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Expert System #2
The Expert System’s Champion
It’s been ten years since Handry was wrenched away from his family and friends, forced to wander a world he no longer understood. But with the help of the Ancients, he has cobbled together a life, of sorts, for himself and his fellow outcasts.
Wandering from village to village, welcoming the folk that the townships abandon, fighting the monsters the villagers cannot—or dare not—his ever-growing band of misfits has become the stuff of legend, a story told by parents to keep unruly children in line.
But there is something new and dangerous in the world, and the beasts of the land are acting against their nature, destroying the towns they once left in peace.
And for the first time in memory, the Ancients have no wisdom to offer…
Wandering from village to village, welcoming the folk that the townships abandon, fighting the monsters the villagers cannot—or dare not—his ever-growing band of misfits has become the stuff of legend, a story told by parents to keep unruly children in line.
But there is something new and dangerous in the world, and the beasts of the land are acting against their nature, destroying the towns they once left in peace.
And for the first time in memory, the Ancients have no wisdom to offer…
194 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 26, 2021
315 people are currently reading
1939 people want to read
About the author
Adrian Tchaikovsky
191 books17.5k followersADRIAN TCHAIKOVSKY was born in Lincolnshire and studied zoology and psychology at Reading, before practising law in Leeds. He is a keen live role-player and occasional amateur actor and is trained in stage-fighting. His literary influences include Gene Wolfe, Mervyn Peake, China Miéville, Mary Gently, Steven Erikson, Naomi Novak, Scott Lynch and Alan Campbell.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 258 reviews
February 4, 2021
My mind is blown. Again. Just when I thought I had figured out where this was going, BAM! Now I feel ashamed at having thought that Adrian Tchaikovsky might have dreamed up something that us mere mortals could have envisioned. At this point I should realize that he needs to be judged by a whole new set of standards from the rest of the sci-fi world.
Needless to say, I found The Expert System's Champion simply brilliant. And like all his sci-fi, uncanny, chilling and creepy. There's no bombast, no extraneous drama. He just drops crazy stuff in your lap like it's the most natural thing. And it feels believable, and genuine, and touching, because he grounds the story so deeply in a profound understanding of both biology - not details, but the foundational principles that underlie the driving forces of life - and the human spirit. He takes the monumental challenges presented by completely alien biospheres and couples it with an intimate understanding of what drives humanity - the hubris and the indomitable human spirit to survive and conquer all it surveys. And, as in the first book, the story continues to revolve around Handry and his sister, and the same themes of isolation and belonging.
Although immensely satisfying, I can only lament that these stories are not full length novels.
Needless to say, I found The Expert System's Champion simply brilliant. And like all his sci-fi, uncanny, chilling and creepy. There's no bombast, no extraneous drama. He just drops crazy stuff in your lap like it's the most natural thing. And it feels believable, and genuine, and touching, because he grounds the story so deeply in a profound understanding of both biology - not details, but the foundational principles that underlie the driving forces of life - and the human spirit. He takes the monumental challenges presented by completely alien biospheres and couples it with an intimate understanding of what drives humanity - the hubris and the indomitable human spirit to survive and conquer all it surveys. And, as in the first book, the story continues to revolve around Handry and his sister, and the same themes of isolation and belonging.
Although immensely satisfying, I can only lament that these stories are not full length novels.
January 19, 2022
Good but I liked it less than the first book.
Ten years after the the events in The Expert System's Brother Handry is now leader of the outcasts known as the Order of Cain. They have their place in society and Handry works with his sister Mellory to communicate with the Ancients on behalf of society as a whole.
Tchaikovsky deals them (and us) a savage blow as he introduces other threatening species which will upset everything that has been gained in this always unpleasant land. It becomes quite horrific especially as we discover what really happened to those early settlers who we got to know in the last book.
I must admit to not having grasped every detail of this book. Many of the references were vague and the reader is left to make rather uninformed guesses. Or perhaps I am just not smart enough. I enjoyed it anyway.
Ten years after the the events in The Expert System's Brother Handry is now leader of the outcasts known as the Order of Cain. They have their place in society and Handry works with his sister Mellory to communicate with the Ancients on behalf of society as a whole.
Tchaikovsky deals them (and us) a savage blow as he introduces other threatening species which will upset everything that has been gained in this always unpleasant land. It becomes quite horrific especially as we discover what really happened to those early settlers who we got to know in the last book.
I must admit to not having grasped every detail of this book. Many of the references were vague and the reader is left to make rather uninformed guesses. Or perhaps I am just not smart enough. I enjoyed it anyway.
February 10, 2021
Many years after the events of the previous book, the Severed are now referred to as the Order of Cain by themselves and the Bandage-Men by the villagers. They have carved out a place for themselves in the human exoplanet colony free of the biological imperative of the village trees, wasps and ghosts that control the humans of the villages. It's a difficult existence, as the world is poison to them, but they can do things no one else can do.
Word comes to Handry, now leader of the Order, of both a very different sort of expert system that's come out of a hostile village, and news of a remote village that has been destroyed mysteriously. When Handry investigates the destroyed village with one of the new expert systems in tow (a Champion, a new designation), he encounters a surprising native intelligence as well as a threat seeded from the earliest days of the colony.
I liked this one much more than the previous book, although the previous book was very much needed as world-building setup for this one. There's clearly much more to be told in Handry's story as well. Handry and Melory continue to be great, but the Champion of the title is Amorket, and also a terrific character in the way she struggles against her own programming as well as dealing with Handry and the Order. She's so brave, even when she should despair of the way her ghost and wasps are using her.
Word comes to Handry, now leader of the Order, of both a very different sort of expert system that's come out of a hostile village, and news of a remote village that has been destroyed mysteriously. When Handry investigates the destroyed village with one of the new expert systems in tow (a Champion, a new designation), he encounters a surprising native intelligence as well as a threat seeded from the earliest days of the colony.
I liked this one much more than the previous book, although the previous book was very much needed as world-building setup for this one. There's clearly much more to be told in Handry's story as well. Handry and Melory continue to be great, but the Champion of the title is Amorket, and also a terrific character in the way she struggles against her own programming as well as dealing with Handry and the Order. She's so brave, even when she should despair of the way her ghost and wasps are using her.
February 25, 2021
I reminded myself that we were the lords of the unnatural. We had made ourselves the ambassadors between the people of the villages and that other unseen world the ancestors had come from. The world these stone-men had come from, too. There could be no other way of it. We were cousins beneath the skin, under the shell.
Read
April 4, 2021Excellent follow up to the original novella, expanding the world. A lot of thought provoking stuff about culture and colonialism and how we make societies packed into a pretty small space and still makes room for some excellent monster fighting.
November 4, 2024
I don’t write reviews.
That was fine. Incredible? Outstanding? No. It was definitely fine. Necessary? No. Did it add anything? Slightly. Did I care? No. (That was harsh, Lizz! It’s okay. Someone needs to tell him the truth).
That was fine. Incredible? Outstanding? No. It was definitely fine. Necessary? No. Did it add anything? Slightly. Did I care? No. (That was harsh, Lizz! It’s okay. Someone needs to tell him the truth).
June 12, 2024
It's a cool continuation of the prior novella although in a completely different direction. The developments were interesting but kind of felt contrived and arbitrary. I love the world developed and the main character. These two short books are definitely worth your time.
April 3, 2025
That was excellent. Took the world building from book 1 and made a huge new story out of it, expanded it well beyond it's measure. Damn. Some absolutely (and pretty damn gross) ideas coming out of his Zoologist mind. Thought experiments taken WAY too far in a very entertaining way. It reminds me very much of Scavenger's Reign, the incredible animation series that came out a year or two ago (If you haven't watched it, drop everything and go find it).
February 25, 2021
Taking place ten years after the end of The Expert System's Brother, Handry is now head of his group of Severed, now known as the Order of Cain. There have been some radical changes in the world of villages. The Order's members now travel between the villages, taking on people who have been Severed, fighting beasts, and delivering messages between villages. Handry and his band are gradually knitting the villages together. It's a brilliant development, with Mellory continuing to interface with the House of the Ancestors, and helping with the transmission of information and, more importantly, ideas. The Order and villagers have developed a much more productive relationship, consequently, where, even though the band of Severed are still seen as alien, they're not quite as feared as before, and there are rituals in place now to deal with each other.
A lone village seeks to destabilize this stability. Handry, Mellory and the Order encounter Amorket, a Champion from this village. Amorket is an interesting and frightening fusion of beings, and is intent on fighting the Order, even while she seems ambivalent about her duty. There is also word of someone destroying a village, and so Handry and company, including Amorket, discover a grave threat to all the villages.
Tchaikovsky also introduces us to the original colonists, and the terrible time they had settling this planet where everything is inimical to them. What happens here actually echoes into Handry's time.
This book was better than book 1, particularly in how Tchaikovsky built on what he'd established. Here, we're seeing how the world has changed as the Order's influences play out over years. I love that Mellory, though still a villager, is an integral part of Handry's group and how the brother-sister team work together to expand the others' lives and opportunities.
The threat in this story is both terrifying and horrifying, and we see how the original colonists' fate played out. Though there was a resolution at the end of this novella, I feel like we're not done with the frightening beings. I also really hope we see a book 3, as I think there's potential for more stories in this world.
A lone village seeks to destabilize this stability. Handry, Mellory and the Order encounter Amorket, a Champion from this village. Amorket is an interesting and frightening fusion of beings, and is intent on fighting the Order, even while she seems ambivalent about her duty. There is also word of someone destroying a village, and so Handry and company, including Amorket, discover a grave threat to all the villages.
Tchaikovsky also introduces us to the original colonists, and the terrible time they had settling this planet where everything is inimical to them. What happens here actually echoes into Handry's time.
This book was better than book 1, particularly in how Tchaikovsky built on what he'd established. Here, we're seeing how the world has changed as the Order's influences play out over years. I love that Mellory, though still a villager, is an integral part of Handry's group and how the brother-sister team work together to expand the others' lives and opportunities.
The threat in this story is both terrifying and horrifying, and we see how the original colonists' fate played out. Though there was a resolution at the end of this novella, I feel like we're not done with the frightening beings. I also really hope we see a book 3, as I think there's potential for more stories in this world.
April 2, 2022
I was never big on bio-SF, and on top of that I have just learned that this is #2 in a series.
Still, I'm left with the feeling that there are too many ideas here for novella length, but not enough that we can get a grip on to provide a solid base for novel length. In a novella you can answer "how does?" with "it just does, enjoy the story."
So I'll allow all the bio stuff on that basis. I recognize the core idea that the other creatures' needs and priorities etc. are beyond our understanding. I recognize the sort of planet I first met in Harry Harrison's wonderful Deathworld series.
I recognize the inevitable picking-them-off-one-at-a-time-we-have-to-have-a-showdown-against-all-odds. The only thing an author can do then is redefine what it means to win/lose, and AT has done that here.
The novella also allows for sketches of the original tech that feel as if they were painted in the dark with a single-hair brush. I actually liked that, because it suggests how the current colonists might have seen it.
So, well executed but not to my taste. I probably won't go back to read #1.
Still, I'm left with the feeling that there are too many ideas here for novella length, but not enough that we can get a grip on to provide a solid base for novel length. In a novella you can answer "how does?" with "it just does, enjoy the story."
So I'll allow all the bio stuff on that basis. I recognize the core idea that the other creatures' needs and priorities etc. are beyond our understanding. I recognize the sort of planet I first met in Harry Harrison's wonderful Deathworld series.
I recognize the inevitable picking-them-off-one-at-a-time-we-have-to-have-a-showdown-against-all-odds. The only thing an author can do then is redefine what it means to win/lose, and AT has done that here.
The novella also allows for sketches of the original tech that feel as if they were painted in the dark with a single-hair brush. I actually liked that, because it suggests how the current colonists might have seen it.
So, well executed but not to my taste. I probably won't go back to read #1.
August 24, 2021
The story went in a direction I wasn't expecting and didn't build off my favorite parts of the first book. Still good writing but didn't quite land completely for me. Reading it back to back it seemed like it didn't quite have continuity with the first one especially in terms of the themes. Almost felt like a different story
March 17, 2021
Биохимията и неврологията на този извънземен свят стават все по-странни, но обмислено поднесени от Чайковски. Светостроенето му се удава, кипи от свежи идеи. Тази повест се усеща като част от ненаписана още поредица, но е достатъчно самостоятелна.
Дано напише още книги за Ордена на Каин.
3,5 звезди
Дано напише още книги за Ордена на Каин.
3,5 звезди
June 26, 2023
A sequel novella, to the The Expert System's Brother and totally not a standalone. The original book did deserve more story, more perspective on the what next, and this does provide it, though it is still letting things open for what next after this what next (what happens when they run out of ship food for example?)
And sadly for me I did not like it as much. The first novella hit a bunch of themes I love, worldbuilding, and slow discovery and intellectual rebellion. This second novella is much more action oriented and it feels like Tchaikovsky was enjoying himself creating many many weird alien species, writing about lots of gore. It feels a lot more bordering on the horror genre (sf horror) than the previous novella. And horror and gore is not a plus for me, in fact it can be actively repelling me as a reader, or at least had me wait, I do not want to visualize that at all on a few things. I wanted more of the other stuff..
There was a pretty good subtle relationship implied, which is unusual in his books.
Tchaikovsky really likes the name Lena for female characters ...
And sadly for me I did not like it as much. The first novella hit a bunch of themes I love, worldbuilding, and slow discovery and intellectual rebellion. This second novella is much more action oriented and it feels like Tchaikovsky was enjoying himself creating many many weird alien species, writing about lots of gore. It feels a lot more bordering on the horror genre (sf horror) than the previous novella. And horror and gore is not a plus for me, in fact it can be actively repelling me as a reader, or at least had me wait, I do not want to visualize that at all on a few things. I wanted more of the other stuff..
There was a pretty good subtle relationship implied, which is unusual in his books.
Tchaikovsky really likes the name Lena for female characters ...
March 31, 2021
Another intriguing instalment in a planet with a very unusual and artificial ecosystem - has the best and also most ewww for yet!!
Full review - https://www.runalongtheshelves.net/bl...
Full review - https://www.runalongtheshelves.net/bl...
November 2, 2023
The hive sees you as a threat, and this new ghost is their response.”
Everything in this world is a trypophobics nightmare. That's the one with the circles right? Yeah this would be a nightmare to watch if it were on screen.
A thought-provoking end to this duology. I never forgot of this weird world in which "ghosts" are electronics shoved into human faces so violently their skull contorts and swells and is eventually misshapen- but it doesn't kill them it makes them something more.
*********************************************
Plot/Storyline: Worldbuilding as with most Tchaikovsky work - right up there with the best of them.
This installment is just as mindbending and laced in Abrahamic themes as the first. From the Trees where the Hives reside, to the Village Lawgiver and Ghost-Doctor to the Order of Cain and the "Bandage-Men" - this world expands and develops in a macabre way.
Characters: Handry did a full 180 and is now as scary as Sharskin if not more. In the beginning of the book he has more power than he ever had in his entire life both Pre and Post Severance.
●Melory The Expert System, Iblis The Architect have grown into their roles as defiers of the "ghosts" in their heads. Iblis more so but Melory fights an uphill battle and it's beautiful to behold her loyalty for her twin Handry.
●I love that an Antivirus was basically introduced to the environment. Amorket of Jalaino is a GIANT trypophobia trigger if this duology ever makes it onto the big screen.
Favorite scene:
So many old human things appearing as alien, unnatural and new in this world.
● "Priest,” came the call from outside. “We’re come from Tsuno to get word to you. Hardly let our heels cool since we left it.” A village on his route, towards the edge of where people lived. A frontier place, nowhere anything important happened, surely, and yet here was Graf telling me, “They need help, priest. They have a war.”
Favorite Quote/Concept:
● "Eyes of the Ancestors" I prefer the ones for swimming or diving and now that I think of it - yes they do look alien.
● "I can’t even swear it’s better than dying alone in the woods. But it is something, and you will have comrades to share your misery.” (Handry on joing the Order of Cain)
StoryGraph Challenge: 1800 Books by 2025
Challenge Prompt: 150 Speculative Fiction stories by 2025
Everything in this world is a trypophobics nightmare. That's the one with the circles right? Yeah this would be a nightmare to watch if it were on screen.
A thought-provoking end to this duology. I never forgot of this weird world in which "ghosts" are electronics shoved into human faces so violently their skull contorts and swells and is eventually misshapen- but it doesn't kill them it makes them something more.
*********************************************
Plot/Storyline: Worldbuilding as with most Tchaikovsky work - right up there with the best of them.
This installment is just as mindbending and laced in Abrahamic themes as the first. From the Trees where the Hives reside, to the Village Lawgiver and Ghost-Doctor to the Order of Cain and the "Bandage-Men" - this world expands and develops in a macabre way.
Characters: Handry did a full 180 and is now as scary as Sharskin if not more. In the beginning of the book he has more power than he ever had in his entire life both Pre and Post Severance.
●Melory The Expert System, Iblis The Architect have grown into their roles as defiers of the "ghosts" in their heads. Iblis more so but Melory fights an uphill battle and it's beautiful to behold her loyalty for her twin Handry.
●I love that an Antivirus was basically introduced to the environment. Amorket of Jalaino is a GIANT trypophobia trigger if this duology ever makes it onto the big screen.
Favorite scene:
So many old human things appearing as alien, unnatural and new in this world.
● "Priest,” came the call from outside. “We’re come from Tsuno to get word to you. Hardly let our heels cool since we left it.” A village on his route, towards the edge of where people lived. A frontier place, nowhere anything important happened, surely, and yet here was Graf telling me, “They need help, priest. They have a war.”
Favorite Quote/Concept:
● "Eyes of the Ancestors" I prefer the ones for swimming or diving and now that I think of it - yes they do look alien.
● "I can’t even swear it’s better than dying alone in the woods. But it is something, and you will have comrades to share your misery.” (Handry on joing the Order of Cain)
StoryGraph Challenge: 1800 Books by 2025
Challenge Prompt: 150 Speculative Fiction stories by 2025
December 3, 2025
2.5 stars for a very underwhelming follow-up novella to the Expert System's Brother. I liked that one quite a bit more, as it actually had a full story arc and engaged me in a way this one didn't, as I had enjoyed gradually discovering the nature of a strange human society on an alien planet. That sense of discovery is gone here, replaced by nothing much.
This one picks up some years later, and while the brief flashbacks to the initial colonizing effort were compelling, the present-day story arc was just so lifeless. I wish Tchaikovsky had moved on from this world with a short but effective standalone in the bank rather than making an unnecessary series out of it. As it stands, I'd recommend these only for Tchaikovsky completionists to get them out of the way or sci-fi only readers focused more on worldbuilding and ideas who are desperately looking for serviceable 200-page stories.
The themes and worldbuilding elements he played around with here were done to much greater effect in Alien Clay and Elder Race, though I hesitate to even use the word "themes" since each thematic strand was developed so slightly that they barely exist. And don't come here looking for interesting characters to latch onto -- I'll be shocked if I can remember a single one in a few months' time.
This one picks up some years later, and while the brief flashbacks to the initial colonizing effort were compelling, the present-day story arc was just so lifeless. I wish Tchaikovsky had moved on from this world with a short but effective standalone in the bank rather than making an unnecessary series out of it. As it stands, I'd recommend these only for Tchaikovsky completionists to get them out of the way or sci-fi only readers focused more on worldbuilding and ideas who are desperately looking for serviceable 200-page stories.
The themes and worldbuilding elements he played around with here were done to much greater effect in Alien Clay and Elder Race, though I hesitate to even use the word "themes" since each thematic strand was developed so slightly that they barely exist. And don't come here looking for interesting characters to latch onto -- I'll be shocked if I can remember a single one in a few months' time.
October 3, 2022
We, who can do things no other human can, and all we paid for the privilege was everything we had and ever were.
Engaging and imaginative science fiction about “second contact.” Tchaikovsky veers in a new direction for his second story on this world. Parallel narratives precede and follow The Expert System's Brother. Excellent development.
We were the lords of the unnatural. We had made ourselves the ambassadors between the people of the villages and that other unseen world the ancestors had come from.
Really unique aliens. So often, like online games and SF movies, the aliens are just humans with strange masks. Prepare to have your Eweh sense disturbed.
Hope was most of the little we had. The remainder, which was to say, my plan, was despair.
Engaging and imaginative science fiction about “second contact.” Tchaikovsky veers in a new direction for his second story on this world. Parallel narratives precede and follow The Expert System's Brother. Excellent development.
We were the lords of the unnatural. We had made ourselves the ambassadors between the people of the villages and that other unseen world the ancestors had come from.
Really unique aliens. So often, like online games and SF movies, the aliens are just humans with strange masks. Prepare to have your Eweh sense disturbed.
Hope was most of the little we had. The remainder, which was to say, my plan, was despair.
November 6, 2025
I already loved the first book, but this one is SO much more interesting.
I loved the bits with the old colony, and the way we are led to understand the decisions taken by the Ancestors. The snails things are the stuff of horror and I adored it. So smart, so amazing, I wished I could lick Adrian's brain to have even a tenth of his talents and abilities to craft such intricate stories in such a short amount of pages. This is truly amazing. Very Elder Race, for those who had the chance to read it.
I loved the bits with the old colony, and the way we are led to understand the decisions taken by the Ancestors. The snails things are the stuff of horror and I adored it. So smart, so amazing, I wished I could lick Adrian's brain to have even a tenth of his talents and abilities to craft such intricate stories in such a short amount of pages. This is truly amazing. Very Elder Race, for those who had the chance to read it.
January 27, 2021
I really enjoyed the first novella but this just feels like more of the same. I still enjoyed it, I was just hoping for it to be more different.
March 6, 2021
This story is so unlike anything else I've ever read that I just can't help but feel utterly amazed by it. I didn't realize where things were going until probably 70% into the book, and even then, I was still... surprised and fascinated.
July 17, 2022
Like the previous book in this series, I thought this was a good look at how humans might survive in an environment that is deeply hostile to them.
I particularly liked the way the Bandage-Men had carved out a specific niche for themselves in the strange society that's arisen on this alien world. They've made themselves into semi-mythic figures who have a specific role, rather than the undesired and scattered outcasts. I'm not deep into carceral justice reading, but there's an interesting analysis about the rehabilitation-like approach in this book. Handry does keep emphasizing that he's one of the Order by mistake, which I found frustrating after a while.
I also liked the Champion system, and Amonket: what a way to depict a system rebelling against change. It's interesting to me, the way her entanglement with her ghost seems deeper than that of Melory or Iblis. This is never fully explained; personally, I don't mind, I think more books should leave things unexplained.
In fact, this book could have done with less explaining: I didn't love the flashbacks to Bain's struggles back when humans were first acclimatizing to the planet. I thought the book could've done without them; we eventually found out all we needed to know about the snails through Handry's story. Also, there was a degree of moralization present that I found distasteful. Bain was a bad leader, and that's why his group had the disordered, all-consuming, unnatural transformation that lost them their humanity. The other group was careful and orderly; they couldn't have foreseen their mistakes, and therefore their transformation is the good one that allows their descendants to retain humanity. This dichotomy is a little didactic for my taste. It would go well with the fable / oral history affect of the first novella, but that affect is incompatible with the flashbacks. I do appreciate that Handry realizes that the snails are their kin, and they should try to reach out, but the overall morality of it all is too much for me.
And I said I would come back to the odd chasteness of the Order of Cain... I find it difficult to believe that Melory couldn't bully the doctor-system into a recipe for contraceptives, or the House-ship into making condoms, or something. Presumably Tchaikovsky just doesn't want to deal with all of that, but I find the complete absence of sex as a concern somewhat jarring.
A small note: In the first book, names of creatures (Harboons, Brackers, etc) were capitalized; in this one they weren't. I liked it better when they were capitalized. An odd little old-earth remnant that says "these are unusual to us".
I particularly liked the way the Bandage-Men had carved out a specific niche for themselves in the strange society that's arisen on this alien world. They've made themselves into semi-mythic figures who have a specific role, rather than the undesired and scattered outcasts. I'm not deep into carceral justice reading, but there's an interesting analysis about the rehabilitation-like approach in this book. Handry does keep emphasizing that he's one of the Order by mistake, which I found frustrating after a while.
I also liked the Champion system, and Amonket: what a way to depict a system rebelling against change. It's interesting to me, the way her entanglement with her ghost seems deeper than that of Melory or Iblis. This is never fully explained; personally, I don't mind, I think more books should leave things unexplained.
In fact, this book could have done with less explaining: I didn't love the flashbacks to Bain's struggles back when humans were first acclimatizing to the planet. I thought the book could've done without them; we eventually found out all we needed to know about the snails through Handry's story. Also, there was a degree of moralization present that I found distasteful. Bain was a bad leader, and that's why his group had the disordered, all-consuming, unnatural transformation that lost them their humanity. The other group was careful and orderly; they couldn't have foreseen their mistakes, and therefore their transformation is the good one that allows their descendants to retain humanity. This dichotomy is a little didactic for my taste. It would go well with the fable / oral history affect of the first novella, but that affect is incompatible with the flashbacks. I do appreciate that Handry realizes that the snails are their kin, and they should try to reach out, but the overall morality of it all is too much for me.
And I said I would come back to the odd chasteness of the Order of Cain... I find it difficult to believe that Melory couldn't bully the doctor-system into a recipe for contraceptives, or the House-ship into making condoms, or something. Presumably Tchaikovsky just doesn't want to deal with all of that, but I find the complete absence of sex as a concern somewhat jarring.
A small note: In the first book, names of creatures (Harboons, Brackers, etc) were capitalized; in this one they weren't. I liked it better when they were capitalized. An odd little old-earth remnant that says "these are unusual to us".
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 8, 2021
I struggled with this one initially, which was something of a disappointment – and not a usual experience with Tchaikovsky’s writing. There is a Prologue that goes on for 9% of the book that doesn’t include the main protagonist, Handry, who I really emotionally identified with in The Expert System’s Brother. I would have preferred more of a bonding event with Handry at the start of this adventure, because while I enjoyed the story and found the plight of the early colonists engrossing – I didn’t particularly care about any of the characters, throughout, this time around.
That said, this is still worth reading. Nobody does colonisation quite like Tchaikovsky and the sheer inventive cleverness of the story and the consequent oddity of the inhabitants had me turning to pages to discover what would happen next. Though I’m profoundly grateful I don’t live within an ecosystem that fundamentally is toxic to my body, given the ultimate adaptation that was made to provide humanity with the ability to survive the place. Wasps and snails are involved, for starters… And if Tchaikovsky produces another book set within this remarkable world, I’ll be getting hold of it. Even if this one didn’t emotionally chime with me as much as the previous book – it is still a thought-provoking, enjoyable read.
8/10
That said, this is still worth reading. Nobody does colonisation quite like Tchaikovsky and the sheer inventive cleverness of the story and the consequent oddity of the inhabitants had me turning to pages to discover what would happen next. Though I’m profoundly grateful I don’t live within an ecosystem that fundamentally is toxic to my body, given the ultimate adaptation that was made to provide humanity with the ability to survive the place. Wasps and snails are involved, for starters… And if Tchaikovsky produces another book set within this remarkable world, I’ll be getting hold of it. Even if this one didn’t emotionally chime with me as much as the previous book – it is still a thought-provoking, enjoyable read.
8/10
January 26, 2021
review is up on my blog! :) find it here: http://colourmeread.com/the-expert-sy...
February 9, 2022
Nobody excels at creating a fully realized world in so few pages like Tchaikovsky.
March 19, 2022
Will review at Fantasy Literature.
September 26, 2024
The second in the series about humanity’s attempt to adapt to a world with a completely hostile biochemistry. Until a way is found to adapt, which then comes with its own problems.
I enjoyed the set up in volume one, another fine example of a good SciFi author creating a truly bizarre alien world but nonetheless with some believability and logic. This book continues the tale with new obstacles thrown up, linked to the original mission to the planet.
An enjoyable SciFi read though I found it pushing even my boundaries for really alien world scenarios. The lead character shows some development through the two books but the rest are there for the ride. I suspect the clever ideas behind this tale are now played out, at least to hold my interest, though the story about how adaption to the environment is achieved still seems a little unclear to me.
Once again great imagination on show by this author but I feel this story has now run its course. 4*.
I enjoyed the set up in volume one, another fine example of a good SciFi author creating a truly bizarre alien world but nonetheless with some believability and logic. This book continues the tale with new obstacles thrown up, linked to the original mission to the planet.
An enjoyable SciFi read though I found it pushing even my boundaries for really alien world scenarios. The lead character shows some development through the two books but the rest are there for the ride. I suspect the clever ideas behind this tale are now played out, at least to hold my interest, though the story about how adaption to the environment is achieved still seems a little unclear to me.
Once again great imagination on show by this author but I feel this story has now run its course. 4*.
September 21, 2024
A solid enough follow up but the setting only goes so far.
July 26, 2024
4.5
I think I enjoyed this novella even more than the first. It was different, with more action and classic sci-fi elements. Both are very good in their own right though.
I think I enjoyed this novella even more than the first. It was different, with more action and classic sci-fi elements. Both are very good in their own right though.
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