Days of Shattered Faith: The best in the series so far

Days of Shattered Faith by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Days of Shattered Faith is the third book in Adrian Tchaikovsky’s TYRANT PHILOSOPHERS series, continuing that series’ strong run of quality. While each book is meant to stand alone, and this one certainly can, reading the others will allow for a richer experience given the reappearance of multiple characters.

As with the other two books, Tchaikovsky shifts to a new setting in this universe and introduces a new group of characters (with some old ones as noted), though the background remains the imperialistic nation of Pallesand and its desire to conquer all other nations and bring them to “perfection” or bring them “into the Sway” as they like to call it. In this case the country is Usmai and particularly the capital city of Alkhalend, ruled over by the Alkhand. Usmai is a strong nation and has so far not been brought into the Sway (Pallesand’s just concluded war with a powerful foe was to Usmai’s benefit in that regard). So Pallesand is using diplomacy and sneakiness rather than direct force.

Leading the effort is Gil, the Palleseen “resident” (top diplomat) in the city. A major stumbling block for her is that the current ruler of Usmai is fading and a succession battle is brewing between his two sons Gorbudan — a “warrior-prince” who loathes the Palleseen — and Dekamran, the “scholar prince” who thinks Pallesand is not the threat his brother does. Complicating things (well, one of the many complications) is that Dekamran and Gil have a romantic relationship simmering. Other characters include Gil’s mysterious new assistant Loret, a younger brother and sister in the royal family (the former involved with the local Death Cult remnant of the old Empire Usmai was once part of and the latter doing her best to avoid a princess’ obligations of political marriage), the unusual husband-wife wardens of the local prison that also houses thousands of ghosts, a found family who run the Fever Lodge (a sort of free clinic for both normal and magical healing, but not at all free), two other Palleseen (one a sort of free agent military commander who uses unusual methods and the other a “decanter” who confiscates magical objects to power Pallesand’s needs), a group of pirates, and the masked monks who watch over the Waygrove, a portal to other worlds we’ve seen in the other books and that several of the above characters have come to Usmai from.

The worldbuilding is fantastic, long a strength of Tchaikovsky’s work. The setting is rife with immersive details, the politics and religion well done, and the various stew of different groups — many not even from this world — is a rich medley. The more granular characterization is also strong. Gil in particularly is a vividly conveyed character, torn between her duties, her personal ethics, and her feelings for Dekamran; she allows Tchaikovsky to avoid the easy and cheap villainy depiction of Pallesand and give a more nuanced view. The same degree of nuance arises in the portrayal of the two brothers, not just in their individual views toward Pallesand but in their relationship to one another. Here again, Tchaikovsky eschews the easy choice of making one clearly the “right” one. I was also a big fan of Flint, the sort of off-books Palleseen commander, the demon Croskin, a swordswoman known as “The Viper,” and Kakrops, the giant frog god.

Tchaikovsky employs a mosaic approach to structure and POV, which did make it a bit difficult at the start to get into the story proper. But once everyone (or nearly everyone) was introduced, things began to settle down, with the story flowing smoothly and the characters becoming more engaging in their internal musings and interactions. The plot is filled with bargains, betrayals, shifting alliances, calculating geopolitics and internal politics, rivalries between and within political and religious factions, tensions between nation-states and individuals, between the homogenizing colonial view of Pallesand and the more welcoming open to all kinds attitude of Usmai, between siblings, between social expectations and individual desires, between masters and slaves. It’s all engrossingly in flux, all of it captivating, all of it keeping readers on their toes.

While the themes are serious and thoughtfully explored, Tchaikovsky makes a lot of room as well for humor, some romance, exhilarating battle scenes, tense one-on-one fight scenes, and several quite moving moments (the demons in particular are strong in this regard). Meanwhile, the prose throughout is crisp and vividly sharp, always a pleasure to read.

I’ve enjoyed all three books in this series, but Days of Shattered Faith is my favorite. I’m already looking forward to the next book.