Review: 'Lives of Bitter Rain' (A Tyrant Philosophers Novella #2.5) by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Adrian Tchaikovsky has become one of my favourite authors over the past year or so. I listened to City of Last Chances first, the first book of the Tyrant Philosophers series and although I needed some time to get in to it, I fell in love with the entire world he was creating. Then I read Alien Clay and was pretty much sold on the man. So naturally I wanted to get my hands on Lives of Bitter Rain! Thanks to Head of Zeus, Ad Astra, and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Pub. Date: 14/10/2025
Publisher: Head of Zeus; Ad Astra

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 award-winning Tyrant Philosopher series. It is a prequel to the third novel in the sequence, DAYS OF SHATTERED FAITH.

Lives of Bitter Rain is about Angilly and her experience as a servant, more precisely, an eventual Sage-Ingivilator, to the Pallaseen. After a tragic event on Jarokir during her childhood leaves her an orphan, she isn't really keen on serving the Pal abroad. After a stern aunt intervenes, however, Angilly finds herself not just back on Jarokir, but serving Outreach in all kinds of strange lands. As she gathers the skills to enable Pallaseen control over these different lands, she also begins to understand the powers for which she works. With that understanding also comes a hesitancy and a tiredness, which come to a head when she finds herself in Usmai. I really liked Angilly as a character and am therefore happy that she also features in the third Tyrant Philosophers book, Days of Shattered Faith. Throughout the novella, we get something of a snapshot view at various crucial moments in Angilly's life and Tchaikovsky explains in an afterword that this novella began as a writing exercise for himself to understand her character better. That origin does shine through because it is really a character-focused text which jumps quickly in time. 

With the Pallaseen Adrian Tchaikovsky has really created a storyworld for himself in which he can be endlessly creative and it is quickly becoming one of my favourite universes to jump in to. What I really like is that each new land he creates is invested with a real sense of history, culture, and geography. Usmai, especially its capital Alkhaled, for example, felt like a living, breathing thing even in these short pages. The place has its own customs, a history that plays into its future, it has a specific climate that affects clothing, etc. This talent of Tchaikovsky also makes it easy to keep up as Angilly jumps from place to place, as each feels like it's fully rendered. The places also stood out from those I'd encountered in City of Last Chances, for example, and I continue to also really like how Tchaikovsky crafts his characters. Angilly made sense to me as a slightly rebellious teenager, but also as a mature and exhausted woman. The whole series also just has a fun blend between Fantasy and Sci-Fi elements that really hit home for me.

The novels in this series can technically be read as standalones, although the novella's connection to the third book changes that a little. I myself am not majorly concerned about spoilers as I'm very much a "it's about how we get there, not where we get"-kind of reader, but for those who prefer to stay as unspoiled as possible, I'd recommend reading the novella after Days of Shattered Faith.

I give this novella...

4 Universes!

Adrian Tchaikovsky remains amazing at what he does and this novella really whetted my appetite to get back into the Tyrant Philosophers series! However, it is something of an "add on" to the main books of the series and so maybe not the best entry point to new readers.