Days of Shattered Faith is the third book in Adrian Tchaikovsky’s amazing Tyrant Philosopher fantasy series. The first book, City of Last Chances focussed on a single city, under occupation by the fanatical Palleseen. The follow up, House of Open Wounds took readers to the front line of a Palleseen war of conquest. Days of Shattered Faith goes further back in the Palleseen process – starting with an envoy to the state of Usmai and moving its way through to conquest and colonisation. All three can be read as standalone novels but this one in particular has a number of characters from earlier books and is starting to build on events in those volumes.
When Days of Shattered Faith opens, the Palleseen envoy Gil has managed to manoeuvre the ruler of Usmai to look favourably on the Palleseen at the expense of their defeated enemies. This has also meant disinheriting the militant heir to the throne and raising the second son to be heir. But as readers of the earlier books will know, the Palleseen do not make treaties, they take over, replacing all religion with their own atheistic and rule-based orthodoxy. Despite her position, Gil is not really all that keen to actually see Palleseen rule imposed on Usmai. Very soon the politics of Usmai is thrown into disarray, creating both havoc and opportunities.
As with the other books in this series, Days of Shattered Faith ranges across a range of points of view while pushing the overall story ever forward. This includes a Gil, her new aide Loret (who has secrets of her own) and a number of the characters from The House of Open Wounds who have taken refuge in Usmai and have no wish to once again part of the Palleseen Sway. In taking this approach, Tchaikovsky can move across different strata of the city as the action develops.
While The Tyrant Philosophers series has a fantasy setting, with gods and magic and hosts of strange creatures, Tchaikovsky has very real world issues in mind. This series is really interrogating the rampant colonialism and empire building of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Issues like the coopting of locals into colonial armies, the aggressive use of trade as a political tool, the gaslighting of local populations and the plundering of cultural items of value are all given a run in this volume. In his author’s note Tchaikovsky says that he “attempted to learn at least something from the lessons of history” and particularly references William Dalrymple’s book The Anarchy which is about the rise of the British East India Company.
But philosophical and historical issues aside, this is just another great entry in a stellar fantasy series. Full of fascinating conflicted characters living in a complex, colourful, dangerous changing world. And as noted, while it could be read as a standalone, more than a few characters from earlier books reappear and everything that happens in those earlier books has had ongoing consequences. So that there are hints that bigger changes are coming to the Palleseen Sway down the line. More stories set in this fascinating world cannot come soon enough.
Days of Shattered Faith by Adrian Tchaikovsy
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