Release date: February 27 2025
Publisher: Tor Books
Pages: 436
Find it: Goodreads Waterstones
Source: The publisher kindly sent me a copy of this book to review
Rating: 4/5 stars
Synopsis
They looked into the darkness and the darkness looked back . . .
New planets are fair game to asset strippers and interplanetary opportunists – and a commercial mission to a distant star system discovers a moon that is pitch black, but alive with radio activity. Its high-gravity, high-pressure, zero-oxygen environment is anathema to human life, but ripe for exploitation. They named it Shroud.
Under no circumstances should a human end up on Shroud’s inhospitable surface. Except a catastrophic accident sees Juna Ceelander and Mai Ste Etienne doing just that. Forced to stage an emergency landing, in a small, barely adequate vehicle, they are unable to contact their ship and are running out of time. What follows is a gruelling journey across land, sea and air. During this time, Juna and Mai begin to understand Shroud’s dominant species. It also begins to understand them . . .
If they escape Shroud, they’ll face a crew only interested in profiteering from this extraordinary world. They’ll somehow have to explain the impossible and translate the incredible. That is, if they make it back at all.
Review
Shroud is the newest release from Children of Time author Adrian Tchaikovsky. The story follows a group of people on a mission to find planets they can use for assets and make a profit from. When they find a remote moon that seems promising, they name it Shroud and start to gather data. The surface is inhospitable and all research is done from the ship, however when an accident leads Juna and Ste Etienne stuck on Shroud, they face a horrifying journey across Shroud’s surface to find safety. As they attempt to find safety they meet those that call Shroud home and start to realise there is much more to these creatures than meets the eye.
This is my fourth book from Adrian Tchaikovsky and I could not put it down. This was such an intense, compelling tale. It has such an intriguing premise and I was captivated from the outset. Tchaikovsky does an incredible job of bringing this strange alien world and strange alien creatures to life. It all felt incredibly vivid and well crafted. I thought I knew where the story was going to go but Tchaikovsky took the story in directions I didn’t expect. I also really liked that not only do we get the point of view of Juna and Ste Etienne, but also we see things from the perspective of those that live on Shroud.
The story focuses very much on our two main characters and given they are stuck in a confined vehicle for a large portion of the story, it was fascinating to see the dynamics at play between Juna and Ste Etienne, particularly as they continue to battle such difficult conditions on Shroud. This is an expertly crafted science-fiction story that I thoroughly enjoyed from start to finish. If you’re looking for a gripping, thought-provoking alien encounter story, Shroud should definitely be your next read.
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