Elder Race

Here's the premise: Humans explore space, establishing settlements across the galaxy. Something happens, and all the settlements are on their own for hundreds of years. Many devolve to pre-industrial states without connection to other settlements. A revived Earth sends out research missions to all the settlements with a Prime Directive like instruction to observe but not interfere. But then something happens again and all the research missions lose contact with Earth, stranding researchers, who have access to life-extending health technology as well as other machines not available to local settlements.

Nyr is the stranded anthropologist. Lynesse, aka Lyn, is local settlement royalty, but is the 4th, and least important daughter. A corruption starts defeating outlying kingdoms. Royalty doesn't care much because they are outlying. Lynesse sees a bigger danger, and sets off to find the wizard of legend (Nyr) to convince him to help. Isolated and lonely, he agrees.

The story follows them in their journey, alternating points of view between Nyr and Lynesse. To him, it's just technology. To her, it's magic. They struggle to connect, and both struggle to understand if they have a chance to defeat a demon made of stuff that is unknown to both of them.

On the one hand, it's a lovely story of people trying to, and ultimately, coming together. And I mostly relate to it on that level. But also, there's a germ of ick at a dude who uses a vast power difference to be the impressive cool wizard. Tchaikovsky does a pretty good job of threading the needle so that Lynesse is both able to be impressed and also together enough not be be naive about the ancient wizard.

”The road to the Tower of Nyrgoth Elder is long and hard because he decreed it so, that it not be trodden lightly by fools, but only by earnest heroes when the kingdom is threatened by dire sorcery.”

Lynesse’s kingdom has problems only a sorcerer can solve. Unfortunately the sorcerer in question has been asleep for thousands of years, and Lynesse is only a fourth daughter and decidedly not someone entrusted with saving a kingdom. Nevertheless, Lynesse recognizes the danger her people are in, heads off to Nyrgoth’s tower, and manages to wake up the sleeping sorcerer that saved her kingdom so very long ago. Unfortunately the sorcerer….isn’t exactly a sorcerer.Nyrgoth (or, Nyr for short) is an anthropologist sent to a remote planet to study an emerging civilization. Initially sent with two others, his companions eventually return to their homeworld, leaving Nyr alone to stand vigil on this remote planet. Communication eventually stops between the homeworld and Nyr, and he starts resorting to putting himself to sleep for long stretches at a time to hold out hope for contact. None comes, and Nyr becomes increasingly disillusioned and depressed at this post he’s holding. His outpost wakes him up abruptly off schedule, and Nyr is confronted with the great great great great great ancestor of someone very dear to him who has come to him with a problem only a sorcerer can solve. But…he’s an anthropologist, not a sorcerer, and how can he make her understand that?This was a really deep story for being so short. I loved that it’s essentially two different genres in one—Lynesse’s viewpoint from the medieval fantasy society, heading off to save her kingdom with a sorcerer in tow to finally prove herself to her family, and Nyr’s science fiction viewpoint, struggling to balance his duty to preserve a developing culture with his promise to be there for the kingdom of someone he met long ago. The author plays with this a lot, often showing the same conversation from the two very different viewpoints and how different (or similar) the thinking can be. Nyr’s technology automatically translates whatever he says into something the local population can understand, both in words and in meaning, so it was really interesting to me to see how things could be misinterpreted. Because it’s a novella there’s not a lot of answers or unnecessary backstory to be had. This was fine with me as I liked coming up with my own theories as to what it was that Lynesse and Nyr confront (and what it might mean for Nyr’s homeworld), but for someone else who might want concrete, definite information this one might fall flat. It’s very much a character-driven story, and while the plot itself was interesting, a ton is left up in the air at the end.Still a very engaging read for me. This was my first by Tchaikovsky, but I do plan on reading more in the future.

She is a fourth daughter of royalty with no hope of advancement in station, determined to invoke the promise of aid given to her ancestor generations ago by a powerful wizard when her mother refuses to engage a demon threatening the kingdom.

He is a long-lived exo-socialogist, sent to observe these people but not interfere. He broke that directive once before, many years ago, and now another of them has shown up at his outpost door...

I've never seen a story play with Clarke's Third Law ("Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.") like this before. Each chapter alternates POV between the two main characters, so it is half science fiction and half fantasy. Sometimes the same events are told both ways. The story is interesting on its own, but told this way it also becomes a lesson on empathy and understanding.

It surprisingly also became a story about severe depression, persevering through grief and trauma, methods of self care, and how mental anguish can appear from the POV of both those suffering and those around them.

And that will always endear this story to me.

Arthur C Clarke famously once wrote that "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic", and this story is the living embodiment of that, presenting the idea from both perspectives. I enjoyed how the book regularly switched between those perspectives, showing how conversations were perceived differently by the protagonist who controls the technology and his more primitive, magic-fearing counterpart. The struggle to communicate is one of the themes of the book.

Besides that, this is a book that also tries to deal with the concepts of loneliness and isolation, and the profound depression that can spring from this. I found it interesting that the book depicts a technological solution to these human problems, but one that is deeply flawed.

Overall, I enjoyed the book a lot. It's not action-packed, nor is it full of intrigue or plot twists; it prefers to focus instead on the thoughts and feelings of the two main characters. I didn't find it as gripping as some of Tchaikovsky's other work (e.g., his excellent Children Of Time series), but it was a thought-provoking and very worthwhile read nonetheless.

Stop me if you've heard this synopsis before: a young and neglected princess seeks the approval of her family and dreams of fame by enlisting the help of a mythical wizard to vanquish evil from their land.

And then you enter chapter two and realize that Tchaikovsky has put a fun twist on this common tale.

...now I'm on a fucking quest with a couple of women who don't understand things like germs or fusion power or anthropological theories of value.

I had no idea what to expect going into Elder Race. I have to give credit to the posters on r/fantasy who recommended it as one of their best reads of the year. This is a short (200 pages) story that took a trope and made it highly engaging and enjoyable.

I am unfamiliar with Tchaikovsky's work and found this a great way to take notice of his talents as an author. Other reviews on Goodreads reference other authors or novels, most of which I haven't read, so I can't comment on how similar it is to Book A or like Author B.

It's not as though the whole business of depression is a zero-sum game, after all. But for now I can function again, and bleed-over should be minimal.

After coming off The Lost Metal by Sanderson and commenting on the surprising amount of emotional trauma and depression there is another portion served up in Elder Race for good measure.

The book was short and while it would have been enjoyable if the length was doubled, this was a quick hit that didn't deviate from the plot. The characters (both in the POV chapters and supporting) were mysterious with just enough insight to understand their experiences and motives.