One of my favourite authors writing at the moment is Adrian Tchaikovsky. You probably know him as the guy who wrote that sentient spider book – but Tchaikovsky has a large back catalogue of work with a diverse array of speculative settings and genres, from epic fantasy, to cosmic horror, sci-fi thriller to space opera, etc etc. He gets a lot of recognition for a few of his most popular books, but in this post today I’d like to shine a spotlight on his body of work as a whole, as well as shout out some books of his you might have missed.

He’s a writing machine!

Adrian ‘one thousand spiders in a trenchcoat’ Tchaikovsky has been published for about fourteen years, and since then has had over 40 novels, novellas and short story collections published. Just last year alone he released four novels and one novella! I don’t know how he does it, but it has given us a lot of great reading material, and will do for years to come.

You never know what he’ll do next

As I mentioned in the intro, Tchaikovsky has written books all over the speculative genres. Not only that, but the style of his writing varies a lot too. He’s written in first, third and second person. Single POVs, multi-POVs to an entire mosaic of POVs in his recent City of Last Chances. And he increasingly plays with form in his longer novels, with elements like alternating between time periods to great effect in Children of Ruin, or the amazing parallel world interludes in Doors of Eden. 

And that’s not even mentioning the wealth of ideas Tchaikovsky has! From genetically engineered humanoid dog soldiers in Dogs of War, to a prison at the end of the world in Cage of Souls, to the insect powered people of Shadows of the Apt, and of course the sentient spiders and their ant based technology in Children of Time. Picking up a new Tchaikovsky book is always going to hold some sort of surprise in store.

But certain common elements do get repeated

And this is a feature, rather than a drawback. No matter the genre or approach he takes, I always feel like Tchaikovsky’s books are both super clever and easy to read. He tends to inject a dark wit into his writing as well.

Tchaikovsky’s ability to explore themes and elements in different ways and from different perspectives gives some common threads between his work to hold onto for those of us who want to read a lot of his books. Below are some of the common themes I’ve noticed.

Revolution – with a healthy dose of anti-corporate, anti-empire sentiment, many of Tchaikovsky’s books feature revolutions against tyrannical regimes – and he even has a small series of novelas each linked only by that theme.

Alternate Sentience – I love Tchaikovsky’s fascination with the many forms that sentience can take, and we find genetically engineered animals, artificial intelligences, evolved creatures from parallel worlds and much more in his books. The Dogs of War duology and the Children of Time series both deal with this theme heavily.

Communication – following from the theme of sentience, Tchaikovsky often looks at the ways sentient creatures of different contexts can communicate and the difficulties that poses. A great example is in Elder Race where a technologically advanced character struggles to express concepts like space travel in a language that has no way to process it.

Technological progress – How technology can disrupt civilisations is a pretty big theme in Tchaikovsky’s books. In Shadows of the Apt, for example, parts of the world are undergoing the later stages of an industrial revolution, and those technologies are being used to drive the wars and conflicts in the series.

Arthropods – It wouldn’t be a Tchaikovsky book with some sort of giant or sentient or genetically engineered arthropod. Whether it’s the spider-turned-man-monster from Spiderlight, Bees in Dogs of War, or the entire insect themed continent in Shadows of the Apt, Tchaikovsky clearly has a love for our invertebrate cousins.

Horror Elements – While Tchaikovksy has only written shorter works that could be considered outright horrors, he does tend to put some pretty memorable horror sequences and elements in his books. He’s certainly not afraid to show the dark side of science and magic.

He’s won multiple awards

For those who care about prestige, he’s earned a plethora of science fiction and fantasy awards, and been nominated for a fair few more, including the BSFA (British Science Fiction Award), the British Fantasy Award, the Arthur C. Clarke Award and more.

Where to start?

If his output seems overwhelming, and you’re not sure where to start – or have read one or more of his books and want to figure out what your next read of his will be, here are some recommendations based on various criteria.

If you want to read…

…a big epic fantasy series with a killer setting – try Shadows of the Apt (series)

(If you are interested in checking out Shadows of the Apt, I wrote a more in-depth pitch for the series which you can find HERE)

…a big idea sci-fi story with a sentient spider society – try Children of Time (novel)

…regency gunpowder fantasy – try Guns of the Dawn (novel)

…an irreverent time travel story – try One Day All This Will Be Yours (novella)

…a fast paced apocalyptic space opera – try The Final Architecture (trilogy)

…coming of age fantasy with shapeshifters – try Echoes of the Fall (trilogy)

…a twisted dystopian rebellion – try Ogres (novella)

…a sci-fi thriller with alternate worlds – try Doors of Eden (novel)

…near future sci-fi that might make you cry – try Dogs of War (novel)

…a post-post-apocalyptic story about a prison at the end of the world – try Cage of Souls (novel) 

…a blend of sci-fi and fantasy with a clinically depressed protagonist – try Elder Race (novella)

…a twist on D&D/Lord of the Rings style fantasy – try Spiderlight (novel)

And finally, if you want to read a dark mosaic style novel with a characterful city full of factions poised on the edge of revolution, try City of Last Chances, one of his most recent books.

There’s much more to explore of course, but those should be enough to spark your interest, and are all great jumping on points for his work.

And just for fun to round things off, here are my top five Adrian Tchaikovsky books/series:

1. Children of Time series
2. Elder Race
3. Dogs of War
4. Shadows of the Apt series
5. City of Last Chances