British Author Challenge February 2025: Kia Abdullah & Adrian Tchaikovsky

I chose to feature Kia Abdullah because she writes legal thrillers, a genre we haven't really touched on in the BAC. I also like to occasionally throw in lesser known authors to expand our horizons.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kia_Abdullah

Works
Zara Kaleel series
Perfectly Nice Neighbors (originally Those People Next Door)
Next of Kin
Child’s Play
Life, Love and Assimilation
Don't Offer Papaya: 101 Tips for Your First Time Around the World

There are several reasons I'm featuring Adrian Tchaikovsky:

1. He's a prolific writer. Like, crazy prolific.
2. He writes both science fiction and fantasy, so people who aren't into one genre can try the other.
3. He writes doorstoppers and novellas.
4. I just enjoy his writing.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrian_Tchaikovsky

Selected works
Shadows of the Apt series
Children of Time series
Echoes of the Fall series
Tyrant Philosophers series
Spiderlight
Service Model
Cage of Souls
Ironclads
Walking to Aldebaran
Made Things
Elder Race
Feast and Famine

No luck for me where Kia Abdullah is concerned, but I was able to obtain Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky through Hoopla to be able to read in February.

>3 alcottacre: I started Children of Time on Sunday and have ~100 pages left. There's a lot of really interesting stuff in it, and I love how important finding means of communication, both between species and within species, is to the story.

ETA: Oh, and I think it's cool that the main human POV character is a classicist who is a key crew member because he can read the language the tech manuals are written in!

My library has Take it Back and its sequel by Kia Abdullah plus one more, so I'll try that. I don't think I have time to read Adrian Tchaikovsky this month as I have several other fantasy books lined up.

If anyone is a Kindle Unlimited subscriber, Abdullah's Don't Offer Papaya: 101 Tips for Your First Time Around the World is available there.

I read Walking to Aldebaran which was creepy horror and Truth Be Told which is called a thriller. I am not sure it is a thriller but I would call it a legal story because it is about a trial.

I wound up reading Don't Offer Papaya for my Abdullah selection. Some of the tips are just common sense, but there's still some good advice, like building up your credit score well in advance so you can qualify for a good travel credit card. The book is almost ten years old so I wouldn't go out and buy it, but it's worth flipping through if you find it at the library.

Oh, and the title refers to a Colombian saying about not leaving your valuables unattended.

I also finished Tchaikovsky Children of Time; I did not expect a book about sapient spiders to be one of my favorite reads of the year!

>4 amanda4242: I finished Children of Time tonight, Amanda, and very much enjoyed it. I gave the book 4.25 stars. Thanks for hosting this challenge which allowed me to read an author I was unfamiliar with and might never have gotten around to reading otherwise.

>9 alcottacre: I'm glad you liked it! I can also recommend his Tyrant Philosophers series; it's fantasy rather than scifi, but also very well written.

I finished the audio of Take It Back yesterday. I chose this one because it was what was available from my libraries. I'm not fond of legal thrillers, but this one wasn't bad. Abdullah keeps you guessing right up to the end by sewing enough doubt about both the victim and the defendants that it's hard to see where the truth lies.

This book could easily be adapted for a television series. If I see it pop up on BritBox or Acorn one of these days, I'll definitely watch it.

The March thread is up!

https://www.librarything.com/topic/368811#

Adrian Tchaikovsky's Children of Time is on sale for $2.99.

https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/adrian-tchaikovsky/children-of-time/978...

Adrian Tchaikovsky's Alien Clay is on sale for $2.99.

https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/adrian-tchaikovsky/alien-clay/978031657...

Adrian Tchaikovsky's The Heart of the Reproach is available as a free download from Subterranean Press.

https://subterraneanpress.com/the-heart-of-the-reproach/

US e-book sale:

The Doors of Eden by Adrian Tchaikovsky is on sale for $2.99.

Yet another deal on Adrian Tchaikovsky books, this time from Humble Bundle.

Adrian Tchaikovsky's Epic Fantasy bundle