Adrian Tchaikovsky

Idris, an enhanced human, and his crew, 50 years after the destruction of the earth by alien aggressors, the Architects, discover something strange in space that many people would kill to obtain--and could herald the return of the enemy. After Earth was destroyed mankind created a fighting elite to save their species, enhanced humans such as Idris. In the silence of space they could communicate, mind-to-mind, with the enemy. Then their alien aggressors,...

Thousands of years ago, Earth's terraforming program took to the stars. On the world they called Nod, scientists discovered alien life - but it was their mission to overwrite it with the memory of Earth. Then humanity's great empire fell, and the program's decisions were lost to time. Aeons later, humanity and its new spider allies detected fragmentary radio signals between the stars. They dispatched an exploration vessel, hoping to find cousins from...

The Church of Armes of the Light has battled the forces of Darkness for as long as anyone can remember. The great prophecy has foretold that a band of misfits, led by a high priestess will defeat the Dark Lord Darvezian, armed with their wits, the blessing of the Light and an artifact stolen from the merciless Spider Queen. Their journey will be long, hard and fraught with danger. Allies will become enemies; enemies will become allies. And the Dark...

"Lynesse is the lowly Fourth Daughter of the queen, and always getting in the way. But a demon is terrorizing the land, and now she's an adult (albeit barely) with responsibilities (she tells herself). Although she still gets in the way, she understands that the only way to save her people is to invoke the pact between her family and the Elder sorcerer who has inhabited the local tower for as long as her people have lived here (though none in living...

The vampiric sorcerer Uctebri has at last got his hands on the Shadow Box and can finally begin his dark ritual, a ritual that the Wasp kinden Emperor believes will grant him immortality, but Uctebri has his own plans both for the Emperor and the Empire. The massed Wasp armies are on the march, and the spymaster Stenwold must see which of his allies will stand now that the war has finally arrived.

Ogres are bigger than you. Ogres are stronger than you. Ogres rule the world. It's always idyllic in the village until the landlord comes to call. Because the landlord is an Ogre. And Ogres rule the world, with their size and strength and appetites. It's always been that way. It's the natural order of the world. And they only eat people sometimes. But when the headman's son, Torquell, dares lift his hand against the landlord's son, he sets himself...

"The war with the Wasp Empire has ended in a bitter stalemate, and Collegium has nothing to show for it but wounded veterans. Cheerwell Maker finds herself crippled in ways no doctor can mend, haunted by ghosts of the past that she cannot appease, seeking for meaning in a city that no longer seems like home. The Empress Seda is regaining control over those imperial cities who refused to bow the knee to her, but she draws her power from something more...

Seal of the Worm is the tenth and final book in the critically acclaimed epic fantasy series Shadows of the Apt by Adrian Tchaikovsky, winner of the Arthur C. Clarke Award. An ancient enemy stirs once more ... The Empire stands victorious over its enemies at last. With her chief rival cast into the abyss, Empress Seda now faces the truth of what she has cost the world in order to win the war. The Seal has been shattered, and the Worm stirs towards...

Despite their tenuous peace, Stenwold Maker knows the Empire will return to Collegium. Yet even as he prepares the city for battle, these efforts are sabotaged. Ships sailing from Collegium's harbour are sunk by pirates, while others just go missing. Lulled by lies and false promises, Stenwold's allies are falling away too. He faces betrayal on every side, even as the Empire is poised to strike. Despite the city's military might and technology, it...

Facing impending extinction, an Intermediary decides to help the Human Colonies stop the Architects who are back consuming entire planets after eighty years of a fragile peace, in the second novel of the series, following Shards of Earth.