![]() ![]() Many companies are offering deluxe presentations and drowning us in componentry, but the specific touches in this publisher’s work and their ability to avoid common crowdfunding issues, such as mounds of errata or physical defects, really speaks to the effort. Across their product line they’ve normalized the use of plastic storage trays and provided the player with an opulent experience. This quality didn’t really surprise me as Druid City Games – paired here with Skybound’s tabletop division – has a strong attention to detail. Images of the board appeared confusing at a distance, but in person it’s a glorious chaos that hangs together under the auspices of the fantastic Alice in Wonderland setting. Shards of Earth is the first part of a trilogy and I can’t wait to read the next one.It really is a beautiful thing. But this wasn’t a deal-breaker and things improved once I discovered the glossary and timeline at the back of the book. ![]() My one complaint is that the book falls into the sci-fi trap of being occasionally hard to follow, with so many alien species, worlds and characters to track. One of the book’s most gripping passages comes when a non-psychic crew mate of Telemmier has to enter this realm awake due to a technical hitch and we accompany her descent into near-madness. Tchaikovsky writes in convincing detail about the effects of unspace. Telemmier hasn’t slept in 47 years, and sometimes it shows. Passengers on ships travelling between the stars can enter artificial sleep, but pilots must stay awake. To add to the troubles, piloting in unspace isn’t good for the human brain: it reacts by creating the sensation of a predatory presence that can send people insane. As war with the Architects looms, Telemmier sees his chance of living a peaceful life dwindle. But the strange, psychic powers of unspace pilots happen to be one of the few ways of communicating telepathically with the Architects. Piloting through it can be mastered only by humans who have had sinister things done to their minds in a programme of chemotherapy and psychosurgery that few can survive.Īnyone capable of piloting ships in this manner, such as one of the book’s protagonists, Idris Telemmier, becomes immensely valuable and in constant danger of being kidnapped and put to work by gangsters or space fleets.Īs the book opens, Telemmier has been trying to stay under the radar, working in a team of misfits who salvage wrecked spaceships. In this universe, ships move between the stars by popping in and out of a weird realm called unspace. ![]() “The mysterious Architects barely notice humans as they go about destroying their planets” For unknown reasons, their favourite pastime seems to be turning other people’s spaceships – or entire worlds – into filigree sculptures that are wholly incompatible with life. Some trade with humans, others try to enslave them, while the mysterious and menacing Architects seem to barely notice humans as they go about destroying their planets.Īrchitects are entities the size of moons and their godlike abilities mean they can reshape space and matter as they see fit. Shards of Earth is more traditional sci-fi fare: a rip-roaring space opera featuring starship battles, genetically enhanced superhumans and multiple weird and wonderful aliens. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |