The Expert System’s Champion

The Expert System's Champion by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Published by Tordotcom on January 26, 2021
Genres: Science Fiction
Pages: 192
Format: ARC
ISBN: 1250766397
Goodreads

In Adrian Tchaikovsky's The Expert System's Champion, sometimes the ones you hate are the only ones that can save you.
It's been ten years since Handry was wrenched away from his family and friends, forced to wander a world he no longer understood. But with the help of the Ancients, he has cobbled together a life, of sorts, for himself and his fellow outcasts.
Wandering from village to village, welcoming the folk that the townships abandon, fighting the monsters the villagers cannot—or dare not—his ever-growing band of misfits has become the stuff of legend, a story told by parents to keep unruly children in line.
But there is something new and dangerous in the world, and the beasts of the land are acting against their nature, destroying the towns they once left in peace.
And for the first time in memory, the Ancients have no wisdom to offer...

Thank you so so much to Tor.com for sending me an ARC for review!

I am pretty sure that every single Tor.com novella that I’ve read I’ve rated 4 or 5 stars. So when they reached out to me to see if I was interested in this book, my answer was “ummm duh.” Okay fine, I didn’t say exactly that but that’s what I was thinking! I was also excited because though I have read one of Adrian Tchaikovsky’s fantasy novels, I hadn’t read any of his science fiction. He seems to be much more well known for that, so I jumped at the chance.

Obviously this is a sequel, so I read the first one to catch up. What a fascinating read!! There was so much packed into that little novella that it felt like a full length novel. After that I pretty much dove right into this one. I was so excited to see how Tchaikovsky expanded on the already fascinating world.

This one is equally as fascinating and thought provoking, and a truly wonderful sequel. I will do my best to not spoil anything from either book too much throughout this review! Below I’ll highlight a couple of my favorite things from the novella.

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Showing the Ancestors

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This worked REALLY WELL. The Ancestors are (without spoiling too much) the people who originally settled on this planet. It was really neat to see how things have changed in terms of interacting with the environment, and how different groups of people will react in different ways. The characters themselves were so cool to read about – because obviously it’s hard as hell to come to a completely unknown place. Their emotions were incredibly compelling, and the sense of dread and stress through their chapters was palpable.

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Study of Humanity

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The core of both this novella and the first one is the question of what it means to be human. I thought this one did such a great job in continuing to wrestle with that question but in a different way to the first book. It didn’t feel like we were hashing out the same things, it felt new and like a natural next step to some of the revelations and understandings the characters came to previously.

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Creative Creatures

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Okay I will admit I was a little bit creeped out by the creatures living in this world but they were still so cool to read about! Tchaikovsky’s imagination is wonderful and a bit scary haha. I think that coming up with completely new things for planets that are not Earth must be so difficult, since all of our experience is, well, Earth creatures. But he’s done it!!

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I really enjoyed this thought-provoking novella, and would absolutely pick up any continuation if the author chooses to do so.

The Expert System’s Champion is out today – happy book birthday!! I hope you go check out this one (and the first book, if you haven’t read that yet)!