The Hungry Gods by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Publisher – Solaris
Published – Out Now
Price – £25 hardback £7.99 ebook
The Gods have returned to the world.
Amri was a Rabbit, one of a tribe of survivors scratching out an existence in the blasted landscape of a shattered, poisoned world. The Seagull fight, the Pigeon trade and the Cockroach scavenge, but the Rabbit had one rule: If you want to see tomorrow, you run.
But they didn’t run fast enough when a weapon fell from the sky and consumed their home, and now Amri is alone, in the company of a fallen god named Guy Vesten. A god who promises revenge against the three gods who turned against him, and who killed her tribe.
But gods don’t die easily. Guy will need followers, like any god, and warriors to aid him in his quest. And if Amri is to find a place in the world that is to come, she may as well be standing at his right hand, as his priestess…
In a world such as this we would love someone to have the answers for us. Make life easier, better and wiser. However as we have seen often the people who start off as offering a better are so much more likely to be in it for personal gain and usually a greater cost to ourselves. Adrian Tchaikovsky in their very good novella The Hungry Gods has created a post-apocalytipic science fiction tale which has a deliciously sharp point about forces increasingly causing our world harm.
The world we visit is a familiar post-apocalyptic setting. A combination of climate change, mass pollution and general devastation has left the Earth in ruins and a small population of humans have survived but very much splintered into small factional groups named after animals. Amri belongs to the Rabbit people and their enemies are new the Seagulls residing in the ruins of a once great city. Life is hard, few live for long and survival is all. Amri though soon finds her people under attack after mysterious lights fall from the sky. The Rabbits are decimated by plants coming from the soil in a frenzy and using them for nourishment. At the same time Amri meets a man in a stranger armoured suit named Guy who announces that the four gods of Earth have returned at last and he is the only one who can save them.
The Hungry Gods is the latest in a thematically linked series of novellas named Terrible Worlds and the joy of this particular one is the terrible could equally apply to the past, the present or the future these ‘gods’ decide to bring to it. Before the Gods arrive we see Amri captured by the Seagulls and their definite plans for another human sacrifice its tense and quickly helps the reader understand how dangerous life now is. In some ways a standard post-apocalyptic setting but the intriguing element Tchaikovsky throws in are these Gods. We have four humans who have all managed to extend their lives using their great wealth and knowledge and each has a particular vision f the Earth they want. One that contradicts the other four and soon enough a civil war of sorts erupts between them. There is a true touch of horror as we see how each God uses a form of technology eg plant life, insects (ants can be quite dangerous) and plastic but to a truly horrific level of change that if you’re unlucky to be in the wrong place at the wrong time means death…a really unpleasant death.
This then comes back t who these gods represent and while the lawyers cannot be too worried about the specifics it is not hard for the reader to notice some similarities to our current Business Tech elites. The single-mindedness that they are right and the causal way they sell the dreams and of course just end up using human beings as resources to prop up their own empires. Here though not just underpaid but also literally becoming the fuel source for their chosen power. We also may see some similarities with how these Gods all left the earth frustrated with being told what to do and searched for a place they could live by their own rules (or lack of). Tchaikovsky skewers the way these people often seem not to notice the fundamental rules of the universe actually still apply to them.
Into which we have an intriguing unlikely alliance against three of the Gods. Guy a ‘God’ himself has been betrayed and dumped to earth without all his usual kit. Amri is a resourceful and smart Rabbit keen for some revenge, but also aware Guy could be a powerful figure to work with and then we have Beaker from the Seagulls a man constantly searching for knowledge. As this novella is from a series called Terrible Worlds Tchaikovsky does a great job of making the reader guess on the final outcome. Guy battles with wits against his former ‘bros’ but exhibits some of the same blindspots to people as the other Gods – will he learn from working with actual humans or is he just awaiting his own corporate takeover to be complete? The actual solution is rather satisfying on many levels, so I hope you enjoy finding out.
The Hungry Gods is engaging, action packed, has a twist of horror and political satire that knows also when to deploy a very funny Muppet joke. It reminds us not to fall for the dream being sold but to look at the real agenda – profit and power. A very impressive read and strongly recommended!
