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Lives of Bitter Rain
A Fantasy Novella by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Companion Book to the The Tyrant Philosophers Series
Subgenres & Tropes:
- Political Intrigue,
- Military Fantasy,
- Coming of Age
This book is for you if you're into...
- Fantasy where diplomacy is as dangerous as war
- Child protagonists swept into political intrigue across shifting kingdoms
- Stories questioning the cost of conquest and enforced perfection
City-by-city, kingdom-by-kingdom, the Palleseen have sworn to bring "Perfection" and "Correctness" to an imperfect world. But before these ruthless Tyrant Philosophers send in their legions, they despatch Outreach – the rain before the storm.
Outreach is that part of the Pal machine responsible for diplomacy - converting enemies into friends, achieving through words what an army of five thousand could not, urging the oppressed to overthrow the bloody-handed priests, evil necromancers and greedy despots that subjugate them.
Angilly, twelve-years-old, a child of Pal soldiers stationed in occupied Jarokir, does not know it yet, but a sequence of accidents and questionable life choices will lead her to Outreach. As she travels from Jarrokir to Bracinta, Cazarkand, Lemas, The Holy Regalate of Stouk and finally, Usmai, she'll learn that the price of her nation's success is paid in compromise and lost chances, and that the falling rain will always be bitter.
LIVES OF BITTER RAIN is a novella in Adrian Tchaikovsky's Tyrant Philosopher series. It is a prequel to the third novel in the sequence, DAYS OF SHATTERED FAITH.
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