Elder Race

An Ursula Le Guin-like grace . . . Ten out of ten
New York Times

Science fiction meets fantasy in Adrian Tchaikovsky's Elder Race. A junior anthropologist on a distant planet must break all the rules to save the planet from an unbeatable foe.

Lynesse is the lowly Fourth Daughter of the queen, and always getting in the way.

But a demon is terrorising the land, and now she's an adult (albeit barely) and although she still gets in the way, she understands that the only way to save her people is to invoke the pact between her family and the Elder sorcerer who has inhabited the local tower for as long as her people have lived here (though none in living memory has approached it).

But Elder Nyr isn't a sorcerer, and he is forbidden to help, for his knowledge of science tells him the threat cannot possibly be a demon . . .

Praise for Adrian Tchaikovsky

'Adrian Tchaikovsky is fast becoming the voice of his generation' - Stephen Baxter, author of Proxima

'Tchaikovsky is the break-out star of contemporary British SF' - The Guardian

'Tchaikovsky's world-building is some of the best in modern sci-fi' - New Scientist