Advance Look: Adrian Tchaikovsky's "The Final Architecture: Salvation's Child" graphic novel
By Frank Jarome
When the Sky Fell
Aliens called the Architects came to Earth and destroyed it, driving humanity out among the stars. The survivors scattered to colonies throughout known space. The Architects kept coming, and the cycle continued.
Birth of the Enhanced
In The Final Architecture novel series, Adrian Tchaikovsky tells the story of humanity after the war with the Architects has ended and the enemy has mysteriously vanished. What the novels never explored in great detail, however, were the origins of the enhanced humans who could communicate with the enemy and help turn the tide of the war.
Enter the upcoming Comixology Original graphic novel Salvation's Child, which serves as a prequel to the larger story. At its core is the story of Xavi, the first enhanced human, and the beginnings of events that would eventually reshape humanity’s future.
Lost in Space
It is common in space opera science fiction for the characters to travel to many different worlds and encounter multiple alien species. This is where Salvation's Child both shines and loses me a little bit. There is a strong sense of design for the various spacecraft we encounter, and the alien species we meet are different and varied. Maybe a little too varied, if I'm being honest. I found myself having a hard time keeping up at points.
If you are familiar with The Final Architecture novels, then I think a lot of what gave me trouble here will probably make perfect sense to you. This is definitely the kind of story you can read cold, but it's going to be much stronger if you're at least passingly familiar with the source material.
This title hits Amazon Comixology on May 26, so check it out if you're a fan of Adrian Tchaikovsky or of space opera in general. I do think it will hit harder for you if you're the former, but there's still plenty here to enjoy if you're the latter. And hey, at $6.99 it's a pretty easy jump into this universe if you're curious.
We'd like to thank Comixology and Cosmic Lighthouse for providing us with an advance copy of this book, and we hope you'll check it out when it releases.