Will I love Shroud?

"Shroud" is a first-contact novel by one of our best science fiction writers - and it's one of the best first-contact stories I've ever read. It evokes a world almost intolerably different from ours, with beings unlike any we imagined. At first they seem as mindless as bacteria, but time does tell. I have all my fingers crossed for a sequel, because the book leaves us wondering (and worried).

Adrian Tchaikovsky writes a variety of fiction, but I particularly adore his hard science fiction. Shroud is a great example from this year. He describes intelligent life in place you'd never expect life of any kind to exist (akin to the science fiction classic, Dragon's Egg by Robert Forward). The characters and dialog are terrific. The situations are extreme, plausible, and exciting. I loved it!