Welcome to my weekly segment, Waiting on Wednesday, where I look at upcoming books that I am planning to order and review in the next few months and which I think I will really enjoy. I run this segment in conjunction with the Can’t-Wait Wednesday meme that is currently running at Wishful Endings. Stay tuned to see reviews of these books when I get a copy of them. In this latest Waiting on Wednesday, I highlight three planned 2024 novels from one of my new favourite authors, Adrian Tchaikovsky.
Over the last couple of years, I have found myself really getting into the works of the impressive and inventive science fiction and fantasy author, Adrian Tchaikovsky, who has been wowing me with his fun and complex reads. Known for his elaborate novels that combine great characters with unique settings, complicated ideas and intriguing social commentary, Tchaikovsky’s books are always extremely fun and deeply compelling. Some of his best-known works including his Shadows of the Apt, Children of Time, Echoes of the Fall and The Final Architecture series, just to name a few, as well as a range of awesome standalone reads.
I personally have become familiar with Tchaikovsky through some of his more recent books. This started last year when I had the pleasure of reading Tchaikovsky’s first foray into Warhammer 40,000 fiction with the dark and intriguing Day of Ascension, that focused on a nefarious Genestealer Cult on an oppressed planet. Day of Ascension ended up being one of the best Warhammer 40,000 novels I have had the pleasure of reading, and it encouraged me to check out more books from Tchaikovsky. This led me to the fantastic novella, Ogres, which told a fantastic story of a young man forced to grow up in a world ruled over by terrifying, technologically advanced ogres, and which ended up being quite the unique and memorable read.
However, the book that made me a particularly massive fan of Tchaikovsky is his awesome fantasy release, City of Last Chances. Following a complex cohort of characters around an occupied city on the verge of revolution, City of Last Chances was an outstanding and highly addictive novel that had me hooked the entire way through. City of Last Chances got an easy five-star rating from me, and I just featured it on my Top Ten Audiobooks of 2023 list. Tchaikovsky followed City of Last Chances up in late 2023 with the awesome sequel, House of Open Wounds, which took one of the main characters from City of Last Chances and conscripted him to an unusual military hospital. This resulted in an epic read that got another five-star rating and left me with an unstoppable need to read more books from Tchaikovsky. Luckily for me, Tchaikovsky has three amazing sounding science fiction novels coming out in 2024 that I am going to make a big effort to read next year.
Amazon
The first of these books is the exciting and intense sounding science fiction thriller, Alien Clay. Set for release in March 2024, Alien Clay will see an imprisoned scientist attempt to make a unique scientific discovery on an alien planet that has been turned into a notorious prison colony.
Plot Synopsis:
Alien Clay is a thrilling far-future adventure by acclaimed Arthur C. Clarke Award-winning author Adrian Tchaikovsky.
The planet of Kiln is where the tyrannical Mandate keeps its prison colony, and for inmates the journey there is always a one-way trip. One such prisoner is Professor Arton Daghdev, xeno-ecologist and political dissident. Soon after arrival he discovers that Kiln has a secret. Humanity is not the first intelligent life to set foot there.
In the midst a ravenous, chaotic ecosystem are the ruins of a civilization, but who were the vanished builders and where did they go? If he can survive both the harsh rule of the camp commandant and the alien horrors of the world around him, then Arton has a chance at making a discovery that might just transform not only Kiln but distant Earth as well.
Alien Clay sounds like an awesome read and I love the idea of a character forced to survive threats both human and alien to make a significant discovery with far-reaching implications. A harrowing prison thriller combined with complex science fiction elements has a lot of potential, and I imagine that Tchaikovsky is going to come up with some vicious and entertaining villains for the protagonist to come into conflict with. Everything about Alien Clay sounds really awesome and I look forward to seeing just how messed up things get on Kiln.
Amazon
The next book that Tchaikovsky has coming out in 2024 is the fun and deadly science fiction novel, Service Model, which will see the author put his own spin to a well-known story idea. Set for release in June 2024, Service Model has a fantastic plot about a domesticated robot who gains murderous sentience and then discovers the dark truth about the society it was built to support.
Plot Synopsis:
Murderbot meets Redshirts in a delightfully humorous tale of robotic murder from the Hugo-nominated author of Elder Race and Children of Time.
To fix the world they must first break it, further.
Humanity is a dying breed, utterly reliant on artificial labor and service.
When a domesticated robot gets a nasty little idea downloaded into its core programming, they murder their owner. The robot discovers they can also do something else they never did before: they can run away.
Fleeing the household they enter a wider world they never knew existed, where the age-old hierarchy of humans at the top is disintegrating into ruins and an entire robot ecosystem devoted to human wellbeing is having to find a new purpose.
Sometimes all it takes is a nudge to overcome the limits of your programming.
This is a Tchaikovsky book that I am particularly looking forward to, especially as it sounds like it’s going to be the author’s funniest and most insightful novel. Any story that focuses on an intelligent robot who begins to realise that they don’t have to continue to take orders from humans is always going to be good, and I have no doubt Tchaikovsky will ensure that the funniest aspects of this human/robot relationship come to the fore. I also look forward to seeing another Tchaikovsky dystopia, especially as one where humans have become too reliant on robots sounds perfectly feasible. This will no doubt make the story hit even closer to home and Tchaikovsky will undoubtedly fill Service Model with cutting observations about the current state of humanity and the paths we find ourselves on. Honestly, Service Model sounds like the book I am most going to enjoy from Tchaikovsky next year and I cannot wait to check it out.
Amazon
The final novel from Adrian Tchaikovsky coming out in 2024 that I want to highlight is the awesome science fiction adventure novel, Saturation Point. A darker sounding read, in Saturation Point Tchaikovsky envisions a deadly new eco-system emerging on Earth where no human can survive, and naturally sends some human protagonists in.
Plot Synopsis:
A group of scientists and soldiers are hunted by mysterious enemies in a terrifying new climate thriller from the “Master of British SF”
Doctor Jasmine Marks is going back into hell.
The Hygrometric Dehabitation Region, or the “Zone,” is a growing band of rainforest on the equator, where the heat and humidity make it impossible for warm-blooded animals to survive. A human being without protection in the Zone is dead in minutes.
Twenty years ago, Marks went into the rainforest with a group of researchers led by Doctor Elaine Fell, to study the extraordinary climate and see if it could be used in agriculture. The only thing she learned was that the Zone was no place for people. There were deaths, and the programme was cut short.
Now, they’re sending her back in. A plane crash, a rescue mission, a race against time and the environment to bring out the survivors. But there are things Marks’s corporate masters aren’t telling her. The Zone keeps its secrets, and so does Doctor Fell…
Saturation Point sounds like it is going to be a great piece of science fiction, with some possible horror elements thrown in as well. I love the idea of an extremely hostile climate system appearing on Earth, and I am sure there is going to be some interesting climate change discussions there, especially with corporations trying to exploit it. Sending a group of soldiers and scientists into such a zone is a great premise for a classic horror tale and I am sure that Tchaikovsky will rise to the occasion and produce something gritty, exciting and with some clever commentary. Saturation Point should prove to be a very awesome read and I am very much looking forward to it.
As you can see, Adrian Tchaikovsky is going to have a particularly busy year in 2024, with at least three books coming out. All three of these intriguing science fiction novels, Alien Clay, Service Model and Saturation Point sound pretty damn impressive in their own unique way and I love the impressive and different plots that Tchaikovsky has come up for them. Combine this with the author’s proven and often humour-laden writing ability, and these novels are going to be extremely epic. It honestly wouldn’t surprise me if most of them end up being some of the best novels I read in 2024, and I cannot wait to see what crazy rabbit holes Tchaikovsky takes me down next.
The Unseen Library 