behind by the mysterious Progenitors, but city-sized archaeological sites
* the inclusion of more Tothiats, whose alien-symbiote-induced near-indestructability made for a great mini-villain sequence in the first book; this time, they get more dimension than serving just as an evil henchman, but the lingering memory of how scary they were last time around makes for a good "oh shit" moment when you first see another one
* the first in-"person" encounter with the Naeromathi, a fully nomadic shipborne civilization (after all of their planetary homeworlds were destroyed, centuries ago, by the Architects); imagine if the Quarians in Mass Effect were less shiny and polished, more jury-rigged and falling apart, and above all NOT HUMANOID (really, the series overall feels like it borrows heavily from Mass Effect, or perhaps they're both drawing from the same space-opera well, but it does a better job of having a variety of body-forms for its various alien races. [Yes, Mass Effect has an in-universe explanation for so many of its major aliens being humanoid, but still]). The Naeromathi show up several times in cool ways in this book, actually, and I'm looking forward to more in the sequel. Or, perhaps better put, looking forward to how Tchaikovsky will come up with other fresh detail for other portions of the universe, in the way he featured the Naeromathi in this book.

All in all a good book. Suffers a little from "middle book syndrome" where it doesn't really tie up any plot threads and in fact just adds more, especially since as mentioned the plot details of the first book are pretty irrelevant now, but I'll gladly read the conclusion when it's published.

This is the second volume of Adrian Tchaikovsky’s The Final Architecture (start reading with his 2021 novel, Shards of Earth). It concerns a very large number of spacefaring intelligent species and polities, characters, worlds, and spaceships. So many, in fact that there is a reference glossary of each of those at the end of the novel, as well as a timeline of events as revealed in volume one. There is also a recap of the plot of volume one at the beginning of this novel. I am thinking that I can discuss general attributes of this novel without plot spoilers regarding the earlier one, and that recapping the plot of volume two is not the purpose of a review anyway.

The characters of principal interest continue to be Idris Telemmier, and Mymidon Executor Solace, and the shifting crew of the independent salvage vessel Vulture God. Idris is an “Int” or Intermediary, adept at entering unspace, where faster-than-light travel is navigated, but also where the planet-destroying Architects can be sensed. Solace is a member of a parthenogenic race of human warrior women, who has some history with Idris. In addition, there is a newly sympathetic character, Havaer Munday, an Intervention Board agent of “Hugh” or the Council of Human Interests. Species, polities, and characters re-align on a constant basis, challenging the reader to keep up. But I followed those characters as my touchstones, even while I began to disregard the rest. This writing is just too broad, populated with relentless conflict, and unfathomable superlatives for my taste.

Modern space opera exists in a continuum between hard-sf and space fantasy. Tchaikovsky’s The Final Architecture is definitely to the side of space fantasy, bearing relationship to his straight-up fantasy writing. “We’re basically standing at the edge of a raw wound between unspace and the real. There’s a lot of fluctuation we don’t fully understand. Interference in the basic substructure of the matter universe,” the cyborg offered which was a lot of words to not really enlighten Solace any further.” As this passage illustrates, pretty much anything required by plot tension is possible, with regard to world-building.

The mystery of the Architects and unspace is further developed in the second half of the novel with the use of an enigmatic “Machine” in the vicinity of a particularly inhospitable planet Criccieth’s Hell. However, there is plenty left unexplained, so a third volume must certainly be in the works. Do not plan on stopping with volume two.

I read an Advance Reader Copy of Eyes of the Void in ebook, which I received from Orbit Books through netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review on social media platforms and on my book review blog. This new title is scheduled for release on 3 May 2022.

Tchaikovsky is a masterful writer when it comes to creating new involved complicated universes. The many factions vying for superiority and advantage in the midst of a universal threat are all indelibly drawn and unique characteristics. His humans are hardly masters in this world, they are often at the mercy of greater forces that they can't understand due to their inherent alieness and it makes the story all the more interesting and better.

Adrian Tchaikovsky is simply one of our generation’s best sci-fi authors. There is no simple to it. His works are what sci-fi is all about & takes us back to the time of Arther C. Clark and his contemporaries. A good, smart man’s science fiction-space opera-is difficult to find, but he does it effortlessly! This outstanding novel:: “Eyes of the Void”, concludes the two-part series we began in “Shards of Earth”. Once again we are introduced to Idris after the alien race - the Architects - returned. With the typical Adrian Tchaikovsky style, we become completely involved in the new action & chaos of this return. Through Idris’ eyes the story unfolds in what becomes a very exciting & well written story about human survival & how the human spirit will prevail against even the most terrifying situations of control. Idris’ determination & ability to fight for freedom leads the reader through the woven tale of characters, action & excellent world-building. A story that you will be happy to have read & even return to read again one day. I could not put it down until the conclusion.

What makes an adventure story a great adventure story? Take interesting characters, throw them in precarious positions and situations and then see how they get out of them. Rinse, repeat. It's an age-old formula and Adrian Tchaikovsky does it well in *Eyes of the Void* — Book 2 of The Final Architecture series. *Eyes of the Void* continues the action-packed adventure tradition he started in Book 1: *Shards of Earth*, embroiling his characters in new conflicts with old nemesis's and building out the mysteries of his universe.

An addendum to my adventure story maxim is that a great SF adventure story also has creative, believable and intriguing world-building and here again Tchaikovsky exceeds expectations. And since the nature of his universe is one of the central mysteries of the series, Tchaikovsky is consciously and incrementally building it out in a way that keeps the reader curious and anticipating even more.

But while I love the universe he has built, I love the characters even more. This is the quintessential rag-tag group of unlikely heroes — I really get the sense they wouldn't be able to make it as individuals and have, for me, the perfect family as crew of the *The Vulture God*.

All that said, I do think book two suffers a bit — just a the tiniest bit — from a second-book-syndrome. Most of the character development and relationship conflict is dealt with in the first book and the second dwells more on the rapid-fire adventures (almost too much so) and on advancing the overall “problem” plot trajectory. And since I loved the characters so much I find that a little bit of a letdown.

But there is always the next book to look forward to. And I do...

After reading Children of Time I knew that Adrian Tchaikovsky would be one of my favorite authors. Since then I have read quite a few of his books so when I got an opportunity to read Eyes of the Void ahead of publication I jumped on it. I want to thank NetGalley, the publisher and Adrian Tchaikovsky for allowing me to read this book in advance of publication in exchange for an honest review.

The problem is the book was amazing, it deserves five stars! I had read Shards of Earth (the first book in this series) right before getting a chance to read this so the story was very fresh in my mind. At the end of that book Idris the hero was warning the people that hey this is NOT over do not get complacent the Architects will be back.

At the start of this book you find out that they were in fact coming back. I am not going to give any spoilers to the story, I hate it when I am reading a review and things get spoiled. If you like space operas like The Expanse or The Interdependency series from John Scalzi then this thing is for you. If you like hard sci-fi this is for you. It also has a couple of fantasy or at least unexplained elements to it. If you have not yet read Shard of Earth please go do that now, you will not have any idea what is going on if you do not read the first book.

As with every other Adrian Tchaikovsky book I have read so far there are multiple layers to the story and its such a fascinating story to dig into. This is the middle book in a planned trilogy so do not expect the story to be fully resolved in this book, but if you love great writing in a science fiction setting then you owe it to yourself to read this series. Along the way you will fall in love with the depth of the characters, this is something that is underrated in science fiction. Some authors leave us with boring people set in interesting backdrops, Tchaikovsky weaves an incredible story with fascinating people. Of course now its going to be a LONG wait until the final book in the series comes out. I cant wait!

#netgalley #spaceopera

Eyes of the Void picks up where Shards of Earth left off, (with a quick recap🙌) and has more of everything I loved about the first novel. My moon sized architects are back and the only defenses against them no longer work. Idris and the crew of the Vulture God are scrambling to find a way to stop them. Eyes of the Void is action packed and full of factions of mysterious aliens and humans in an uneasy alliance to save the universe. It answers some questions from the first while leaving plenty in the air for the finale. Luckily Tchaikovsky writes at Brandon Sanderson speeds so we won't have to suffer long.

Eyes of the Void is an excellent follow up to Shards of Earth and continues the story of the crew of the Vulture God as they fight against the destruction wrought by the Architects while trying to unravel the mystery of the Originators' strange relics..

This book focuses the story more on Idris, an Int with the ability to "see" into unspace with his mind. What he sees there will change everything. And I can't wait to find out how in the final book of the trilogy.

I always enjoy reading Adrian Tchaikovsky as an author because they make me think. The book is the second in a series in which in the future humans are in space post-war and cyborgs, clones, and cripples are common. This is the kind of scifi you read when you're looking for an intellectual challenge like Three Bodies or other foreign writers. I love how the writer imagines a world in which human amputees and war victims can find their way. Broken, but valuable to society. There aren't a lot of easy answers to the book, maybe there aren't supposed to be, but the characters jump off the page and suck you in. The world building is incredible, a costume/set designers wet dream, but most so the hard questions asked about what makes us human and would humanity survive against a larger stronger force destroying them? Overall, some great questions. Definitely enjoyed reading.

This is the second book of this fabulous trilogy, but like all second books it has a habit of primarily setting up the third book. All of the characters from the "Vulture Godd" are back and in fine form. It seems like half the galaxy is trying to get their hands on Ildris because he is one of only two original first generation Ints and this gives him special powers. In fifty years, Indris has not aged a day and he is able to go into deeper non-space than anyone has ever gone without getting lost.

So we spend a lot of time watching the Vulture trying to stay away from all the bad guys of the three major space empires while either watching Indris get captured or freeing him. He ends up on a planet with the only complete machine left by the Originators that can get him deep enough into non-space to find the home of the Architects and understand "what" is in non-space that forces them to go into real space and wreck havoc with the planets of the sentient empires.

Tchaikovsky has done a great job of setting up the final 'confrontation' with whatever it is that has been sending the Architects out into real space. Should be a great final book.

Eyes if the Void, the second in the newest series The Final Architecture by Adrian Tchaikovsky, meets all I hoped for in a middle book: a well integrated summary of the first book ( by which I mean there wasn’t a huge info dump), added complexities in the plots, and yet more questions about the Architects and the unknown alien race that has compelled them to destroy inhabited planets. All the players from before are here, meeting up during a last minute effort to understand one of the largest Originator ruins: various humans from Earth’s colonies and their progeny the Huvers and Parthoni; Havaer the Mordant House operative; the Hegemony crowd. And, of course, there are the folks from the Vulture God salvage ship.

When Shards of Earth came to an end Idris, one of the last Intermediaries who can pilot a ship through the spooky unspace without going insane (mostly), had chosen to help the Parthoni Int training program, over the Council of Human Interests, because of their promise that only volunteers be used, volunteers who are aware of the overwhelming possibility that they will not survive. Idris is a haunted sad-sack who the other misfits on this venture rally around, protecting him from the rest of the universe that sees him as a traitor to humankind and it’s savior- if only they can get their hands in him. He just wants to be left alone, protesting, “I ended the war. I saved the world.” And is met with the question, “Yeah but what have you done recently?”

My favorite characters are the shivers and Kittering, the Hanni. Their straightforward dialogue adds humor amidst the conniving humans. One scene has the Hanni setting up a rigged board game to de-escalate an arguments between two academics- cutting them both down to size and turning potential violence between factions to shared laughter.

Everyone is on a knife’s edge and war seems inevitable, yet it’s hard to know who is on whose side when the sides keep changing. Readers will be eagerly awaiting the final book in this series and it’s good to know Tchaikovsky will not keep ya waiting long.

Eyes of the Void is my second Tchaikovsky book, my first having been its predecessor Shards of Earth. Picking up where the first book in the series leaves off, the Architects -- planet-destroying moon sized enemies that Idris believes are under the control or duress of some *other* entity humans don't know anything about yet -- are back, and this time artifacts that have previously protected worlds aren't stopping them. Several of the tensions of the first book -- between the Colonials and the Parthenon, particularly -- are really amped up in this one, and needless to say Idris, as one of the last original Intermediaries capable of communication with the Architects, is in *very* high demand with several factions all trying to secure him.
There is a lot Tchaikovsky does wonderfully in this series. His development of characters of alien species is fantastic, as is the pace at which he unfolds the mysteries at the heart of the plot. There is quite a bit of new information introduced in this second book but there isn't too much 'infodump' I don't generally describe books I read and enjoy as "action packed" but this one is *really* action packed -- the battle scenes, chases, and fights, are described in detail and make up a very substantial percentage of the text.
Like the first book, this one also includes indexes of characters, worlds, species, and ships, and a timeline; additionally, the book begins with a very brief "The Story So Far" reminding the reader of where *Shards of Earth* left off. I really appreciate this inclusion; given the complexity of the world-building and how long it had been since I read the first book, I was really to have a little "Previously on..." to get me started.
Definitely recommend; however, to appreciate this book reading its predecessor first is required.
Thank you to Orbit Books + Netgalley for providing me with an ARC.
Content warnings: violence, gun violence, war

I have waited impatiently for Eyes of the Void and it has amply fulfilled all my expectations. Fist, a warning; this is a sequel and benefits hugely from having read its predecessor novel, Shards of Earth. Second, it is not a conclusion; at least one more book awaits. On to the praise.

Adrian Tchaikovsky is a prolific, great writer, adept at many types of story. This book is fast, intriguing space opera. It features a menacing larger-than life threat in the Architects, with a nameless, larger threat behind them. There is a cast of interesting, relatable, damaged, realistic, and often likable characters. Human villains lurk behind the scenes and sometimes appear to bedevil the heroes. There are cryptic aliens, which feel alien. There is action galore, with many mini-crescendos before a rollicking finish. The author handles shifting viewpoints very well and knows how to build tension. This is a dream of a book, devoured in two days. I cannot wait for the next one.

Tchaikovsky is at another level! Wow! He did it again! This book was fantastic! The characters, the writing, but above all a great and memorable story! If you love science-fiction, this book, and this author are a must read!