Scan barcode
sylviep's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
fishface's review
5.0
Thalric and Che = power couple!!!!!!
Also, redemption arc for Totho continues... he’s improving...
Also, redemption arc for Totho continues... he’s improving...
noisydeadlines's review
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
I thought the first half of it dragged on a little. I wasn't too interested in what was going on with the Refek agents and their mobilization to have the Scorpions attack Khanaphes. The interactions between Thalric and Che are what interested me the most. Thoto was so annoying. I almost wish he was killed at some point. The mystery of the Masters in Khanaphes kept me engaged with the story, but in the end, I didn't get Ethmet, the First Minister. Was he really in touch with the Masters at all? He seemed just like a puppet, repeating old sayings. And why the Masters were dormant? And why after they woke up, found Che, let her go, and then went back to sleep? What was their goal? It seems like this mystery is the backdrop of what this series is really about.
nanotyrann's review
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Torture
matt9ca37's review
3.0
Ok - not quite sure what happened here. The first 50-100 pages are really the epilogue to Salute The Dark which I had always felt was too short and tied up all the loose ends too quickly at the end.
Scarab Path is good don't get me wrong but I cannot see a lot of justification for almost 700 pages. I would have preferred 700 pages of Salute The Dark - particularly with more of the final "uprising" accross the Lowlands being explored and much less build up to the 2nd half of Scarab.
I also miss some of the cool "tech" from previous books. I was not that impressed with the world building here compared to the 1st 4 novels. Maybe it is because I did not really engage with the supernatural/mystical angle.
Once it got going though there were some classic Shadows battle scenes and a very satisfying ending very neatly tied up. Knowing the backstory of these characters and some of the history of the world add's an extra dimension but it could almost be a stand alone novel - especially as this - like all the other books has a helpful Summary section at the start.
Scarab Path is good don't get me wrong but I cannot see a lot of justification for almost 700 pages. I would have preferred 700 pages of Salute The Dark - particularly with more of the final "uprising" accross the Lowlands being explored and much less build up to the 2nd half of Scarab.
I also miss some of the cool "tech" from previous books. I was not that impressed with the world building here compared to the 1st 4 novels. Maybe it is because I did not really engage with the supernatural/mystical angle.
Once it got going though there were some classic Shadows battle scenes and a very satisfying ending very neatly tied up. Knowing the backstory of these characters and some of the history of the world add's an extra dimension but it could almost be a stand alone novel - especially as this - like all the other books has a helpful Summary section at the start.
joannawnyc's review
2.0
BORING. I can't understand why there were 500 pages of this. Easily done in less than half that. Let me save you that time Che continues to be a bit of an idiot (but lovable!), Che and Thalric finally get together, Tisamon reappears as a vengeful ghost infused with the Darakyon, some Scorpion-kinden can use tech, the Masters of Khanaphes are immortal Slug-kinden, Empress Seda is quite probably a blood-drinking monster . A long slog for not much. Skippable IMO.
pranavroh's review
5.0
This is a review of the entire series - there are NO spoilers.
When I look back at the Shadows of the Apt, what strikes me at first might seem incongruous to most.
There are no unnecessary descriptions of food.
None at all.
10 books, each of them 400 to 700 pages in length - covering battles, history and multiple points of view - and not a single one of them had any descriptions of food.
Or sex, clothing, family crests, whores or incest.
And I loved it.
Not a single wasted line.
There may be many reasons why the Shadows of the Apt is a success, why you SHOULD read these books no matter how difficult it may get at times. If I had to choose one, however, its this - Tchaikovsky doesn't waste a single page, character or event in his storytelling - the march of story is relentless through thousands of pages, culminating in a satisfying finale.
The World in which the Shadows of the Apt (SOTA) is set is astonishing in its originality. There are no elves, trolls, orcs or dwarves - instead, Tchaikovsky populates this world with Insect Kinden - human beings of different races who derive their primary characteristics from insects. Beetle kinden are slow, plodding, hardworking and intelligent with a flair for statesmanship. The Ant Kinden are warlike and live in each other's heads, attempting to work towards the betterment of the Ant city - a frightening and at the same time amusing allegory for communism. The Mantis Kinden live in the woods, are excellent fighters and are generally rooted in arcane magic and rituals - individualists who are dying out due to adherence to traditions which have lost all meaning. There are Spiders, Moths, Thorn Bugs and Flies each with their own definite characteristics that would require an encyclopedia to cover in entirety. At someone's last count there were close to thirty distinct kinden introduced in the series and I belive that must just be scratching the surface.
Another important differentiating factor amongst the people of this world is Aptitude. The Apt are those who are skilled in the art of artifice, and mechanics. They are scientists, using the laws of nature to change the world around them. Crossbows, artillery and even primitive air power all based on the principles of clockwork make their appearance in the early pages of the series. On the other end of the spectrum however, are the Inapt - the erstwhile rulers of the world to whom the apt were but slaves until a long ago revolution altered the power structure forever. The Inapt live in a world of magic, intuition and prophecy - incapable of so much as unlatching a door, their minds unable to comprehend the machine world in form or function.
This status quo is under threat from the Wasp Kinden of the north - a ferocious warlike race which has come into its own and seeks to conquer the world. While this might sound like a cliche far too common to all fantasy fiction there is an important difference - the Wasps aren't inherently evil. The initial stand off is more one of culture and ideology than of good and evil. Two of my favourite characters are, in fact, Wasps. The only people who are aware of the threat the Wasps pose to the world are the beetle Stenwold Maker, a master in Collegium and his Mantis friend Tisamon. As the series begins Stenwold sends his niece Che, his adopted daughter Tynisa, a spider and his halfbreed student Totho and the dragonfly prince Salme Dien to the factory city of Helleron for espionage against the Wasp empire. Having turned its eyes towards the university city of Collegium, a beacon of enlightenment and artifice in the Lowlands, the Wasps are determined to stop Stenwold Maker at any cost.
Anymore would give away the joy of experiencing the plot for yourself. Rest assured, things get complicated very quickly, alliances shift and change, people die and before you know you might find yourself rooting for a villain. Over ten books we are treated to multiple detailed accounts of various battles, war movements and deaths. The narrative moves effortlessly between personal accounts of war and one on one battles. There is a very real sense of forward progression in the book with characters always changing, finding their ideals and comfort zone being challenged on a regular basis and reacting to the world in new ways. These interactions might not always be pleasant and not everyone might walk away from them alive - however, it is wonderful to see such attention to character progression. No one walks out of this book unscathed or unchanged. Some change for the better, some for the worse - but all changes seem normal, organic and make sense. This series capitalises on this characterisation to make things all the more gripping.
SOTA cannot be labelled as grimdark fantasy either. There is war, death, murder, rape and cruelty. There are slave camps, dying civilisations and loss. A large chunk of characters are dead towards the end of the book. However, there is a resilience to all the characters that makes it possible to believe they will eventually find a way out. It might be because the author is British but all the characters have a stoic, stiff upper lip approach to situations which makes even the darkest segments of the book immensely enjoyable. The dialogue is witty, snappy and fluid - more importantly, it's distinctive in a sense and tailor made to each character. Atrocities, when they are committed are mentioned but not described in detail. This seems to be a more effective method of conveying the horrors of war. I have seen fantasy where rape and murder are described to a distasteful degree under the excuse of realism. Tchaikovsky actually doesn't indulge in voyeurism which significantly increased the emotional impact when bad things eventually DID happen. (Basically books 4 and 10)
A standard fantasy talks about heroism in the face of darkness with a well demarcated line between good and evil. SOTA takes a different tack. While set in a fictional world the themes are often all too relevant. The novels are given over to varied themes - whether duty to oneself comes over and above duty to the city state, are we willing to enslave others so that we may be free, the struggle between the old world and new, between science and superstition. There are also deeper questions about the creation of weapons of war and deterrents- does an inventor take pride in a weapon that has been created solely for killing, and if he is horrified what mental toll does this take? The stark contrast between killing a person yourself and ordering the deaths of hundreds in a mechanised attack is also touched upon. The question asked of a lot of the artificers in this series is whether they feel war has allowed them progress and innovation and whether, coming on the heel of the human cost, this innovation is worth it. A lot of the characters might answer yes. The beauty in Tchaikovsky's characters lies in how easy it is to understand if not exactly sympathise this point of view.
Over the course of the series, we are also treated to innovation and how it can change the face of war. Ranged weapons are deployed against an unarmed infantry, submersibles are invented out of necessity and there is an entire book devoted to an Air War that brings to mind the Battle of Britain and the RAF during World War II. This mechanical progress is a plot point which drives the book forward. The enemy improvising and modifying weapons while the defenders need to think on their feet to win the war and vice versa.
The only criticism I might want to level against this series is that it seems a little too dry at times.Tchaikovsky's prose is fluid, and wonderful on page. However, at times, it fails to convey the images necessary to visualise the world around. I am an extremely visual reader, by which I mean that I enjoy building the environment around me. Tchaikovsky was adequate to this task but I wanted more. However, I choose not to reduce any points for this - This is Tchaikovsky's first work. A ten volume series which serves as a nuanced account of the wages of war in a fantasy world. It is rare for anyone to get something THIS RIGHT on the first round and I am sure he will only get better as he continues to write more.
The SOTA is unlike any fantasy I have read in a long long time - nuanced, with wonderful characterisation, multiple plot threads and points of view and absolutely no narrative drag. It begins, builds to a crescendo and ends almost perfectly. I don't recommend this to just lovers of fantasy but to all lovers of good literature. Don't turn your nose down on this, you won't be disappointed.
When I look back at the Shadows of the Apt, what strikes me at first might seem incongruous to most.
There are no unnecessary descriptions of food.
None at all.
10 books, each of them 400 to 700 pages in length - covering battles, history and multiple points of view - and not a single one of them had any descriptions of food.
Or sex, clothing, family crests, whores or incest.
And I loved it.
Not a single wasted line.
There may be many reasons why the Shadows of the Apt is a success, why you SHOULD read these books no matter how difficult it may get at times. If I had to choose one, however, its this - Tchaikovsky doesn't waste a single page, character or event in his storytelling - the march of story is relentless through thousands of pages, culminating in a satisfying finale.
The World in which the Shadows of the Apt (SOTA) is set is astonishing in its originality. There are no elves, trolls, orcs or dwarves - instead, Tchaikovsky populates this world with Insect Kinden - human beings of different races who derive their primary characteristics from insects. Beetle kinden are slow, plodding, hardworking and intelligent with a flair for statesmanship. The Ant Kinden are warlike and live in each other's heads, attempting to work towards the betterment of the Ant city - a frightening and at the same time amusing allegory for communism. The Mantis Kinden live in the woods, are excellent fighters and are generally rooted in arcane magic and rituals - individualists who are dying out due to adherence to traditions which have lost all meaning. There are Spiders, Moths, Thorn Bugs and Flies each with their own definite characteristics that would require an encyclopedia to cover in entirety. At someone's last count there were close to thirty distinct kinden introduced in the series and I belive that must just be scratching the surface.
Another important differentiating factor amongst the people of this world is Aptitude. The Apt are those who are skilled in the art of artifice, and mechanics. They are scientists, using the laws of nature to change the world around them. Crossbows, artillery and even primitive air power all based on the principles of clockwork make their appearance in the early pages of the series. On the other end of the spectrum however, are the Inapt - the erstwhile rulers of the world to whom the apt were but slaves until a long ago revolution altered the power structure forever. The Inapt live in a world of magic, intuition and prophecy - incapable of so much as unlatching a door, their minds unable to comprehend the machine world in form or function.
This status quo is under threat from the Wasp Kinden of the north - a ferocious warlike race which has come into its own and seeks to conquer the world. While this might sound like a cliche far too common to all fantasy fiction there is an important difference - the Wasps aren't inherently evil. The initial stand off is more one of culture and ideology than of good and evil. Two of my favourite characters are, in fact, Wasps. The only people who are aware of the threat the Wasps pose to the world are the beetle Stenwold Maker, a master in Collegium and his Mantis friend Tisamon. As the series begins Stenwold sends his niece Che, his adopted daughter Tynisa, a spider and his halfbreed student Totho and the dragonfly prince Salme Dien to the factory city of Helleron for espionage against the Wasp empire. Having turned its eyes towards the university city of Collegium, a beacon of enlightenment and artifice in the Lowlands, the Wasps are determined to stop Stenwold Maker at any cost.
Anymore would give away the joy of experiencing the plot for yourself. Rest assured, things get complicated very quickly, alliances shift and change, people die and before you know you might find yourself rooting for a villain. Over ten books we are treated to multiple detailed accounts of various battles, war movements and deaths. The narrative moves effortlessly between personal accounts of war and one on one battles. There is a very real sense of forward progression in the book with characters always changing, finding their ideals and comfort zone being challenged on a regular basis and reacting to the world in new ways. These interactions might not always be pleasant and not everyone might walk away from them alive - however, it is wonderful to see such attention to character progression. No one walks out of this book unscathed or unchanged. Some change for the better, some for the worse - but all changes seem normal, organic and make sense. This series capitalises on this characterisation to make things all the more gripping.
SOTA cannot be labelled as grimdark fantasy either. There is war, death, murder, rape and cruelty. There are slave camps, dying civilisations and loss. A large chunk of characters are dead towards the end of the book. However, there is a resilience to all the characters that makes it possible to believe they will eventually find a way out. It might be because the author is British but all the characters have a stoic, stiff upper lip approach to situations which makes even the darkest segments of the book immensely enjoyable. The dialogue is witty, snappy and fluid - more importantly, it's distinctive in a sense and tailor made to each character. Atrocities, when they are committed are mentioned but not described in detail. This seems to be a more effective method of conveying the horrors of war. I have seen fantasy where rape and murder are described to a distasteful degree under the excuse of realism. Tchaikovsky actually doesn't indulge in voyeurism which significantly increased the emotional impact when bad things eventually DID happen. (Basically books 4 and 10)
A standard fantasy talks about heroism in the face of darkness with a well demarcated line between good and evil. SOTA takes a different tack. While set in a fictional world the themes are often all too relevant. The novels are given over to varied themes - whether duty to oneself comes over and above duty to the city state, are we willing to enslave others so that we may be free, the struggle between the old world and new, between science and superstition. There are also deeper questions about the creation of weapons of war and deterrents- does an inventor take pride in a weapon that has been created solely for killing, and if he is horrified what mental toll does this take? The stark contrast between killing a person yourself and ordering the deaths of hundreds in a mechanised attack is also touched upon. The question asked of a lot of the artificers in this series is whether they feel war has allowed them progress and innovation and whether, coming on the heel of the human cost, this innovation is worth it. A lot of the characters might answer yes. The beauty in Tchaikovsky's characters lies in how easy it is to understand if not exactly sympathise this point of view.
Over the course of the series, we are also treated to innovation and how it can change the face of war. Ranged weapons are deployed against an unarmed infantry, submersibles are invented out of necessity and there is an entire book devoted to an Air War that brings to mind the Battle of Britain and the RAF during World War II. This mechanical progress is a plot point which drives the book forward. The enemy improvising and modifying weapons while the defenders need to think on their feet to win the war and vice versa.
The only criticism I might want to level against this series is that it seems a little too dry at times.Tchaikovsky's prose is fluid, and wonderful on page. However, at times, it fails to convey the images necessary to visualise the world around. I am an extremely visual reader, by which I mean that I enjoy building the environment around me. Tchaikovsky was adequate to this task but I wanted more. However, I choose not to reduce any points for this - This is Tchaikovsky's first work. A ten volume series which serves as a nuanced account of the wages of war in a fantasy world. It is rare for anyone to get something THIS RIGHT on the first round and I am sure he will only get better as he continues to write more.
The SOTA is unlike any fantasy I have read in a long long time - nuanced, with wonderful characterisation, multiple plot threads and points of view and absolutely no narrative drag. It begins, builds to a crescendo and ends almost perfectly. I don't recommend this to just lovers of fantasy but to all lovers of good literature. Don't turn your nose down on this, you won't be disappointed.
tomlloyd's review
4.0
Another cracking addition to the series, and a great start to the second arc overall. I was pleased to find this did actually feel different, the fact he's dragged the setting away to the desert was a good idea to add some distance from the last book. And as the others, it was a great and easy read and I've already got the next one waiting on the shelves.
Only four stars though? Well, something felt very slightly flat compared to the last couple, the prose just lacking a bit of colour, the situation with the Masters bugging me slightly (if you'll forgive the pun) and just a general sense that it was only really good rather than outstanding. But still, it was really good and I still fully support my assertion that Adrian's in far more control of his plots etc than most other long-series fantasy writers and I have total confidence that the rest will be of the same high level.
Only four stars though? Well, something felt very slightly flat compared to the last couple, the prose just lacking a bit of colour, the situation with the Masters bugging me slightly (if you'll forgive the pun) and just a general sense that it was only really good rather than outstanding. But still, it was really good and I still fully support my assertion that Adrian's in far more control of his plots etc than most other long-series fantasy writers and I have total confidence that the rest will be of the same high level.
naye's review
4.0
What a thrilling installment! Definitely my favorite to date, with a couple of deeply satisfying emotional developments (I may have been into the Che/Talric ship for more books than I want to admit, so that final confrontation had my heart doing somersaults) and a fantastic, intriguing plot. Definitely four and a half stars!
The mystery of Khanaphes was incredibly well structured - hints enough to show that there was definitely more than superstition to it, and then the slow horror of the reveal. Should have guessed Slugs, especially as they are referred to in earlier books as a mythical kinden, but I was happy to be surprised by that, and really fascinated by what it all adds to the world building.
Again though, this is not quite a five star book for me. It's because of personal issues, so I still warmly recommend the books to anyone looking for inventive fantasy with amazing world building and characters you end up deeply invested in.
The rest of this is just going into details if anyone is interested in why it didn't fully hit the spot for me personally.
Some of it are personal issues I've covered in previous reviews (a world without queers is not a world I can fully endorse) and also a combination of battle-description fatigue (we get it - lots of people are dying in horrifying ways, now could we get back to the plot?) and incandescent loathing of the Nice Guy trope deployed for sympathy (I think? I obviously felt the exact opposite of sympathy) and having our amazing Che forced to do all the emotional labor to fix something that was NOT HER PROBLEM but it seemed the story wanted me to believe that a man obsessed with a woman for five books is at least half the woman's fault? Nope. Nope nope nope nope do not put ANY of that on her shoulders that is all in Totho's head and I kind of wish she'd just stabbed it out of him. Sorry - that's what you get for being a self-pity whine fest obsessed with a woman who has repeatedly turned you down.
Also REAL uncomfortable with how Totho's self-loathing is tied to (fantasy) race issues and how a lot of the "savages" and backwards folks are basically fantasy people of color, while the learned/civilized folks are fantasy Europeans. Previous installments haven't been quite so explicit, having various pseudo-European and Asian cultures representing the good/bad/neutral spectrum of enlightenment, imperialism and industrialism, but here the coding of the various groups was hugely cringey. I don't think it was intended to be read that way, but... yeah, whoops, that's what happens when books don't exist in a perfect vacuum.
The mystery of Khanaphes was incredibly well structured - hints enough to show that there was definitely more than superstition to it, and then the slow horror of the reveal. Should have guessed Slugs, especially as they are referred to in earlier books as a mythical kinden, but I was happy to be surprised by that, and really fascinated by what it all adds to the world building.
Again though, this is not quite a five star book for me. It's because of personal issues, so I still warmly recommend the books to anyone looking for inventive fantasy with amazing world building and characters you end up deeply invested in.
The rest of this is just going into details if anyone is interested in why it didn't fully hit the spot for me personally.
Some of it are personal issues I've covered in previous reviews (a world without queers is not a world I can fully endorse) and also a combination of battle-description fatigue (we get it - lots of people are dying in horrifying ways, now could we get back to the plot?) and incandescent loathing of the Nice Guy trope deployed for sympathy (I think? I obviously felt the exact opposite of sympathy) and having our amazing Che forced to do all the emotional labor to fix something that was NOT HER PROBLEM but it seemed the story wanted me to believe that a man obsessed with a woman for five books is at least half the woman's fault? Nope. Nope nope nope nope do not put ANY of that on her shoulders that is all in Totho's head and I kind of wish she'd just stabbed it out of him. Sorry - that's what you get for being a self-pity whine fest obsessed with a woman who has repeatedly turned you down.
Also REAL uncomfortable with how Totho's self-loathing is tied to (fantasy) race issues and how a lot of the "savages" and backwards folks are basically fantasy people of color, while the learned/civilized folks are fantasy Europeans. Previous installments haven't been quite so explicit, having various pseudo-European and Asian cultures representing the good/bad/neutral spectrum of enlightenment, imperialism and industrialism, but here the coding of the various groups was hugely cringey. I don't think it was intended to be read that way, but... yeah, whoops, that's what happens when books don't exist in a perfect vacuum.
More...