I n the distant future, the whole universe is faced with a threat called the Architects--mysterious beings aptly named because they like to rearrange planets into aesthetically pleasing shapes ... to the detriment of all life on it. In order to combat them, humanity engineers superhumans known as Intermediaries who are able to telepathically communicate with them at the risk of their own insanity. When an Architect approaches Berlenhof—the heart of humanity’s colonies—an Intermediary named Idris somehow manages to destroy it. The war is over. Decades pass without an Architect sighting, but when one is rumored to have reappeared, Idris becomes a prized pawn as opposing factions seek to use him. Shards of Earth by Adrian Tchaikovsky paints a richly imaginative and sweepingly ambitious space opera with splash of cosmic horror. There’s a plethora of unique alien races and warring factions, so there are a lot of pieces on the board here. This makes for a denser read, but thankfully, th...