Review: Pretenders to the Throne of God by Adrian Tchaikovsky, at Locus

Reviewing every installment in a series is a rare accomplishment, even for a prolific critic. Reviewing every installment in a series by Adrian Tchaikovsy, who routinely publishes multiple novels and novellas every year, is surely an accomplishment worthy of note. Few series, however, reward this sort of sustained engagement as much as Tchaikovsky's Tyrant Philosphers series, which I strongly believe is one of the major achievements in fantasy of this decade. I reviewed the first novel in the series, City of Last Chances, in 2023, calling it a resurgence of the New Weird. Then late last year I published an omnibus review of the next two novels, House of Open Wounds and Days of Shattered Faith, as well as the novella Lives of Bitter Rain, which allowed me to observe how the books examine the workings of the fascistic Palleseen empire, and the deterioration of its ideals of "perfection" in the face of a bloody war and the costs of maintaining an empire.

It was in response to this last essay that I was contacted by Tchaikovsky, who was kind enough to offer me an ARC of the fourth Tyrant Philosophers novel, Pretenders to the Throne of God. My review appeared in the February issue of Locus, and is now online. Pretenders is perhaps the most Palleseen-focused novel of the series so far, set mainly in a camp besieging a minor imperial holding which has thrown off the Palleseen yoke in the wake of the war. 

It is in the Palleseen camp, however, that the bulk of the novel's action takes place, and where its key dilemma is established. The garrison besieging Eres Ffenegh is under strict orders to retake the city by any means necessary. But it is also in receipt of new directives issued in the hopes of sweeping under the rug all the unpleasant things the Pals did during and in the aftermath of the war. Certain methods – the very methods the garrison was depending on to retake the city – have been declared newly imperfect. Dantell, the weaselly, self-serving director of the magical division, is keenly aware of how easily she could end up on the wrong side of orthodoxy, and desperately casting about for scapegoats to sacrifice in her stead. These end up being the Heretics, a group of "Specialist" officers who, even as they feel the winds growing chill, keep insisting that their loyalty and usefulness will keep them safe.

Tchaikovsky has announced one more (last?) novel in the Tyrant Philosophers series, and I will naturally strive to review it as well, if only to complete the set. But also because this has been one of the most satisfying reading experiences of the last few years, one that has revitalized my faith in what fantasy can accomplish, and which shows off Tchaikovsky's writing at its very best.

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