Empire in Black and Gold (Shadows of the Apt)

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Tchaikovsky has regularly expressed his intention regarding the Shadows of the Apt series not to make science better than magic, [16] or vice versa: "This is another key element, really: the magic/tech divide is a concept that turns up here and there in fantasy, but usually one side is good (mostly magic) and the other (dirty polluting tech) is bad. With the world of the kinden, they’re basically both as bad as the people who use them, whether it’s blood sacrifice in a Mantis-kinden grove or the Wasp Empire’s city-levelling weaponry." [17] Awards and nominations [ edit ] Let me say straight off the bat that I enjoyed reading Empire. It was a good book. But there are some gaps that I’d like to get into further on. But just know, that there are flying-machines in here, as well as some sorts of early cannons and guns - at least at times. Excellent debut fantasy set in a quite unusual world of various human races that have some specific insect adaptation and are called insect-kinden, e.g. beetle-kinden squat, mechanically inclined, mantis-kinden fast deadly warriors, spider-kinden masters of intrigue in whose society women dominate, moth-kindeb mystical former rulers until the mechanically inclined kinden, beetle, ants and flies overthrew them and built an early industrial society of city states - Lowlands - loosely allied and having the Collegium - an Athens like mercantile and scholar democracy as the most influential. The story itself is pretty standard: there’s an Evil Empire that must be fought, but no one with political power in the main characters’ world will recognize the threat. The good guys must find a way to make the threat obvious to their compatriots, and must prevent the war from finding their homeland before their politicians wise up. Skullduggery, treachery, negotiation, and political shenanigans predominate. There are also the mandatory confrontations between bad guys and good guys in both a threatening situation that fails to ignite and in a peaceful setting where the enemies are revealed as just folks — and each comes to have a grudging respect and even a degree of admiration for his or her adversary — before the ultimate battle that ends the book.

This book is good enough to make you switch sides and like whatever gener this is (not 100% on that really). The world is rich, the characters are round and lifelike, and the story is compelling. I was listening to it (lovely performance by Ben Allen) and so it took me some time to get into the world, cause it starts in medias res with a lot of names and places which certainly is easier to follow on (e-)paper. But not long and I started to feel for and with the characters. And that's the linchpin for me and Fantasy. When I start rooting for some (or more than some) of the folks I'm reading about, I'm bought. Interview with Adrian Tchaikovsky, author of Shadow of the Apt series". www.londoncalling.com . Retrieved 23 January 2019.Cheerwell and Salma are impriosned in Myna while Thalric begins his mission for the Rekef to investigate Ulther, the city's Wasp governor. Thalric straps Cheerwell to a torture table, apparently about to forcibly draw information on Stenwold from her, but only uses the noise made by the torture machine to conduct a clandestine conversation with his ally Aagen about exposing Ulther. In the end he forces matters with his former mentor quite simply, confiscating a rare and beautiful Butterfly-kinden woman, Grief in Chains, from Ulther's harem. Ulther sends men to kill Thalric but Thalric survives the fight and goes after Ulther.

This year, I’ve set myself a couple of challenges. If you read my first post, you’ll know I spent all of last year reading books by David Weber. So for 2020, with it being a new year and a new decade and all that, I’ve challenged myself to read at least a book a month. Easy, right? I feel like this is so far a worldbuilding-focused story, with characters, that are likable and easy to grasp. To start with, that first chapter was great. I know some people don’t like being dropped right into the action from the start but for me a great prologue that leaves me asking questions and wanting to know more is one of the best ways to get me hooked. Like the prologue from the Eye of the World or the Way of Kings or the Shadow of What Was Lost, it made me immediately interested in what was happening. Plus there was some really cool and unique action.You basically kill several birds with one stone, you make it easier for both yourself and the reader. But let me explain. I consider this series a must read for any lover of epic fantasy and those readers who are looking for something completely different in the SFF community. It is a crime that this series is such an unknown to the vast majority of fantasy readers and I will take it upon myself to correct this injustice. This is in my top 5 greatest epic fantasy series ever written and I hope you will see this work for the grand epic it truly is. Since every reader knows the different types of insects, there is instantly a picture painted, of how these people might look, what their abilities might be, how they might behave, etc. This brings me round to my first issue. Whether by accident or not, there are some gaps here. Tchaikovsky does a good job with his supporting cast, in particular with Salma, Tynisa and Thalric, who all undergo real development as characters and feel like they’ve grown past their starting limits. I could write a lot about each of their journey’s but I’ve pledged to keep this spoiler free.

I want to say here that this shouldn’t contain any spoilers, though it will explore some of the plot points and certain characters, their traits and the world in general. If you’re squeamish, look away now… First nursing associates graduate among 1,000 students in Lincoln". The Lincolnite. 23 January 2019 . Retrieved 23 January 2019. Like any self-respecting fantasy, you get your haunted forest, Fangorn-analogue and dangerous inhabitants in Darakyon Forest. My experience with fantasy is that every good fantasy has a good setting. In A Song of Ice and Fire you get Westeros and the Known World, in the Old Kingdom trilogy you get Ancelstierre, Dragonlance has Krynn, Lewis has Naria, Tolkien Middle Earth, the list goes on. Insect-kinden? There are several human races who long ago adapted to prehistoric insects. Examples: mantis-kinden are warriors, beetle-kinden like mechanics, wasp-kinden can fly and use stingers.After an attempt on Stenwold's life by thugs hired by the Wasps he decides to send Tynisa and Salma on the airship Sky Without to the industrial city of Helleron to meet with his associates there. Totho also makes an impression on Stenwold and he includes him in the group, but it is only after the attempted assassination that Stenwold agrees to let Cheerwell go as well, taking his place on the airship so his presence will not endanger the young agents. Once aboard the airship and bound for Helleron Tynisa seduces a Wasp captain on the ship, Halrad, to keep him from investigating them too hard. However, the tables turn when Thalric, a Rekef Outlander agent for the Wasp Empire tasked with ending Stenwold's activities, arrives on board looking for him. Once he discovers them the agents are forced to flee the ship, stealing the flier he arrived in and killing some of their pursuers. They crash-land a few miles from Helleron and are forced to complete their journey on foot, arriving later than planned. By this time the man they were meant to meet with, Bolwyn, has been killed by Scyla, a shape-shifting Spider-kinden working with Thalric, and their rendezvous is a trap. Though all four agents escape they become seperated. Totho is rescued by Scuto, a Thorn-bug kinden and Stenwold's head agent in Helleron who controls his own espionage operation within the city. Tynisa flees through the streets, increasingly taken over by her killing instincts, and ends up among a street gang who her take her in as an enforcer. Cheerwell and Salma make their way to one of Cheerwell's relatives within the city, Elias Monger. While staying at his house outside the city Cheerwell encounters a young Moth-kinden man, Achaeos, who was injured in a raid on Monger's mine workings. Rather than turn him in she overcomes his mistrust and tends to his wound. Just an absolutely fantastic first book in a series that deserves a fandom as dedicated as those of Malazan, Stormlight Archive, or Wheel of Time. Now, if this was something Tchaikovsky was trying to achieve then he’s succeeded. But I’m not sure. And the more I think about it, the more I’m not fully convinced by the cities we visit.