Days of Shattered Faith

Shortlisted for the Hugo Award for Best Series 2025

By: Adrian Tchaikovsky

Narrated by: David Thorpe

Bloomsbury presents Days of Shattered Faith by Adrian Tchaikovsky, read by David Thorpe.

Welcome to Alkhalend, Jewel of the Waters, capital of Usmai, greatest of the Successor States, inheritor to the necromantic dominion that was the Moeribandi Empire and tomorrow’s frontline in the Palleseen’s relentless march to bring Perfection and Correctness to an imperfect world.

Loret is fresh off the boat, and just in time.

As Cohort-Invigilator of Correct Appreciation, Outreach department, she’s here as aide to the Palleseen Resident, Sage-Invigilator Angilly. And Sage-Invigilator Angilly – Gil to her friends – needs a second in the spectacularly illegal, culturally offensive and diplomatically inadvisable duel she must fight at midnight.

Outreach, that part of the Pal machine that has to work within the imperfection of the rest of the world, has a lot of room for the illegal, the unconventional, the unorthodox. But just how much unorthodoxy can Gil and Loret get away with?

As a succession crisis looms, as a long-forgotten feat of necromantic engineering nears fruition, as pirate kings, lizard armies and demons gather, as old gods wane and new gods wax, sooner or later Gil and Loret will have to settle their ledger.

Just as well they are both very, very good with a blade…

Also in the TYRANT PHILOSOPHERS SERIES:
CITY OF LAST CHANCES
HOUSE OF OPEN WOUNDS
LIVES OF BITTER RAIN©2024 Adrian Czajkowski (P)2024 Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

Critic reviews

Brilliant... Tchaikovsky succeeds in turning Alkhalend into a stage that showcases the entanglement of the personal and the political in ways both touching and tragic. It's an impressive feat

'Quite simply superb, diplomatic and political shenanigans edge towards brutal all-out war in this darkly intricate and original novel.'

Praise for The Tyrant Philosophers Series:

'Exceptional.... Not to be missed' - Publishers Weekly, Starred review

'Endlessly creative . . . so much invention peeking around every corner' - Patrick Ness

'Has some of Tchaikovsky's best prose . . . an absolutely fascinating study in human behaviour' - SF Crowsnest

'A master at the height of his powers. This epic symphonic fantasy, weaving a breakneck plot through a sumptuously dangerous world.'

Rich and detailed... I love the way the books make me think and pay attention

'Dense, dark, ingenious, ironic, complex, often funny, and always smart'

Flawed characters, doing good in wartime despite their damaged personae, within a brutally unique magical universe.

I’ve never enjoyed fantasy other than Tolkien, as a hard sci-fi human. Favorite is Iain M Banks’ work. This series hooked me with the friendly first book, set
the hook deeply with the second as characters became 3D amid the guts of war and politics, and this 3rd has me hoping for an endless saga.

The humor and stunning bits of wordplay tossed carelessly into intensely dramatic narrative had me pausing to savor Tchaikovsky’s writing. So satisfying.

Preordered the 4th, a personal first.

I love these characters so much

I think this is Tchaikovsky's best work so far, it flowed so narratively well that the dense text was easily listenable.

Another Triumph

Adrian does another great job building this universe and immersing us in a different part of it. Narration is crisp and engaging. Can't wait for the next book.

The pinnacle of his prose

I've read the majority of Tchaikovsky's work. While the themes and characters here are familiar to his other writings (a theme of his work, itself), with the Tyrant Philosophers trilogy, he achieves both poetry and tangible realness. Tchaikovsky has given Speculative Fiction a champion, which the Halls of Literature wouldn't dream of challenging to a duel.

Eagerly awaiting the next book

I’m trying to remember any other book where a has multiple world-shattering moments so deftly lined up in a single page.

One of them coming in just eight “blink and you’ll miss it” words. Tchaikovsky doesn’t make throw-away phrases when it comes to things like this. I won’t spoil it. Just to say it’s late in the book after a duel of extreme consequences and a character’s goodbye makes big big changes. Wow. WOW… just… W O W.

I am waiting eagerly for the next book.