11/15/2021

Tchaikovsky (Elder Race) takes a sharp look in this twisty social satire at a world in which, due to genetic modification, the 1%, now called ogres, literally tower over the 99%. At over six feet tall, Torquell, mischievous human son of a village headman, stands above his fellow non-ogres both in height and temper, which leads to trouble with 10-foot-tall ogre and village master Sir Peter and his son, Gerald, a lout given to taunting the diminutive lower class. Turned fugitive, Torquell flees his depopulated village and explores the wider world, which is ruled by ogres and filled with teeming urban slums and churned-up battlefields for mock wars that inflict real wounds. Eventually adopted by the inquisitive ogre Lady Isadora, Torquell learns of the ecological crises that took the world from humans and gave it to the ogres, a situation he resolves to reverse. Tchaikovsky’s second-person narration neatly reveals his protagonist while masking just how his destiny will play out. Readers with a bent for social commentary and solving puzzles will be doubly pleased. Agent: Simon Kavanagh, Mic Cheetham Agency. (Mar.)

Tchaikovsky knocks it out the park... a gripping, sardonic story that sticks the landing perfectly.” – Locus

“Tchaikovsky plays with the readers expectations, plucking at the strings of intrigue and thrusting out familiar allusions to lull us into a false sense of security... This novel can easily stand proud with dystopian novels such as Orwell’s 1984 or Margaret Atwood’s dystopian Maddaddam Trilogy.” — Fantasy Hive

“Classic Tchaikovsky with its interwoven complex themes, but also departs from his previous works into something more naturally dark and raw.” – Grimdark Magazine

"The wars of Tchaikovsky’s future are brutal, inhuman, and strangely awe-inspiring in their horror." — Liz Bourke, Locus Magazine on Ironclads

"Every chapter throws fresh surprises at the reader, continually opening out the scope of the novel, and the imagery is wonderfully vivid throughout... Tchaikovsky focuses the taut story in such a way that every detail is relevant, building towards a climax that doesn’t feel possible at the beginning but which, by the end, feels like a perfect pay-off." — SFX Magazine on Firewalkers

"A grim picture of a possible future, a diverse cast of interesting and distinct characters, a dollop of mystery and technological shenanigans. There’s some good action, tricksy AI, and a satisfying ending. Recommended." — Civilian Reader on Firewalkers

"Brilliant science fiction and far out world building" — James McAvoy on Children of Time

"This is superior stuff, tackling big themes - gods, messiahs, artificial intelligence, alienness - with brio." — Financial Times

"A masterclass in concise storytelling." — ScFiNow on Firewalkers

"Ironclads dramatises the conflicts between rich and poor, right and left, public and private in a brutally satirical fashion. At the same time, it’s an enormously entertaining story." — SFcrowsnest on Ironclads

"A smart, sharp look at warfare in a near future that may not be, but feels like a funhouse mirror on our present." — Nerds of a Feather, Flock Together on Ironclads