I love Adrian Tchaikovsky but his books are starting to drive me nuts
Spoiler tag just in case.
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Finding Adrian Tchaikovsky’s books felt like a breath of fresh air at first. After having read the Children Of Time and Dogs Of War books, though (as well as a few standalone novels), I’ve become so tired of the way he writes stories.
I think that he has a lot of interesting ideas, but it irritates me so much every time I start a new book and the story unfolds in the same “here’s a chapter in the present and then here’s a chapter from the past, ad infinitum” manner as the rest of them. It would be one thing if he used the idea sparingly, but every single book feels like it’s rehashing the same ground as the ones that came before. It’s like watching a Shyamalan movie. Once you know there’s a twist coming, it lessens the impact when it hits.
It’s gotten to the point that it’s started to affect how I feel about books by other authors. I’m currently reading Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie, and despite the fact that it won multiple awards, the use of the trope has started to make it feel shoddy and poorly thought out.
I just finished The Faith Of Beasts by James SA Corey a week ago and it was refreshingly straightforward. Beginning, middle, and end. I really want to keep reading Tchaikovsky’s work, but if the rest of his books follow the same pattern as the others, eventually I’m just going to write him off and move on.