Review | Ironclads by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Source: library borrow. This is a review of my reading experience.

Ironclads is the first novella in Adrian Tchaikovsky's Terrible Worlds: Revolutions series.

Scions have no limits. Scions do not die. And Scions do not disappear.

Sergeant Ted Regan has a problem. A son of one of the great corporate families, a Scion, has gone missing at the front. He should have been protected by his Ironclad – the lethal battle suits that make the Scions masters of war – but something has gone catastrophically wrong.

Now Regan and his men, ill equipped and demoralised, must go behind enemy lines, find the missing Scion, and uncover how his suit failed. Is there a new Ironclad-killer out there? And how are common soldiers lacking the protection afforded the rich supposed to survive the battlefield of tomorrow?

This is going to be a bit of a lackluster review, but I'm challenging myself to review all of the books that I finish this year. 

I consider myself a fan of Adrian Tchaikovsky, but he has written SO MANY books. I was in the mood to pick up something short from my library and Ironclads fit the bill.

As much as I love all of the science fiction I've read from Adrian Tchaikovsky, I'm not the target audience for this. While it's a dystopian scifi, it's also very much a military scifi. I struggled to enjoy this one. Every once in a while something would peak my interest, but I wasn't really pulled into the vibe of this one. If I had cared about the characters more, I think my interest level would have been a bit higher.

I wasn't mad at this book in anyway so this isn't a negative review, but my overall feelings are quite mid. If you love tactical military stuff, this may work out much better for you. 

⭐⭐⭐★★
3/5 stars

Recent Updates and Currently Reading | January 18

Hello! This is a better late than never update post. We had a storm just before last weekend that fried our modem so I had no internet. Then I left for the week on a business trip. I'm back and our internet is back and I am catching up on all of the things!!

Read Last Week

Ironclads by Adrian Tchaikovsky ⭐⭐⭐★★ - Review soon.

Through Gates of Garnet and Gold by Seanan McGuire ⭐⭐⭐★★ - Review soon.

Currently Reading

Outlaw Planet by M.R. Carey - Set in the same universe as M.R. Carey's Pandominion duology, Outlaw Planet follows a gunslinger as she saves multiple worlds.

Fire Sword and Sea by Vanessa Riley - The real Pirates of the Caribbean were Black, and women! From Vanessa Riley, acclaimed author of Queen of Exiles, comes a sweeping, immersive saga based on the life of the legendary seventeenth-century pirate Jacquotte Delehaye.

BookTube

Most Anticipated Book Releases of January 2026 | New Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Horror, Thrillers

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This post is being shared as part of The Sunday Salon at Readerbuzz Book Date’s It's Monday! What Are You Reading? and Caffeinated Book Reviewer's The Sunday Post.

Best Books I Read in 2025

2025 was one of the best reading years ever quality-wise. Today's Top Ten Tuesday is listed in the order I read them with my favorite book of the year at the end!

 

Jade City by Fonda Lee (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)

The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)

Infinity Gate by M.R. Carey (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)

 

The Bone Ships by R.J. Barker (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)

Shroud by M.R. Carey (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)

Katabasis by R.F. Kuang (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)

 

The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)

The Will of the Many by James Islington (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)

The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)

Once Was Willem by M.R. Carey (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)

From the bestselling author M. R. Carey comes an utterly unique and enchantingly dark epic fantasy fable like no other.

This is the tale of Once Was Willem, who - eleven hundred and some years after the death of Christ, in the kingdom that had but recently begun to call itself England - rose from the dead to defeat a great evil facing the humble village of Cosham.

Pennick for all its beauty was ever a place with a dark reputation. The forests of the Chase were said to be home to nixies and boggarts, and there was a common belief, passed down through many generations, that the castle housed an unquiet ghost of terrible and malign power. These rumours I can attest were all true; indeed they fell short of the truth by a long way . . .

Let me know if you have read or plan to read any of these!

Recent Updates and Currently Reading | January 4

Hello, long time friends! I hope you remember me! Life got really tough, and I stepped away from blogging. I have been reading, though. In a weird twist of universal balance, I had one of the best reading years ever quality-wise this past year. I also started a YouTube channel so I still had an outlet to share what I was reading.

Read Last Week

One Piece Volume 13 by Eiichiro Oda (⭐⭐⭐★★)

One Piece Volume 14 by Eiichiro Oda (⭐⭐⭐★★)

I'm re-reading the Baroque Works volumes of One Piece because it has been a while since I was reading One Piece, and I'm also getting ready for season 2 of One Piece on Netflix this Spring.

Currently Reading

Outlaw Planet by M.R. Carey - Set in the same universe as M.R. Carey's Pandominion duology, Outlaw Planet follows a gunslinger as she saves multiple worlds.

Ironclads by Adrian Tchaikovsky - So far this is a lot of war stuff, but I'm looking forward to discovering the real story of this novella.

BookTube

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This post is being shared as part of The Sunday Salon at Readerbuzz Book Date’s It's Monday! What Are You Reading? and Caffeinated Book Reviewer's The Sunday Post.

Recent Updates and Currently Reading | July 13

Hi, friends! I've been a way for a while. Mostly I was focusing on my career. I finally left my job of 16 years, and I'm in a much better place now! I've also been allowing myself to fall deeply in love with reading again. I can't wait to do some catching up and share my thoughts.

For now... here are some of my favorite 5⭐ books that I've read while I've been away:

Murder Road by Simone St. James

A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez

Better Than the Movies by Lynn Painter

Read Last Week

Middle of the Night by Riley Sager ⭐⭐⭐💫★ - This was mostly a great time. I'm going to try to start reviewing again so I can post some full thoughts.

The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center [dnf] - Oh, no. This was my first Katherine Center and it was not for me. I'm bummed.

Currently Reading

Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson - I'm trying to fill in the holes in my cosmere reading before the end of the year so I can read the fifth Stormlight Archive book with the rest of the Brando Sando reading world. Enjoying it so far!

My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante, translated by Ann Goldstein - I found an amazing bookstore while I was out of town last week that was filled with works in translation. I was excited to find this, and I've already started it.

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Much love to you guys. I hope you are reading something special and have an amazing week.

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This post is being shared as part of The Sunday Salon at Readerbuzz, Book Date’s It's Monday! What Are You Reading? and Caffeinated Book Reviewer's The Sunday Post.