Why read Elder Race?

Book cover of Elder Race

Book description

In Adrian Tchaikovsky's Elder Race, a junior anthropologist on a distant planet must help the locals he has sworn to study to save a planet from an unbeatable foe.

Lynesse is the lowly Fourth Daughter of the queen, and always getting in the way.

But a demon is terrorizing…

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Why read it?

2 authors picked Elder Race as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Terry Madden

Author

Arthur C. Clarke said that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. Well, take that idea and turn it into a novel. I could not stop reading.

The "wizard" in this low-tech world is a stranded anthropologist from an advanced race of humans who settled on this planet thousands of years before. When the local princess calls upon him to destroy a monster, they build a friendship that changes them both.

I so loved this setup and the way Tchaikovsky unfolded it. It's one of my favorite science fiction reads in a while.

From Terry's 3 favorite reads in 2023.

Lee Hunt

Author

I love Adrian Tchaikovski’s work—it feels real. He brings a tremendous level of research to many of his novels, married with a wicked creativity, and it makes his novels unique. Elder Race is a wizard story that made me laugh out loud as I finished it. Is this book science fiction or fantasy? Both, really, and he puts both together in a very nice way. If you want to try a quick read that marries science and magic in a novel, smile-inducing way, read Elder Race.

From Lee's list on The best fantasy novels with believable, clever magic systems.