Lives Of Bitter Rain: A Tyrant Philosophers (The Tyrant Philosophers book 5) by Adrian Tchaikovsky (book review)
Can a young orphan girl with no particular talent except sword-fighting rise through the ranks in a tough, ruthless regime that’s out to conquer the world?
‘Lives Of Bitter Rain’ by Adrian Tchaikovsky is a novella in the ‘Tyrant Philosophers’ series, which so far consists of five books, including this one. It’s a prequel to ‘Days Of Shattered Faith’ and gives more background information on that novel’s main character, Sage Invigilator-Angilly. In an afterword, Tchaikovsky says he began making notes about formative events in her life and ended up with a book. I guess that’s how a prolific author works. You can see how prolific he is by the long list of published works in the opening pages. Prolific does not mean hack. He’s won awards, you know.
The novella covers a long timespan, following the life of Angilly from the age of 12, when she is traumatically orphaned in the city of Jarokir, through her schooling and subsequent career in the Outreach department of the Palleseen conquest machine. The Outreach is responsible for diplomacy, serving as an advance guard that enters foreign countries then works to establish relationships and, eventually, overthrow the existing rulers, much like the CIA or the KGB in the latter half of the 20th century. The East India Company worked similarly. The Pallaseen, rather like the Americans then and the British before them, know that their way of life is the best and have sworn to bring ‘Perfection’ and ‘Correctness’ to an imperfect world. The Outreach works to soften up the foreigners, ready for the army to move in. Because they have to mingle with lesser breeds, befriend them and, up to a point, adapt to their customs, the members of the Outreach are allowed a bit more leeway in their behaviour than the folks back home. This means there’s a possibility they might be corrupted by imperfection.
In the beginning, this reads like a series of short stories. In the opening chapter, ‘A Fire Out Of Season’, Angilly’s parents die. The second, ‘Merely Adequate’, has Aunt Ostrephy visiting her school to tell her to buck up and do better. Modern educational techniques to make everything ‘fun’ have not caught on in the Palleseen Sway. ‘The Stick’ examines the theme of corruption. This is Angilly’s first assignment and she has the lowly rank of Cohort-Invigilator. In the fourth tale, ‘Ashes And Sparks’, Angilly returns to Jarokir. ‘That she’s returning to the land where they burnt her parents alive is incidental. Personal problems, that are never allowed to get in the way of the Palleseen Sway’s demands.’ You go where you’re sent and do the work. It’s a hard life spreading Perfection and Correctness. As the novella builds to a conclusion, poor Angilly has to make some hard choices.
Fantasy worlds are more complex nowadays and many, like this, have political and historical themes behind the scheming and adventure. The world of the Palleseen Sway consists of many small independent states but they are being swallowed up slowly by the Palleseen and their rival empire, the Lor. The Pals, the short form of their name is ironic, want control to achieve Perfection and Correctness while the merchant princes of the Lor simply want to own everything. Tchaikovsky manages to put this background across in the text so ‘Lives Of Bitter Rain’ can be read as a standalone. I have not read any of the preceding books.
I intend to, though. ‘Lives Of Bitter Rain’ is an intriguing, interesting read and a great introduction to the ‘Tyrant Philosopher’ series. Recommended.
Eamonn Murphy
September 2025
(pub: Head of Zeus/AdAstra, 2025. 144 page hardback. Price: £16.99 (UK). ISBN: 978-1-03591-144-8. Ebook: £ 5.03 (UK))
check out website: www.bloomsbury.com/uk/lives-of-bitter-rain-9781035911448/
