Lords of Uncreation (The Final Architecture, 3)

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Yes, it was to be expected, the chickens had to come home to roost - which is why that coup was rather like a wrench thrown into gears. Tell the Resplendent it is fucking on, she said to Sathiel, and by extension everyone else in system. Some of the protagonists in the novels make the mind boggle, and it is incredibly problematic to picture them in the mind's eye. I was dying to know what greater force could be behind something that is already the size of a moon, and was hoping for more answers from Eyes of the Void. And yet, here I was, tearing my hair out, screaming in frustration, whooping and cheering in other moments and cackling madly.

This is such an epic science-fiction series and every phenomenal piece of the puzzle fell together beautifully here. There are inscrutable aliens that don't feel too human, there's space battles, there's interesting concepts and themes, high stakes, cool tech, and even some cosmic horror. Similarly, the little nods and steals from elsewhere feel earned and bedded in, whether that be the Brexit/MAGA overtones of the villains (which feel so much less crowbarred here than in Doors Of Eden) or the heartbreaking new riff on that old mainstay of SF grief, the "tears in rain" speech. Idris is sooo close to finally grasping it and giving us readers the answers we've been begging for since volume 1 . Reading this series is like stumbling across the joy of reading all over again; opening up every possibility.But what has been interesting about this trilogy as it has unfolded is that the balls he threw in the air in the first book haven't quite landed where they might. With Lords of Uncreation, Tchaikovsky reaches the conclusion of his sprawling space opera, as Idris, Solace and the rest of the Vulture God crew are once more swept up in the fight against the Architects and an unexpected new foe. As the Parthenon and Hugh fight over the fate of Idris and the Originator relics, an Architect appears at Berlenhof.

The best thing I can say about it is that it does exactly what the last book in a trilogy should do. Closing the covers of my hardcover edition and putting the book back on its shelf had me sigh contently.A late-comer to the worlds of science fiction, John Folk-Williams circled around it, first by blogging (primarily through Storied Mind) about inner struggles and the mind’s way of distorting reality. Lords of Uncreation finishes the series with a beautiful, justifiable ending even if it does shatter your heart in a million pieces. Because I have now decided it ranked higher in my estimation than the Children of Time trilogy just because of the sheer adrenaline rush it gives alone.

And he concludes all the storylines in a way that I didn’t quite anticipate, and it works quite well — since at its heart it’s not a story about winning or losing, but about the power of understanding and empathy and bonds between us. The action and the various factions have at times in the series been a bit chaotic and harder to follow. I appreciate a bit of humor even in serious stuff, and Tchaikovsky so perfect for that (I swear, we share the exact same sense of humor and it’s perfect for me).At every level, though, the difficulty of translation, of fully getting a concept across when underlying frameworks differ, remains a constant concern. The tension that came from the political side of things was an interesting contrast to the tensions within the small team trying to kill the Architects, and upped the stakes because Idris and his fellow Ints are suddenly racing not only against these destructive beings, but also fleeing those who would try to sabotage them.

Being the third book in the trilogy, I’m not sure if I want to get into too much plot detail, considering you probably know what to expect if you’ve already read the first two. There are some epic developments particularly with Olli and Idris and the complexity of the character relationships deepen as well with the plot developments.It took me weeks to read a book that would normally have taken three days because I got too bored to continue. Nevertheless, we finally have confirmation that there is "something" in Unspace and it is not well pleased. Another trilogy conclusion, and I was nervously excited to embark on it given that I loved the first book but wasn’t very impressed by the second. I don't think Chaikovsky will be hailed as the master of prose, but he uses his prose as an instrument for the propagation of his ideas in a very engaging and precise way. The fact it took an age to reach the ending did not matter one iota, as it was text-book Tchaikovsky through to a spellbindingly stunning finale.