Reviews

Salute the Dark by Adrian Tchaikovsky

siddharthageorge's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

mwplante's review against another edition

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4.0

Wow! What a ride. The entire last third of this one has a climactic moment about every five pages. This feels like the end of a 20 book series, rather than the fourth book of ten. Plot points set up in book two come to full and satisfying fruition here, but the meta narrative still has plenty to resolve.

Tchaikovsky does a masterful job of defying our expectations without cutting the legs out from under his own plot. Onward!

awoodalla's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense 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

4.75

jesslynh's review against another edition

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4.0

I am really, really sorry that this book had to end. This is the best series of honest-to-goodness Fantasy that I've gotten my hands on in a long time. The series isn't over yet, from what I can gather, the author signed on for a total of 10 books, and this is just the 4th. I look forward to all the rest.

semajluap's review against another edition

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adventurous 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? No

5.0

annakak's review against another edition

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4.0

Empires fall, everyone dies.

kadomi's review against another edition

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3.0

It's been ages since I last read any of this series of books, which made a return a bit rough. The previous 3 books had introduced a myriad of characters and locations, and they all made an appearance in this 4th book that felt like the end of the first plot arc of the 10-book series. In a world where humans of various different races with insect abilities live, the aggressive wasps have set out to conquer the Lowlands. After the setup of the first three books, we now have large-scale war and rebellion against the yoke of the wasps, plus plots in the capital of the wasp empire as well.

War is harsh, and so many characters we met in previous books find their end in Salute the Dark, as the conquest of the wasps ends for now.

I was a bit overwhelmed at times with the frequent PoV changes and very likely would have enjoyed the book a lot more if I had been fresh off book 3. But I wasn't, and so I struggled with feeling sympathy for some characters or actually remembering them. The end was interesting though, because now I am trying to figure out what this means for the series, and which character that was in the end there. Intrigued.

World-building is still top-notch, but I could do with a lesser scale for the rest of the series, and maybe less war. We shall see!

jhouses's review against another edition

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4.0

El cuarto libro recoge todo el impulso acumulado en los anteriores y lo lanza contra el lector en un inmenso diorama de guerra, batallas y sacrificio. Los personajes y las tramas cierran sus arcos respectivos y no le tiembla la mano al autor para hacer morir a alguno de los más queridos. Proporciona un cierre satisfactorio a la trama aunque deja algunos flecos convenientemente abiertos. Por el momento las Tierras Bajas han logrado frenar la expansión del imperio de las Avispas pero a nonguno nos quedan dudas de que la situación es inestable y solo están consolidando sus posiciones.

zivan's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

It looks like Tchaikovsky had a conclusion in mind, but opted for a, to be continued, epilogue.

fryguy451's review against another edition

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4.0

Very nice story arc conclusion.