Shards of Earth
by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Orbit, 2021); audiobook read by Sophie Aldred (Pan Macmillan, 2021)
A well-wrought fusion of space opera and high-concept SF. Tchaikovsky presents big ideas through the lives of small, relatable people, dialling up the action and thereby raising the stakes on both levels. Sophie Aldred’s audiobook reading evokes a zeitgeist of frontier-punk moxie.