4 ⭐️
0 ❤️‍🔥

This was my first foray into Tchaikovsky's works. Honestly, at times, I didn't feel smart enough to keep up with all the varied characters, religions, and descriptions of unusual characters. I could see how they all fit, but it was sometimes a bit overwhelming. Jumping from an omnipresent narrative into the chapter was hard as I constantly tried to figure out where it all fits. I attribute a lot of it to the fact I have not read this author before and am unused to his world-building and writing style. I enjoyed the story, although I found it a bit depressing. But then invading nations, colonizing Indigenous people, stripping them of their varied religions, feuding nobles, and all the rest was a lot to take in and not a happy tale. I would have enjoyed this much more in another state of mind, but I am still rating it 4 ⭐️ for the magnitude of world-building, character development, and complex story. I hope to one day return to it when I can appreciate it more.

Thank you, NetGalley, Head of Zeus, and Bloomsbury USA, for the eArc and for making me up my reading game.

There’s a reason Adrian Tchaikovsky is one of my all-time favorite writers. And that reason is the consistent quality of his books that stay good and interesting and thought-out without insulting his readers’ intelligence.

Despite being the third book in this series, Days of Shattered Faith can completely stand on its own since each story has its own setting and set of characters (although having read the first two helps appreciate some seemingly small details - but you don’t have to read them to understand this one).

“And all too often freedom hurts far more than the safe close walls of obedience, and so much the better for that.”

Again we are in the world where the ever-expansionist state of Pallesand has set its sights on takeover of another country, with little difference between “peaceful” takeover and “liberation” via invasion. Pallesand is a country built on “perfection”, with seeming goal of bringing the culture of rationality to the others, together with bureaucratically precise censorship and desire to squeeze out all the resources while turning other countries into heavily dependent colonies and slowly decaying into authoritarianism. But the places Pallesand takes over are also hard to root for, with corruption of the monarchies and superstitions and their own bloodlust and expansionist desires, and their own bloody battles for power rife to be exploited by others.

And if it uncomfortably sounds like so many things in our modern world, then you’ve been paying attention to the world.

By setting every book of this series in a different place of this world, Tchaikovsky never gets to skate by just on the worldbulding that has been done but rather starts anew in each place— and I suspect he does this precisely because he’s so good with his incredible imagination and ability to set up a sense of place and culture quickly that he just has fun with it. (And yes, it wouldn’t be Tchaikovsky without including at least a few insectoid characters, of course!). He plays with the narrative style, effortlessly switching between mosaic-style omniscient narration and limited point-of-view perspective, from zeroing in on the minute battle details to the eagle-eye overview of time and place.

“And Loret made a sound, a squeak really. It probably sounded like fear or laughter, but it was empathy. She read, in those horrors, a single unified plea, and it was one she knew. Don’t send me back. They had been prisoners. They had been locked in skulls and jars, buried for centuries. They had known cruelty, these things that had been shaped for cruel deeds by cruel masters. The uniform wasn’t freedom but it was better than the alternative.”

The theme that stood out to me in Days of Shattered Faith is loyalty and the pain it can bring. Loyalties that are divided and clash and yet all are important - to friends and loved ones and countries and faiths and the allures of the past and the promises and threats of the future. All these loyalties compete and pull you in different directions, and the choices between those are rarely clear-cut. Inevitably there will be betrayal and heartbreak and pain and the absence of artificially happy reader-pleasing resolutions.

(And of course there are those whose loyalties lie just along the lines of power or money and the dilemma of right and wrong never troubles their callously calculating sociopathic selves. Also just like in our world, of course.)


I usually prefer Tchaikovsky’s science fiction works to his fantasy works, but with this series I’m starting to like them equally. The guy is a master of his craft, and I am so happy that he seems to never get tired of writing, since I’m so here for everything he chooses to write next.

5 stars.
——————

Thanks to NetGalley and Bloomsbury USA | Head of Zeus -- an AdAstra Book for providing me with a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The third book in the Tyrant Philosophers series delivers more of the same great world-building as its predecessors. Some of our old friends from previous books are here again, along with an entire new cast of characters. I can’t wait to see where the next book takes us.

Days of Shattered Faith by Adrian Tchaikovsky was my first experience with Adrian Tchaikovsky in the Fantasy genre. I originally started by Tchaikovsky journey with his Science Fiction series Children of Time Series, and them moved on to the standalone novel Service Model. It took me a long time to get to this book since when I first requested it, I did not realize it was a third in series.

Midway through this installment, I stopped to go back to read the first two books and am glad that I did. While you could read this as a standalone, I was able to appreciate it for the EPIC fantasy that it is. The first book help me to get a better understanding of the world and cultures in this series, and this final installment was icing on the cake.

While there are a significant number of minor characters, who are flawed, raw, real and all help drive this story. With this installment, he has proven that he can hang with some of the masters of fantasy like Robert Jordan, Raymond Feist, Terry Goodkind, and Brandon Sanderson. Like these authors, his genius is in his ability to interweave culture, race and magical systems seamlessly. His writing is as engaging and sophisticated as Patrick Rothfuss. With this installment he has solidified my belief that he will be known as a master in both the Fantasy and Science Fiction Genres. I will be moving on to his Dog of War series next.

Thank you Bloomsbury USA | Head of Zeus -- an AdAstra Book and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book. All opinions are my own.

Fans of the rest of the series can expect the same gorgeous prose, stunning twists, heartbreak, and believable characters that made the rest of the books so memorable to be on full display here. Tchaikovsky is writing fantasy like few others, and Days of Shattered Faith is a great entry in the Tyrant Philosophers series and a great work of fantasy. I loved the worldbuilding, characters, and story of this so much. The exploration of heavy themes of betrayal, deeply troubled relationships, colonialism, shifting alliances and the idea of witnessing what maybe (maybe?) feels like the start of an ending carried me through this tale in record time.

Definitely something to add to any fantasy collection, especially if you've got the other books in the series sitting on the shelves.

Days of Shattered Faith is the third book in Adrian Tchaikovsky’s TYRANT PHILOSOPHERS series, continuing that series’ strong run of quality. While each book is meant to stand alone, and this one certainly can, reading the others will allow for a richer experience given the reappearance of multiple characters.

As with the other two books, Tchaikovsky shifts to a new setting in this universe and introduces a new group of characters (with some old ones as noted), though the background remains the imperialistic nation of Pallesand and its desire to conquer all other nations and bring them to “perfection” or bring them “into the Sway” as they like to call it. In this case the country is Usmai and particularly the capital city of Alkhalend, ruled over by the Alkhand. Usmai is a strong nation and has so far not been brought into the Sway (Pallesand’s just concluded war with a powerful foe was to Usmai’s benefit in that regard). So Pallesand is using diplomacy and sneakiness rather than direct force.

Leading the effort is Gil, the Palleseen “resident” (top diplomat) in the city. A major stumbling block for her is that the current ruler of Usmai is fading and a succession battle is brewing between his two sons Gorbudan — a “warrior-prince” who loathes the Palleseen — and Dekamran, the “scholar prince” who thinks Pallesand is not the threat his brother does. Complicating things (well, one of the many complications) is that Dekamran and Gil have a romantic relationship simmering. Other characters include Gil’s mysterious new assistant Loret, a younger brother and sister in the royal family (the former involved with the local Death Cult remnant of the old Empire Usmai was once part of and the latter doing her best to avoid a princess’ obligations of political marriage), the unusual husband-wife wardens of the local prison that also houses thousands of ghosts, a found family who run the Fever Lodge (a sort of free clinic for both normal and magical healing, but not at all free), two other Palleseen (one a sort of free agent military commander who uses unusual methods and the other a “decanter” who confiscates magical objects to power Pallesand’s needs), a group of pirates, and the masked monks who watch over the Waygrove, a portal to other worlds we’ve seen in the other books and that several of the above characters have come to Usmai from.

The worldbuilding is fantastic, long a strength of Tchaikovsky’s work. The setting is rife with immersive details, the politics and religion well done, and the various stew of different groups — many not even from this world — is a rich medley. The more granular characterization is also strong. Gil in particularly is a vividly conveyed character, torn between her duties, her personal ethics, and her feelings for Dekamran; she allows Tchaikovsky to avoid the easy and cheap villainy depiction of Pallesand and give a more nuanced view. The same degree of nuance arises in the portrayal of the two brothers, not just in their individual views toward Pallesand but in their relationship to one another. Here again, Tchaikovsky eschews the easy choice of making one clearly the “right” one. I was also a big fan of Flint, the sort of off-books Palleseen commander, the demon Croskin, a swordswoman known as “The Viper,” and Kakrops, the giant frog god.

Tchaikovsky employs a mosaic approach to structure and POV, which did make it a bit difficult at the start to get into the story proper. But once everyone (or nearly everyone) was introduced, things began to settle down, with the story flowing smoothly and the characters becoming more engaging in their internal musings and interactions. The plot is filled with bargains, betrayals, shifting alliances, calculating geopolitics and internal politics, rivalries between and within political and religious factions, tensions between nation-states and individuals, between the homogenizing colonial view of Pallesand and the more welcoming open to all kinds attitude of Usmai, between siblings, between social expectations and individual desires, between masters and slaves. It’s all engrossingly in flux, all of it captivating, all of it keeping readers on their toes.

While the themes are serious and thoughtfully explored, Tchaikovsky makes a lot of room as well for humor, some romance, exhilarating battle scenes, tense one-on-one fight scenes, and several quite moving moments (the demons in particular are strong in this regard). Meanwhile, the prose throughout is crisp and vividly sharp, always a pleasure to read.

I’ve enjoyed all three books in this series, but Days of Shattered Faith is my favorite. I’m already looking forward to the next book.

Adrian Tchaikovsky, like Brandon Sanderson, is a prolific author of science fiction or fantastical tales, but unlike Sanderson, Tchaikovsky books feel more adult with a greater weight to choices and their consequences. Days of Shatter Faith continues the series of the Tyrant Philosophers centered on the Palleseen a people sworn to bring Perfection and Correctness to the world, meaning conquered cities and kingdoms, removing their gods and holy artifacts and using the energies of those things to fuel their army and economy. The Pals intend to conquer the world. If you haven't read the other books, consider stopping here to avoid spoilers.

Book three centers on Alkhalend and its capitol Usmai. Here the Pals do not hold power, instead an elderly blind Alkhand leads, forever carrying and seeking counsel from the preserved skull of his brother that holds the brother's ghost. The city. is full of monks and holy orders, with the strongest faith that of the keepers of the holy Frog who also see the poor fed and educated. The Alkhand's four children are all lost in some way. The eldest, the warrior has been banished, the presumptive heir and scholar, soothes with his goals of being the peace maker, but seems to lack strength. The youngest son has been committed to the priesthood of death. The daughter is largely forgotten, left to follow her own desires, knowing that her only future is as a political bauble. Jack and the healer band he worked with so closely in book #2 are here in Usmai, serving as healers in the slums, mostly nervous to find a way out should something go wrong, but a few think finally they've found home.

While Jack and other characters form earlier in the series do appear and have a part to play, much of the story is centered on political machinations through the work of Sage-Invigilator Angilly, informally known as Gil and her newly arrived and very incompetent aid Loret. Gil is an agent of Outreach working beyond the borders of the Pal empire and given a lot of latitude to bring things to a favorable position for the Pals. However, she first needs to fight a duel with the now disgraced diplomat of a rival empire. And Gil has a very close relationship with the heir apparent. Gil's choices are always trying to fight the balance of duty and desire to do well, but also to follow the dictates of home.

Through the course of the book we go from the cloak and dagger of espionage, a succession crisis, civil war and life after a pyrrhic victory. All of this, still before the book ends with more to come.

There's magic, necromancers, gods, lizard people, demons, a civil war and sea pirates to name some of the many features.

Highly recommended to readers of fantasy, well plotted tales of competing characters, or magical worlds still controlled by logic.

As usual Tchaikovsky is so good at weaving in stories from different characters and painting a vivid picture. I feel like I'm actually present there in the moment. I was under the impression that this would be a trilogy, but I'm not sure. I think he can write just about anything from this world and it would be fascinating, I love a specific recurring character. I love the way he makes every character feel so real that the emotion hits me even through the page. Honestly one of the best books I've read this year and it's only February!

Tchaikovsky took all of the most successful elements in the first two books and turned them all the way up in this third (and final?) entry in the Tyrant Philosophers series. On its own it is excellent, and as the continuation of the series it is even better. The first book in the series had a staggering number of POVs and was exploring what resistance against authoritarian control looked like. The second book narrowed the POVs to mostly a single regiment of unorthodox medics in a Pal army battalion, but in narrowing the POVs opened the world to a larger war-in-action, with the remnants of battle scenes just bleeding past the pages. In this novel he has opened up the world even more by moving to yet another country, Usmai, one that is not (yet) under the Palleseen Sway, but the country is looking at a contested change of rule and the Pals know what the iron is hot. And yet amazingly this book feels almost more intimate, with two POVs being the most prominent for the first half of the book. The way that these stories get bigger and bigger, almost showing Pal perfection in reverse (first longstanding occupation, then ongoing battle, then the initial diplomacy that transforms into something else) while the stories get more and more intimate.

The writing is incredible, as usual, full of heart and dry wit. Every character feels completely well-rounded and genuine, there is nothing stock about anyone. Eventually a lot more characters emerge, and all of them are compelling and exciting. Every character you want to spend more time with (even if it is just because you want to see them lose their share of blood!). The writing ties the characters together so well, moving across the country and the different groups as we move from chapter to chapter always kept me turning the pages, always anxious to find out what happened next. It never felt like being strung along, though, because all of the small stories felt meaningful and was easy to invest in. The plotting was a little more expansive than in the first two books, peaking and then settling only to find a new peak later on, but that worked for this story, it pulled you into the experiences of the characters we cared about. The small storylines all slotted together perfectly, weaving a complicated, messy, emotional story.

As I mentioned, everything was turned up. There were multiple action and battle scenes that were really well-written, giving a great sense of geography and stakes each time. The magic, the demons, the religions and cults, the allure of the Woods, the emotions, the political machinations, the hypocrisies of Perfection—everything was turned up and made for an overload of an experience. It could have been too much, but it was all juggled perfectly, balancing meaningful character inner-journeys with court intrigue and a fleet of giant war dinosaurs (and if you thought seeing one of them in action in the last book was exciting, just wait!). Maybe just as important this story had important ideas. The first novel did a great job looking at resistance movements, the importance of solidarity, and the ultimate fragility of authoritarian rule. The second novel forged a found family of outcasts in the most hellish of situations and exemplified what it meant to develop meaningful human connection. Here we have ideas about the roles tradition and faith play in maintaining power, exploring what it means to be in a place but not of that place, and how divided loyalties will always break in one direction or another. Succession and power aren’t only wielded through the sword, but when you see your nation’s identity slipping away before your eyes what types of response are appropriate? Are forgivable?

This entry continues to introduce new characters and ideas, increases the tension, the stakes, and the action, and never loses its heart. It has callbacks to both the other novels, tying all three together neatly, highlighting that just because battles are fought in numerous, seemingly disconnected theatres doesn’t mean they aren’t interconnected. I had an absolute blast with this novel, and if you enjoyed the others then you will find a lot to love here, too.

I want to thank the author, the publisher Bloomsbury USA | Head of Zeus, and NetGalley, who provided a complimentary eARC for review. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Thanks to Netgalley and Bloomsbury USA for this ARC.

When I requested this ARC, I did try to look and see if this was a standalone or not, only to find after I was accepted for review that this was the third in a series. It took me longer to get to this book due to me needing to read the previous two works, and this led to me to feel more and more disgruntled instead of excited to read this.

Honestly, I put off reading Days of Shattered Faith because Adrian Tchaikovsky's prose is extremely hard on me and leaves me exhausted. To me, it feels long a long stream of consciousness with no room to breathe. There is no POV outside the worldview so the reader is left with a thoroughly unique perspective on characters but at a remarkable distance.

As I am a character driven reader, I had a hard time connecting with the characters the more I immersed myself in the world. Lots of characters die in this series, and this led me to feel more disinterested in them. Normally I am invested in the fate of the characters, however in Days of Shattered Faith I came prepared to deal with a lot of death and to remove myself from connecting with them.

The world is fascinating, but at the end of the day the main idea of the novel does not connect with what I look for in my books. Personally I prefer deep, rich worldbuilding with an intricate magic system. The worldbuilding was there, but the magic system did not jive with me due to the nature of itself-- not the fact that it is necromancy, but more about an emerging force taking and appropriating cultural artifacts for "electricity" in a way. There's a lot to be said on this topic, and with any other author I would have wanted to dive more into it.

I am going to be real here and say, this is one of those books that makes me feel stupider reading it. I left each reading session with a pounding headache and a desire to cry because the lyrical nature of the prose went above my head and it just was not fun. A lot of high fantasy readers absolutely enjoy this writing style... I am not one of them. I will admit, overall Tchaikovsky may not be for me, or it may just be this particular trilogy that isn't for me. It's everything I struggle with in a novel, which in turn put a barrier between the luscious world and my enjoyment just by its nature alone.

I would still recommend this world for others to immerse themselves into, however with a caveat that it isn't for everyone. This has to be matched to your reading tastes and I would advise against picking it up on a whim. Do your research first.

Adrian Tchaikovsky’s literary grimdark magnum opus Tyrant Philosophers continues its mayhem. The “hegemony of perfection” inserts their imperial manicured fingers into a succession crisis in faraway lands. A war between faith, belief, and the tyranny of reason rages on in this fantastic new novel, Days of Shattered Faith.


Another year around the sun, another mad dash to keep up with Adrian Tchaikovsky’s ever-increasing catalog. One of the most prolific and diverse authors in fantasy and science fiction, Tchaikovsky continues to wow readers with his unique themes, diverse plots, and thought-provoking meta-commentary, all contained within deeply imaginative and densely creative new worlds. Among his latest forays into the darker, grittier, and daresay grimmer realms of fantasy, his Tyrant Philosophers series has quickly shot to the head of my favorites in recent years. This third entry, Days of Shattered Faith, follows the events of the previous book, House of Open Wounds.


“The long road from Pallesand to perfection was paved with broken stones.”

Days of Shattered Faith continues the ever-expanding tendrils of the hegemonic Palleseen Empire, the empire of perfection into new lands. In this iteration, the tale is set in the lands of the Usmiat, a deeply religious folk with diverse faiths and cults, devoted to their gods, great and small. The Palleseen Resident ambassador Sage-Invigilator Angilly “Gil” becomes embroiled in the succession crisis of the Usmiat royal line. The story makes deep cuts into the intersection of faith and reason. The internal and external struggles of hypocrisy and “doing the right thing”, by “imperfect means”.

“A man who ate only yesterday must starve.”

As with every Tchaikovsky fantasy novel, and particularly this series, his mastery over creating a cast of diversely motivated characters, across the entire spectrum from altruism to opportunism, nobility to infamy, pure- goodness to mustache-twirling villainy, each of his characters walks the tightrope of internal motivation, backstory, and current circumstance, frequently and violently switching sides, to keep readers on their toes. With Days of Shattered Faith, you are never really sure where anyone’s loyalty lies, which rockets it into grimdark stardom.

Chapters include the perspectives of the Palleseen Resident ambassador Gil battling with her loyalty to her Pallaseen Empire and reason itself, against the innate sense of “going native” with the Usmiat, magnified by her relationship with the soft-hearted “more words than swords” heir-apparent, Dakamran. Other noteworthy characters include Cohort-Invigilator Loret, clumsy, and incompetent, possessing a darker side, the Opportunist Decanter Drathel, and the fair-weather loyalist Flint. Days of Shattered Faith packs characters at odds with each other, from demons in pleasing form to demons in unpleasant forms, a runaway daughter within the succession crisis trying to find identity while freeing herself from the shackles of a wedded princess, and many others.

“.. And there are demons and necromancers and monsters from beyond the Grove in the world, but none of them more dangerous than a man who believes.”

Tchaikovsky further pushes into the idiosyncrasies of faith, and the power it holds over people in this novel. From religions worshiping a giant frog (I am very serious), to cults worshiping sharks, imperial death cults trying to resurrect a Necromancer Emperor, and mantis-like warrior monk cultists, Days of Shattered Faith is brimming with intersecting and antagonistic faiths and beliefs, each with their motivations, only to be encroached by the jaded bureaucratic hand of the Palleseen Empire of Perfection and Correctness.

The Tyrant Philosophers series is exciting as it feels like an episodic series of standalones set in the same universe. While there are references and continuing story arcs from previous books, each of the three released books in the series can be consumed as an individual “episode”, telling a unique tale, exploring the themes of imperialism, colonialism, and the overarching war between the fervor of magic and religion versus the dispassionate empire of reason.

Much of Tchaikovsky’s strengths come from his deft prose. His ability to spin tales of hope, tragedy, love, and violence, all with the “stiff upper lip” of his British aristocratic hand, gives his prose a sense of detached academic brilliance. With individual chapters tied together with omnipotent narrative style “mosaic” chapters spanning larger world events, he cleverly jumps between individual voices, mannerisms, and styles, all while maintaining his trademark touch of intelligent verbiage and distinctive voice.

Keener eyes and fans of the Tyrant Philosophers will spot returning characters from previous books, as they tangentially influence the main plot of Days of Shattered Faith, forming an anchor point for readers consuming this style of episodic storytelling. With common tropes prevailing through all three released novels, and certain locations, themes, nudges and winks, fans will be continually rewarded for reading previous entries in the series, while guessing where the series will go next.

Days of Shattered Faith is an excellent addition to the Tyrant Philosophers series. Adrian Tchaikovsky continues to show us that he is an artist and craftsman in equally superlative brilliance. With plenty of creative juices flowing into his labyrinthine plotlines, exciting characters, immersive worldbuilding bolstered by his expert control over his prose and tone, this series is one to look out for!

Welcome to 2025.

Welcome to the Tyranny of Perfection.

Welcome to GrimDark.

Thank you to Net Galley and Bloomsbury for the ARC. I didn't really connect with any of the characters or find the plot interesting. The story dragged.

A beautiful book that is full of fantasy. We still get a peak of some of the old characters from the last books but we also follow new characters which is great. The political elements was a major plot twist I’m very excited for it I hope there will be another book after this

Beautiful finale to the Tyrant Philosophers series, Adrian Tchaikovsky wraps you in a blanket of comfort with his unforgettable characters before punching you in the face with his twisting plots and witty remarks.

Days of Shattered Faith (The Tyrant Philosophers, #3)
Days of Shattered Faith by Adrian Tchaikovsky
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The third book in the Tyrant Philosophers is a whirlwind of great worldbuilding, carefully set up philosophical quandaries displayed in full force in memorable characters, and yet more epic-fantasy war.

It may not be my favorite novel of the three (that honor goes to the second book) but Tchaikovsky continues to be a marvel of a storyteller. His less impressive works, such as this, is still on par with anything Joe Abercrombie writes. A bit of grim, sure, and a lot of great war action, but this statement is just as true for its oftentimes hilarious characters, complicated personalities/choices, and payoff.

I may not say it's brilliant, and it did somewhat meander until the last third of the book, but when we got to the fascinating end, I thought it was entirely worth it.


A synesthesia review of this would probably be a nutmeg-laden tart that is actually really tarty, but dangerous because it has a bunch of sparklers sticking out of it. Lit, of course. I felt like I had to be very, very careful eating it. It was tasty, and pretty, but I almost got burned!

The third in a complex series about the undoing of a fascist empire, Days of Shattered Faith brings us by boat to Alkhalend, the capitol of a kingdom with a grieving king and the wrong Prince inheriting.

Loret is a new cadet who shows up at her assignment to the Pallaseen Resident. Only when she arrives, the Resident is not at all what she expected—and she's immediately roped into seconding in an illegal duel with another ambassador. From this death, we are led in an ever-widening spiral toward a forbidden romance, a relic hunter who won’t let common sense get in the way of her future, and of course, the demons. The kingdom, already on the brink, tilts toward disaster. And Loret unravels along with it.

I was so happy to see Jack and his friends plying their trade in the slums of Alkhalend. Not all of the group are present, though, and freeing those missing from the ghost-laden prison is a story that the main plot rides atop like a train. The two converge in the end with chaos and an ending that promises this fabulous series isn’t yet over.

The first book in this series was difficult and trusted the reader to do some heavy lifting. The second book was deeply emotional and trusted the reader would lay their heart in Tchaikovsky’s capable hands. In this third, we are far from the empire’s fist, off the battlefield, and this distance allows the reader and Tchaikovsky to relax a little and have an adventure. The underlying threat of fascism stays, but it’s beginning to fray, and I’m excited to see what happens when it snaps.

Thank you to NetGalley and Head of Zeus, Ltd for an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is such a great installment. It is hard to discuss this book without spoilers, but the characters and world-building continue to be superior. I hope there is a next installment!

Tchaikovsky does it again in this third entertaining Tyrant Philosophers story. He opens this novel with an illegal duel and pirates, and shows a country under pressure: an elderly Alkhand (king) whose heart isn’t in ruling anymore, the peaceful son named heir and the martial one biding his time, the Pals approaching after their takeover of Lorithi (in book two), and simmering political and religious tensions.

This time he takes us to Usmai, a kingdom with an ailing, blind king who rules a nation of various faiths including one with a frog god, lizard people known as Ibaleth, and terrifying warrior priests known as Louse Monks by the Usmai but who are Tesemer from another world. The Alkhand Oparan is neutral in his support and attitude to the Pallaseen. He has three sons and a daughter:
-the eldest Gorbudan is a warrior who loathes the Pallaseen; Oparan has banished him for being a little too violent in his approach to the Pals
-the second eldest Dekamran, educated by the Pals, and who feels diplomacy with the wider world is important and necessary
-the two younger siblings are Palmath, who worships the death god and wants to join an order, and
-Elshiri, the princess, destined for a marriage of alliance, but who is eager to not just buck tradition but to knife it then kick it out a window.

Other important players this time around are
-the Pallaseen Resident Angilly ("Gil"), the head of diplomatic office in Usmai. Gil is also a highly skilled duelist and canny politician
-Gil's new aide Loret, who is mostly naïve and untrained for her role, and mouse-like until she’s reveals how terrifyingly dangerous she can be, and
-a small contingent of the healers we waded through blood and gore with in book two; they’re deserters from the Pallaseen army, and are in Usmai under assumed names: Ollery now Oathan, Jack now Happy Jack, Tallifer now Tally and Alv as the Reckoner, Caeleen now the Viper, and Kilbery, Ollery's adopted son. They live in the Sand Lanes, a rough, poor and dangerous area of the city, but they are safe as they treat all who enter the Fever Lodge.

Tchaikovsky brings all these people together in Alkhalend, main city of Usmai, and turns the political temperature up: the Pals are softening up Usmai through the Resident’s office and efforts, and are determined to perfect this nation’s gods and traditions entirely away.

Oparan is ailing and melancholic, pining for his wife who left him years before for a religious order. Gorbudan and Dekamran have philosophical differences, which cannot be glossed over any longer when Gorbudan grabs a chance to rule, upsetting many different groups' plans in Usmai. There is much violence, political intrigue, plotting, betrayals, and tragedy over the course of this intense story about political and religious ideologies, assassinations, conquest, civil war, grief and love.

Though there are characters from book two here, this could be read as a standalone. I think, however, that one would more deeply appreciate the more sympathetic way Tchaikovsky presents the Pals for the first half of the book in the form of Gil, before pulling the curtain back and saying, "Nah, fooled you!" Gil is the Pal ambassador in Usmai, and has in some sense gone soft on the customs and traditions of the country, particularly as she has fallen into a relationship with Dekamran. Her adaptability and willingness to compromise is a stark contrast to her fellow Pals, who gradually move into the country with all the upheaval, seeing this as the perfect opportunity to extend the Pallaseen Sway into this messy country.

Tchaikovsky again deals with colonial attitudes and asks us to think about whether powerful countries with distinct cultures and traditions can live peacefully together, especially when one intends on gobbling up everyone else.

I thoroughly enjoyed this third book in this series, and though long, it never dragged. I love this author's work, and hope there are more stories in this world.

Thank you to Netgalley and to Bloomsbury USA for this ARC in exchange for my review.

Adrian Tchaikovsky continues to do some cool things with this series. Once again the book switches locations and perspectives entirely (putative series protagonist Yasnic a.k.a. "Maric Jack" is still present but as an extremely ancillary character who is barely involved in the plot), picking up in a new city which is outside of the sway of the Palleseen empire whose expansion is a major throughline of the previous two books - initially, that is. The bulk of the plot here circles around a succession crisis between two brothers, one of whom manages to land the support of the Palleseen (with all the political jockeying that entails). This is going to scratch a lot of the same itches that something like <i>Navola</i> does: it feels substantially like a historical fiction novel circling around some peripheral kingdom dealing with, say, British or Roman imperial meddling in local politics (and Tchaikovsky specifically calls out Mike Duncan and the History of Rome podcast as a research source, in his afterword), except there are weird monks with tongue-eating louse parasites and regiments of demons and giant frog gods running around.

It's not clear to me whether there are supposed to be further books in the series; trilogies are <i>de rigueur</i> but Tchaikovsky is no stranger to longer fantasy series, and the peripatetic nature of the books so far seems well-suited to further entries. Certainly it feels like something is missing without a book set in the Palleseen homeland to round out certain subplots bubbling in the background. I eagerly await what comes next, if anything.

With Days of Shattered Faith, Adrian Tchaikovsky further cements Tyrant Philosophers one of my all-time favorite series. At its core, this is a novel of succession, for the nation and for the individual. Combining the breadth of City of Last Chances and the narrow focus of House of Open Wounds, Tchaikovsky creates a grand yet intimate look at Alkhalend. With depictions of gothic-like terrors of necromantic and nautical religions and of conflicts between political ideologies, we follow the characters brand new and familiar, carried over from both City of Last Chances and House of Open Wounds. I cannot wait for further explorations of both tyranny and philosophy.