The Architects – planet-sized aliens who cannot be bargained with – have destroyed Earth. Now, a woman called Marta desperately tries to protect her daughter Xavienne amongst the human diaspora. But does Xavi hold the secret to saving humanity?
Review by Graham Baines
I suppose it was inevitable that Adrian Tchaikovsky would species-jump from Novelist to Graphic Novelist. I am not sure the Castigar worm-like species with a strict caste system based on the specific job they provide in society would approve, but, I certainly do. Salvation’s Child is the first of hopefully many new story visualisations of The Final Architecture series.
Set before the arrival of the Architects, this Graphic Novel focuses on the story of Xavi, who we first meet back in the novel, Shards Of Earth, as an older patron saint of the Intermediaries, a new class of humans. In a sense, this is a smaller story and the focus on Xavi achieves two things: (i) we start at a beginning rather than the reader having to know all the intricate lore, and (ii) everyone who has read the Architects trilogy immediately understands this missing pre-history.
Visually this is beautifully illustrated by Mike Collins (Doctor Who, X-Men, Spider-Man, Star Trek) who has spent time working with Adrian on the visualisation of the non-human species. And yes the worm-like Castigar are back, alongside the Hanni, crustacean-like creators, and the warrior class of humans (more of that later) set inside an Earth that is under attack. Collins, who excels at visual storytelling, is a perfect match up tag-team for Tchaikovsky; the panels are exciting, varied and detailed when they need to be and yet the relaxed style of Collins shows through on the wider shots. A smorgasbord of well-honed colour craft and graphic storytelling fuels the narrative with dynamics and scale, and showcases Tchaikovsky’s world building to the max.
Adrian Tchaikovsky follows in the great tradition of novelist to Graphic Novelist also seen in The Expanse by James S.A. Corey, and you can see why. The visual imagery of Tchaikovsky’s world building is immediate from anyone who has read any of his work, and seeing such visuals materialise under the stewardship of Mike Collins enables a strong cohesive membrane to build out from. Salvation’s Child is a great addition to this tradition, and I hope to see further work from the many angles that could be written from within such strong world building that Tchaikovsky provides.
And the story? Well, there are no spoilers here, as this needs to be bought and read by one and all. But suffice to say that here we have the settings of what becomes The Final Architecture Series, a great strategy and a gateway into the novels for the first-time reader. The visualisations only enhance the experience for the novels, something that all novelists will wrestle with as the mind paints so many different images for every reader. These feel true (to me) and a strong indication of what may also transpire as further work in this universal lore. We start with a young Xavi about to jump into ‘unspace’ a form of space travel knowledge gifted by the Castigar. What plays out across inter-species support and the navigation of relationships across commonality of survival, organised religion the Hegemonic Cult, genetic human-enhanced warrior class the Parthenon, and the Intermediaries, is a fast and exciting pager turning yarn. With a rich cast that populates a whirlwind story centred around Xavi, and what she becomes, and ‘provides’ in the novel trilogy.
An interesting forth-wall-meta-performance is casting The Final Architecture Series’ audio book voice, Doctor Who star Sophie Aldred, who also provides the Introduction, as the face of the Parthenon in literal (visual) form. A neat trick, and one that Paul Cornell (Editor-in-Chief and Co-Founder of the Publishing House) suggested to Sophie and Adrian, she readily agreed. Therefore all the faces of the genetically engineered sisterhood of The Partheni, an elite space-dwelling humans who are a militaristic faction formed from a specific female genetic line, are the visual embodiment of Sophie Aldred. Extra tick in the box for that easter-egg.
Salvation’s Child is a beautifully drawn and written unspace gateway into The Final Architecture Series, a self-contained story, created with love, and the understanding that there is much more to be found, yet satisfying as a standalone Graphic Novel. I highly recommend it, worms, crabs and all. Bring it on.
Graham Baines
• Salvation’s Child is available as a digital release from AmazonUK (Affiliate Link) | Amazon.com
Salvation’s Child is written by Adrian Tchaikovsky with art by Mike Collins, features colours by Pippa Bowland, letters by Simon Bowland, a cover by Steve Stone and is edited by Cosmic Lighthouse Editor-in-Chief Paul Cornell
• Find out more about Cosmic Lighthouse at cosmiclighthouse.co.uk | Follow Cosmic Lighthouse on: Instagram and Bluesky
About the Creators
Adrian Tchaikovsky is a British science-fiction and fantasy writer known for a wide-variety of work including the Children of Time, Final Architecture, Dogs of War, Tyrant Philosophers and Shadows of the Apt series, as well as a number of standalone books. His work has been nominated for and/or won a large number of awards, including the Hugo Award (for Best Novel, Best Novella and Best Series), the Locus Award (for Best Science Fiction Novel and Best Fantasy Novel), the Ursula K. Le Guin Prize, the Arthur C. Clarke Award, and multiple British Fantasy Awards, British Science Fiction Awards, Philip K. Dick Awards, and many more.
Mike Collins is an artist who has, over four decades, drawn nearly every major superhero character in US and UK comics. Although he’s best known for his comics work on Doctor Whoand Star Trek, which he’s written and drawn for Marvel, DC Comics, IDW and Panini. He’s been the main storyboard artist on the Doctor Who TV show for the last decade and has worked on many high-profile genre shows including His Dark Materials, The Witcher and Good Omens.
Cosmic Lighthouse is the brainchild of Paul Cornell and Lee Harris, a new comics company devoted to publishing original graphic novels by the greatest modern Science Fiction and Fantasy writers, paired with the world’s best artists.
• Find out more about Cosmic Lighthouse at cosmiclighthouse.co.uk | Follow Cosmic Lighthouse on: Instagram and Bluesky
- About the Author
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John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.
He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.
Categories: British Comics, British Comics - Current British Publishers, British Comics - Graphic Novels, Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, Features, Reviews
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