“What are Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Best Books?” We looked at all of Tchaikovsky’s authored bibliography and ranked them against one another to answer that very question!

We took all of the books written by Adrian Tchaikovsky and looked at their Goodreads, Amazon, and LibraryThing scores, ranking them against one another to see which books came out on top. The books are ranked in our list below based on which titles have the highest overall score between all 3 review sites in comparison with all of the other books by the same author. The process isn’t super scientific and in reality, most books aren’t “better” than other books as much as they are just different. That being said, we do enjoy seeing where our favorites landed, and if you aren’t familiar with the author at all, the rankings can help you see what books might be best to start with.

The full ranking chart is also included below the countdown on the bottom of the page.

Happy Scrolling!

The Top Book’s Of Adrian Tchaikovsky

28 ) Dark Currents

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 25
• Amazon: 22
• LibraryThing: 18

A dazzling blend of science fiction, fantasy, dark fantasy and horror: a set of stories that traverses genre boundaries, linked only by their common inspiration. Contributors were given just those two words: ‘Dark Currents’ and then asked to let their imaginations run wild… From haunted seascapes …

27 ) Reading Between the Lines

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 23
• Amazon: 23
• LibraryThing: 18

26 ) Walking to Aldebaran

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 22
• Amazon: 23
• LibraryThing: 18

I’M LOST. I’M SCARED. AND THERE’S SOMETHING HORRIBLE IN HERE. My name is Gary Rendell. I’m an astronaut. When they asked me as a kid what I wanted to be when I grew up, I said, “astronaut, please!” I dreamed astronaut, I worked astronaut, I studied astronaut. I got lucky; when a probe exploring the …

25 ) The Girl at the End of the World Book 2

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 25
• Amazon: 19
• LibraryThing: 18

It’s the end of days. The sky is falling, the seas are burning and your neighbour is a zombie. It’s brutal out there.

24 ) Ironclads

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 24
• Amazon: 21
• LibraryThing: 16

Scions have no limits Scions do not die And Scions do not disappear Sergeant Ted Regan has a problem. A son of one of the great corporate families, a Scion, has gone missing at the front. He should have been protected by his Ironclad – the lethal battle suits that make the Scions masters of war – bu…

23 ) Empire in Black and Gold

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 25
• Amazon: 18
• LibraryThing: 14

Seventeen years ago Stenwold witnessed the Wasp Empire storming the city of Myna in a brutal war of conquest. Since then he has preached vainly against this threat in his home city of Collegium, but now the Empire is on the march, with its spies and its armies everywhere, and the Lowlands lie directly in its path. All the while, Stenwold has been training youthful agents to fight the Wasp advance, and the latest recruits include his niece, Che, and his mysterious ward, Tynisa. When his home is violently attacked, he is forced to send them ahead of him and, hotly pursued, they fly by airship to Helleron, the first city in line for the latest Wasp invasion.Stenwold and Che are Beetle-kinden, one of many human races that take their powers and inspiration each from a totem insect, but he also has allies of many breeds: Mantis, Spider, Ant, with their own particular skills. Foremost is the deadly Mantis-kinden warrior, Tisamon, but other very unlikely allies also join the cause. As things go from bad to worse amid escalating dangers, Stenwold learns that the Wasps intend to use the newly completed railroad between Helleron and Collegium to launch a lightning strike into the heart of the Lowlands. Then he gathers all of his agents to force a final showdown in the engine yard …

22 ) The Scent of Tears

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 16
• Amazon: 23
• LibraryThing: 17

For the first time in print, Adrian Tchaikovsky has opened up the realm of the Apt, as featured in his best-selling Shadow of the Apt decalogy, to a carefully selected cast of fellow writers, inviting them to do their best and their worst within the world he has created. They have done just that. Topped and tailed by two new stories form Adrian himself, some of the finest imaginations in fantasy, including winners of the David Gemmell Award,

21 ) Blood of the Mantis

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 19
• Amazon: 15
• LibraryThing: 18

Driven by the ghosts of the Darakyon, Achaeos has tracked the stolen Shadow Box to the marsh-town of Jerez, but he has only days before the magical box is lost to him forever. Meanwhile, the forces of the Empire are mustering over winter for their great offensive, gathering their soldiers and perfecting their new weapons. Stenwold and his followers have only a short time to gather what allies they can before the Wasp armies march again, conquering everything in their path. If they cannot throw back the Wasps this spring then the imperial black-and-gold flag will fly over every city in the Lowlands before the year’s end. In Jerez begins a fierce struggle over the Shadow Box, as lake creatures, secret police and renegade magicians compete to take possession. If it falls into the hands of the Wasp Emperor, however, then no amount of fighting will suffice to save the world from his relentless ambition.

20 ) Dragonfly Falling

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 20
• Amazon: 19
• LibraryThing: 11

Two young companions, Totho and Salma, arrive at Tark to spy on the menacing Wasp army, but are there mistakenly apprehended as enemy agents. By the time they are freed, the city is already under siege. Over in the imperial capital the young emperor, Alvdan, is becoming captivated by a remarkable slave, the vampiric Uctebri, who claims he knows of magic that can grant eternal life. In Collegium, meanwhile, Stenwold is still trying to persuade the city magnates to take seriously the Wasp Empire’s imminent threat to their survival. In a colourful drama involving mass warfare and personal combat, a small group of heroes must stand up against what seems like an unstoppable force. This volume continues the story that so brilliantly unfolded in Empire in Black and Gold – and the action is still non-stop.

19 ) The Tiger and the Wolf

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 17
• Amazon: 17
• LibraryThing: 15

In the bleak northern crown of the world, war is coming. Maniye’s father is the Wolf clan’s chieftain, but she’s an outcast. Her mother was queen of the Tiger and these tribes have been enemies for generations. Maniye also hides a deadly secret. All can shift into their clan’s animal form, but Maniye can take on tiger and wolf shapes. She refuses to disown half her soul, so escapes, rescuing a prisoner of the Wolf clan in the process. The killer Broken Axe is set on their trail, to drag them back for retribution. Maniye’s father plots to rule the north, and controlling his daughter is crucial to his schemes. However, other tribes also prepare for strife. Strangers from the far south appear too, seeking allies in their own conflict. It’s a season for omens as priests foresee danger, and a darkness falling across the land. Some say a great war is coming, overshadowing even Wolf ambitions. A time of testing and broken laws is near, but what spark will set the world ablaze?

18 ) Seal of the Worm

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 25
• Amazon: 4
• LibraryThing: 18

The thrilling tenth and final part of the Shadows of the Apt, Seal of the Worm by Adrian Tchaikovsky is a vivid and enthralling conclusion to this spectacular series. An ancient enemy stirs once more . . . The Empire stands victorious over its enemies at last. With her chief rival cast into the abyss, Empress Seda now faces the truth of what she has cost the world in order to win the war. The Seal has been shattered, and the Worm stirs towards the light for the first time in a thousand years. Already it is striking at the surface, voraciously consuming everything its questing tendrils touch. Faced with destruction, Seda knows that only the most extreme of solutions can lock the Worm back in the dark once again. But if she will go to such appalling lengths to save the world from the Worm, then who will save the world from her?

17 ) For Love of Distant Shores

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 3
• Amazon: 23
• LibraryThing: 18

In a narrative reminiscent of Phileas Fogg meets Professor Challenger, For Love of Distant Shores features the exploits of scientist-cum-adventurer Doctor Ludweg Phinagler, as recorded by his (semi-)faithful assistant, Fosse. A maverick academic, Phinagler is able to charm almost everyone he meets… except for his fellow academics at Collegium, with whom he is frequently at odds. In part to escape the resultant animosity and scandal, and in part to satisfy his own thirst for knowledge, Phinagler mounts a series of expeditions to the far-flung corners of the world (regions which the author always knew were there but which the main narrative of the novels never allowed him to fully explore). In the process, he confronts ancient mysteries and deadly dangers that the majority of kinden would scarcely believe exist. Four thrilling adventures from Arthur C. Clarke Award-winning author Adrian Tchaikovsky, three of which are original to this book and have never been told before. Tales of the Apt provides a companion series to the best-selling Shadows of the Apt decalogy.

16 ) Children of Ruin

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 2
• Amazon: 23
• LibraryThing: 18

Children of Ruin follows Adrian Tchaikovsky’s extraordinary Children of Time, winner of the Arthur C. Clarke award. It is set in the same universe, with a new cast of characters and a thrilling new narrative. It has been waiting through the ages. Now it’s time . . . Thousands of years ago, Earth’s terraforming program took to the stars. On the world they called Nod, scientists discovered alien life – but it was their mission to overwrite it with the memory of Earth. Then humanity’s great empire fell, and the program’s decisions were lost to time. Aeons later, humanity and its new spider allies detected fragmentary radio signals between the stars. They dispatched an exploration vessel, hoping to find cousins from old Earth. But those ancient terraformers woke something on Nod better left undisturbed. And it’s been waiting for them.

14 ) Cage of Souls

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 1
• Amazon: 23
• LibraryThing: 18

The sun is bloated, diseased, dying perhaps. Beneath its baneful light, Shadrapar, last of all cities, harbours fewer than 100,000 human souls. Built on the ruins of countless civilisations, Shadrapar is a museum, a midden, an asylum, a prison on a world that is ever more alien to humanity. Bearing …

14 ) The Expert System’s Brother

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 18
• Amazon: 15
• LibraryThing: 9

Bestselling British master of science fiction Adrian Tchaikovsky brings readers a new, mind-expanding science fantasia in The Expert System’s Brother After an unfortunate accident, Handry is forced to wander a world he doesn’t understand, searching for meaning. He soon discovers that the life he thought he knew is far stranger than he could even possibly imagine. Can an unlikely saviour provide the answers to the questions he barely comprehends?

13 ) The Private Life of Elder Things

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 14
• Amazon: 7
• LibraryThing: 18

From the wastes of the sea to the shadows of our own cities, we are not alone. But what happens where the human world touches the domain of races ancient and alien? Museum curators, surveyors, police officers, archaeologists, mathematicians; from derelict buildings to country houses to the London Un…

12 ) The Air War

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 13
• Amazon: 14
• LibraryThing: 6

All is in turmoil as the world moves towards war. In Solarno, the spies watch each other and ready their knives, while Myna sees the troops muster at its border and emotions run high as it vows never to be enslaved again. In Collegium, the students argue politics, too late to turn the tide. In the heart of the Empire, new pilots have completed their secretive training, generals are being recalled to service and armies are ready to march. Their Empress, the heir to two worlds, intends to claim her birthright. And nothing – either within the Empire or beyond it – will stand in her way. A conflict is coming, the like of which the insect-kinden have never seen.

10 ) Heirs of the Blade

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 14
• Amazon: 7
• LibraryThing: 10

She remembered how it felt to lose Salma, first to the wiles of the Butterfly-kinden girl, then to hear the news of his death, abandoned and alone in the midst of the enemy. She remembered how it felt to see her father hacked to death before her eyes. But of her murder of Achaeos, of the bite of her blade into his unsuspecting flesh, the wound that had sapped him and ruined him until he died, she remembered nothing, felt nothing. In such a vacuum, how could she possibly atone? Tynisa is running, but she cannot escape the demons of her own mind. Amidst the fragmenting provinces of the Dragonfly Commonweal her past will at last catch up with her. Her father’s ghost is hunting her down. At the same time, the Wasp Empress, Seda, is on the move, her eyes on the city of Khanaphes, the fallen jewel of the ancient world. Whilst her soldiers seek only conquest, she sees herself as the heir to all the old powers of history, and has her eyes on a far greater prize.

10 ) The Sea Watch

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 20
• Amazon: 7
• LibraryThing: 4

A shadow is falling over Collegium. Despite the tenuous peace, Stenwold Maker knows that the Empire will return for his city. Even as he tries to prepare for the resurgence of the black and gold, a hidden threat is steadily working against his people. Ships that sail from Collegium’s harbour are being attacked, sunk by pirates. Some just go missing …Lulled by the spread of lies and false promises Stenwold’s allies are falling away from him. He faces betrayal on every side, and the Empire is just waiting for the first sign of weakness to strike. But the Empire is not the only power that has its eyes on Collegium. And even the Wasp-kinden may be powerful enough to stave off the forces massing in the darkness and turning hungry eyes towards Stenwold’s city.

9 ) The Bear and the Serpent

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 10
• Amazon: 7
• LibraryThing: 12

As the south is in turmoil, an old terror emerges in the north…. Maniye, child of both Wolf and Tiger clans, has been named Champion of her people. But they’re unsure if she’s an asset – or a threat. To buy time, she joins Prince Tecuman’s warband of outcasts and heads south, to help him gain his crown. She wants to discover her true place in the world but instead heads into the jaws of a fierce new conflict. Civil war threatens as Tecuman and his twin sister battle for the throne, for only one can rule. Yet whoever triumphs will carry a heavy burden, as a great doom has been foreseen that will fall across their whole world. And soon Maniye finds herself at the heart of a political storm. Danger is also shadowing her old home, where Lord Thunder and his bear clan are attempting to unite the northern tribes. But only extreme peril will end age-old rivalries. An adversary from the most ancient of times is preparing to strike, putting their lands and their very souls in danger. And neither north nor south will be spared the terror to come. The Bear and the Serpent is the second audiobook in Adrian Tchaikovsky’s epic fantasy series, Echoes of the Fall, following The Tiger and the Wolf.

8 ) Spoils of War

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 9
• Amazon: 1
• LibraryThing: 18

Tales of the Apt is a companion series to the best-selling decalogy Shadows of the Apt (Tor UK), gathering together short stories from disparate places and supplementing them with a wealth of new tales written especially for the series. Together, they combine to provide a different perspective, an alternative history that parallels and unfolds alongside the familiar one, filling in the gaps and revealing intriguing backstories for many established characters. A must read for any fan of the Shadows of the Apt books, where epic fantasy meets steampunk and so much more.

7 ) Spiderlight

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 11
• Amazon: 7
• LibraryThing: 7

The Church of Armes of the Light has battled the forces of Darkness for as long as anyone can remember. The great prophecy has foretold that a band of misfits, led by a high priestess will defeat the Dark Lord Darvezian, armed with their wits, the blessing of the Light and an artifact stolen from the merciless Spider Queen. Their journey will be long, hard and fraught with danger.

6 ) The Hyena and the Hawk

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 7
• Amazon: 2
• LibraryThing: 12

The Hyena and the Hawk is the third book in Adrian Tchaikovsky’s epic fantasy trilogy, Echoes of the Fall, following The Bear and the Serpent. From the depths of the darkest myths, the soulless Plague People have returned. Their pale-walled camps obliterate villages, just as the terror they bring with them destroys minds. In their wake, nothing is left of the true people: not their places, not their ways. The Plague People will remake the world as though they had never been. The heroes and leaders of the true people – Maniye, Loud Thunder, Hesprec and Asman – will each fight the Plague People in their own ways. They will seek allies, gather armies and lead the charge. But a thousand swords or ten thousand spears will not suffice to turn back this enemy. The end is at hand for everything the true people know.

4 ) A Time for Grief

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 6
• Amazon: 7
• LibraryThing: 7

A new collection of stories that shed fresh light on the dangerous and complex world of the insect-kinden, including three that are previously unpublished. The Tales of the Apt series provides a different perspective on the fantastic realm first encountered in the author’s best-selling Shadows of the Apt series, gathering together short stories from disparate places and supplementing them with a wealth of new tales written especially for these books.

4 ) Guns of the Dawn

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 11
• Amazon: 4
• LibraryThing: 5

Short-listed for the 2016 British Fantasy Society Award for Best Novel. Guns of the Dawn is a pacey, gripping fantasy of war and magic from Arthur C. Clarke Award-winning author Adrian Tchaikovsky. The first casualty of war is truth…. First, Denland’s revolutionaries assassinated their king, launching a wave of bloodshed after generations of peace. Next they clashed with Lascanne, their royalist neighbour, pitching war machines against warlocks in a fiercely fought conflict. Genteel Emily Marshwic watched as the hostilities stole her family’s young men. But then came the call for yet more Lascanne soldiers in a ravaged kingdom with none left to give. Emily must join the ranks of conscripted women and march towards the front lines. With barely enough training to hold a musket, Emily braves the savage reality of warfare. But she begins to doubt her country’s cause, and those doubts become critical. For her choices will determine her own future and that of two nations locked in battle.

2 ) Children of Time

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 5
• Amazon: 7
• LibraryThing: 3

Adrian Tchaikovksy’s critically acclaimed stand-alone novel Children of Time is the epic story of humanity’s battle for survival on a terraformed planet. Who will inherit this new Earth? The last remnants of the human race left a dying Earth, desperate to find a new home among the stars. Following in the footsteps of their ancestors, they discover the greatest treasure of the past age – a world terraformed and prepared for human life. But all is not right in this new Eden. In the long years since the planet was abandoned, the work of its architects has borne disastrous fruit. The planet is not waiting for them pristine and unoccupied. New masters have turned it from a refuge into mankind’s worst nightmare. Now two civilizations are on a collision course, both testing the boundaries of what they will do to survive. As the fate of humanity hangs in the balance, who are the true heirs of this new Earth?

2 ) War Master’s Gate

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 8
• Amazon: 6
• LibraryThing: 1

The penultimate book in the epic Shadows of the Apt cycle by Adrian Tchaikovsky, War Master’s Gate is an explosive fantasy that propels you towards a dramatic conclusion. A city makes its last stand . . . Relentlessly advancing towards Collegium, the Empire is again seeking to break down the city’s walls. The mighty imperial armies have learnt from their failures, and Empress Seda will brook no weakness in her soldiers. After all, Stenwold Maker has earned his title, and the War Master has strategies to save his city. His aviators rule the skies – but the Wasp Kinden Empire has developed a terrifying new aerial weapon. Yet the campaign may be decided far from marching armies and the noise of battle. In an ancient forest, where Mantis clans pursue their own civil war, the Empress Seda is seeking a lost power of the old world. Cheerwell Maker must stop her, at any cost, but will their rivalry awaken something far deadlier? Something that could make even their clash of nations pale into insignificance . . .

1 ) Dogs of War

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 4
• Amazon: 2
• LibraryThing: 2

My name is Rex. I am a good dog…. Rex is also seven feet tall at the shoulder, bulletproof, bristling with heavy-calibre weaponry, and a deadly weapon in a dirty war. He’s part of a Multiform Assault Pack operating in the lawless anarchy of Campeche, southeastern Mexico. He has the intelligence to carry out his orders and feedback implants to reward him when he does. All he wants to be is a Good Dog, and to do that he must do exactly what Master says. What happens when Master is tried as a war criminal? What rights does the Geneva Convention grant weapons? And what happens when Rex slips his leash?

Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Best Books

Adrian Tchaikovsky Review Website Bibliography Rankings