Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

The Air War (Shadows of the Apt #8)

by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Goodreads Author)

4.03 of 5 stars 4.03 · rating details · 150 ratings · 16 reviews

All is in turmoil as the world moves towards war. In Solarno, the spies watch each other and ready their knives, while Myna sees the troops muster at its border and emotions run high as it vows never to be enslaved again. In Collegium, the students argue politics, too late to turn the tide. In the heart of the Empire, new pilots have completed their secretive training, gen...more

Paperback, 646 pages

Published August 2nd 2012 by Tor

more details... edit details

Get a copy:

More…

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

Perdido Street Station by China Miéville

Best Steampunk Books

339th out of 469 books — 2,470 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 511)

filter | sort: default (?) | rating details

Oct 16, 2012 Josh rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: shadows_of_the_apt, fantasy, own, read_2012

‘The Air War’ is the latest look at aviation fantasy in the Shadows of the Apt which comprises all the elements typical of this format from kamikaze characters, fierce air battles, and spiralling suspense at G-Force speed. Tchaikovsky’s first foray into air battle was in ‘Blood of the Mantis’ which tested the turbulence without going to the extremes of full scale warfare across multiple cities as depicted in ‘The Air War’. From Solarno, to Myna, all the way to Collegium, the cities of the Lowlan...more ‘The Air War’ is the latest look at aviation fantasy in the Shadows of the Apt which comprises all the elements typical of this format from kamikaze characters, fierce air battles, and spiralling suspense at G-Force speed. Tchaikovsky’s first foray into air battle was in ‘Blood of the Mantis’ which tested the turbulence without going to the extremes of full scale warfare across multiple cities as depicted in ‘The Air War’. From Solarno, to Myna, all the way to Collegium, the cities of the Lowlands and environs – no sky is safe as the Wasp initiated war extends its boundaries with devastating results.

Taki and the fly-kinden rise to greater prominence than previous instalments with a number of characters contributing heavily towards the story that previously held minor or no roles. This helped to keep the series fresh and provided a means to expand upon the world building and deep characterisation of those who inhabit the Lowlands and environs. There is a not so subtle nod at the recreation of the successful band of mixed kinden popularised in ‘Empire of Black and Gold’ and ‘Dragonfly Falling’ with Straessa (ant/spider half-breed), Eujen (Bettle), Gerethwy (woodlouse), and Averic (wasp) the new breed of students at Collegium. Despite being new characters, Tchaikovsky does a great job at developing and making the reader care about them. Eujen is probably the most interesting, almost a younger Stenwold-like idealist.

The early battle in Myna is reminiscent of the ferocious land based encounters in ‘Dragonfly Falling’, with the exception being Myna’s battle is a mixture of ground and airborne assault. Tchaikovsky is a master of detailing combat through flawless narrative and picture perfect realism. While Collegium itself is touted as a place of peace and intellectual stimulus yet at its core, it’s politicking threatens to rot its very foundation. In an attempt to maintain a semblance of normalcy amidst times of war by clinging to order and bureaucracy, Stenwold himself undergoes an interesting change of perception.

There are many good things in 'The Air War' – the highlights of which are primarily focused on the full frontal warfare and interesting characterisation of key playerS on both side of the confrontation. I found myself cheering equally for fly-kinden wasp sympathisers (Pingge) just as much as I did Taki and Laszlo. I also liked the reference to ‘Makerist’ as a form of political view. ‘The Air War’ is building towards something big. Empress Seda, while not playing a large role, does lay the foundation for further interesting plot threads to unfold in future instalments. I cant wait for more. 5 stars

More information about the Shadows of the Apt series can be found at this wiki (which is also mentioned in the acknowledgements section of ‘The Air War’). http://shadowsoftheapt.wikia.com/wiki...

My review for ‘The Sea Watch’ (book six) can be found here: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

My review for ‘Heirs of the Blade’ (book seven) can be found here. http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
(less)

like 4 likes · see review

Aug 13, 2012 Liviu rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012_release_read, genre-fantasy, read_2012, review_fbc, top_25_2012_novels

(aug 3) I read some 100 pages from Air War and besides being the superb book one expected, there are some surprises in so far there are quite a lot of new characters who seem destined for starring roles - a new "tetrad" of special Collegium (more or less as, well, would not want to spoil it but there is a scene that strongly reminds one of how we met the original 4, Che, Tynisa, Totho and Salma...) youngsters, a cool Assassin Bug kinden on a mission, a Wasp kinden spy master with a secret...

The...more

like 3 likes · see review

Aug 26, 2012 Ruth rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: spec-fic

C2012:FWFTB: spies, politics, Empire, pilots, conflict. It was a Shadow of the Apt book so of course it was on the list. None, and I mean none, of my favourite characters are in this particular episode. There is a cameo of Tisamon but apart from perhaps the briefest of mentions – no Che or Thalric. I am sure that this must be one of the most wordiest in the series so far with an impressive 646 pages excluding the Glossary. I should have read it on my Kindle as the paperback is a doorstop. This i...more

like · see review

Aug 27, 2012 Jason rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-2012

3 Stars

This was one of my most anticipated books of 2012. Adrian Tchaikovsky is one of my favorite authors today, and The Shadows of the Apt series is my favorite series. With the previous books, Tchaikovsky has consistently demonstrated his skills at developing and maintaining a massively epic story line. These are some of the most original fantasy / science fiction / steampunk hybrids one could read. The world building, character development, and depth of the storyline are top notch. The Shado...more 3 Stars

This was one of my most anticipated books of 2012. Adrian Tchaikovsky is one of my favorite authors today, and The Shadows of the Apt series is my favorite series. With the previous books, Tchaikovsky has consistently demonstrated his skills at developing and maintaining a massively epic story line. These are some of the most original fantasy / science fiction / steampunk hybrids one could read. The world building, character development, and depth of the storyline are top notch. The Shadows of the Apt series is simply an epic story that should not be missed.

Taken on its own The Air War is a fast, fun, high flying, and steampunk-esque fantasy read. It works in that it further develops the main story line, the reunification of the Empire of the Wasps, and the power gathering of the Empress. Stenwold is a major focus in this book and that is fine by me as the maker is an amazing man. There are many amazing action scenes that take place in the sky. Air battles, crazy flying, and cool steampunk air machines. This book has a great starting point and climaxes well, which in turn gives it some standalone appeal. There are many points of view, some plot twists, and some future threads revealed.

The problem that I personally had with this novel is that my two favorite characters, and unarguably the series major center, are not in this book at all. This normally would not be an issue for me in any other series, but Che and Thalric are far too magnetic, interesting, and unforgettable to be without. They are two of my very favorite protagonists and their relationship is the heart and soul of this incredible series. At book #8 now, we the reader have too much invested in these two characters to not be given more about them. It is due to these two people that several books in this series have finished atop my favorite of the year.

I cannot emphasize enough as to how serious I am when I say that Fantasy readers should not miss out on this epic series. It ranks among my very favorite and Tchaikovsky has really created something special. Please go out and buy book one and join me in my love for the insect kinden and all that is the Shadows of the Apt series.(less)

like 3 likes · see review

Sep 06, 2012 Ella rated it 4 of 5 stars

The most common problem I have with the series is still present here (albeit not as extreme as in previous installments), apart from the occasional “my species doth protest too much” individuals who stray from the norm every person depending on race and Kinden is defined by what they are rather than who they are; every beetle is passive, clumsy and greedy, every wasp has a hair-trigger temper and is misogynistic to boot, every mantis is nuts, every scorpion a brute, every ant is xenophobic, viol...more The most common problem I have with the series is still present here (albeit not as extreme as in previous installments), apart from the occasional “my species doth protest too much” individuals who stray from the norm every person depending on race and Kinden is defined by what they are rather than who they are; every beetle is passive, clumsy and greedy, every wasp has a hair-trigger temper and is misogynistic to boot, every mantis is nuts, every scorpion a brute, every ant is xenophobic, violent, martial and has no personality so to speak of, every fly will steal anything that’s not nailed down, every moth is a creepy luddite, every spider is a total sociopath…actually lets discuss that for a second. They seem to have this “free pass” in the eyes of the rest of the world for being these impossibly clever chess-masters when actually they’re all just sociopathic jerks who habitually try to undermine society for shits and giggles…a culture like theirs should never have developed.

The blatant racism and superiority complex every city-state/Kinden/culture has, is supposed to be portrayed as “wrong” but it’s technically not racism when every culture does indeed adhere to all the negative stereotypes about them. I’m Irish so I’m guessing if I were a character in Tchavoshkis works I’d be the freckled, red-headed drunken catholic relief character who only existed to get herself into comic situations because of her own stupidity…and I take exception to that…I’m blonde….but I digress, this writing style makes all the various sides just as bad as each other and frankly I can’t bring myself to give a damn about any of them. The only difference between every other culture and the “supreme bad guys” the wasps, as far as I can tell is that the wasps seem to be winning. My tip? Narrow down the number of Kinden you have or stop introducing new ones and give the existing ones some depth. Although at this stage it would take another eight books because of the number of Kinden he’s introduced…

Also for a steampunk technologically-advanced world why are they so damn insular? These are people who have invented guns, trains, bombs, steam-engines, submarines and freaking aeroplanes not to mention they have bloody superpowers which is always handy…and yet it’s only since the goddam war that they seem to ever realize that there are people beyond their own borders. Like, the various races are supposed to parallel real-world cultures and yet we were invading and conquering each other like it was going out of style during a time when the height of modern technology was the goddamn compass. It’s gotten to the point where the stupidity of every collective race is getting on my nerves, they’re all so…dumb…

Stenwold started out as a promising character, a couple of books ago…but now he has become a charactiure of the cliché it looked like he was going to subvert for a while. The man has no dimension to him whatsoever, “enemy of the wasps” is pretty much his defining characteristic, that this guy is considered the smart one in his world is a little worrying. I get that he’s lost so much that his anti-wasp crusade has eroded everything that once was Stenwold Maker but we never got to see the optimistic, energetic and naive youth he once was we are only told he was once like this.

Seda got some interesting emotional depth that I wasn’t expecting, we learn that she’s still ruled by her own fear, or rather her fear of fear itself, her quest for power and taking over the world is not so much rooted in pure greed but rather a desperate almost childlike wish to conquer everything so nothing can ever hurt her again. This made her surprisingly sympathetic, ya know…murderous psychopath thing aside…

Once again most of the characters strike me as supremely selfish. Is this just me? I don’t know why but they seem to have little emotional depth or else the author is just bad at creating realistic interactions between characters without it seeming forced. Except Che and Thalric who sadly don’t feature…

The book also introduces a new quartet of characters, a young mixed-bag of college students that seem to parallel the original four, although they are infinitely more likable. what can I say, I loved them. I guess I’m a sucker for the underdogs; the original four are to these lot what the cool kids are to the guys playing dungeons and dragons at the lunch-table in the dark corner at the back of the cafeteria.Their friendships seem more genuine, thrust together because they are all on the peripherals of the insular and superior-minded collegium society, as opposed to being an ensemble of clichés including the suave sexy warrior, the handsome mysterious foreigner, the awkward dork who’s not actually that awkward and a genius who is constantly overlooked, sorry but their little group seemed so damn…artificial …they’re also older, or at least not explicitly revealed to be goddamned teenagers…Looks like Tchavosly is picking up a few tricks after all…I hope they feature prominently in the next books, maybe at the expense of Lazlo? Sorry, the guy just annoys me...

Also the apt vs. inapt thing, the “one group can do magic one can’t” thing is cool but the complete lack of understanding it’s just…too unbelievable, (and yeah that’s saying a lot about a story set in a steampunk world inhabited by super-powered insect-human hybrids)…it’d be fine if the magicians were hiding behind a masquerade, like say a werewolf in an urban fantasy book, but they go around openly calling themselves magicians and magic clearly exists in this world…if these Kinden really are human they should be able to understand both at least nominally, I have a colleague who works in the lab with me who believes in psychics and her head hasn’t imploded at the sheer paradoxical nature of it yet, coz you know humans are a bundle of contradictions we can believe in all sorts of stupid asynchronous crap. Similarly, an inapt-Kinden should be able to open a bloody door, my dog can open doors, hell, my cat can open doors…find me a moth big enough and I bet I could train it to open doors…but then again I’ve already mentioned how dumb I find most of the characters…

But all those irritating little details which I have come to accept are part of this series aside, they are fun and easy to read, just don’t think about it too hard. The quasi deaus ex machina at the end was a bit too contrived for my liking however…
(less)

like 2 likes · see review

Aug 18, 2012 Paul Nelson rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012-books-read

The Shadows of the Apt series for me is wonderfully unique, truly epic and the remarkable concept of the insect-kinden is a credit to the imagination of the author.
This novel is the start of the final segment of the story and we are introduced to the history of the seal of the worm, the title of the final novel.

For five years there has peace between the Wasp Empire and its neighbours.
The Wasp Empress Seda has used these first years of her reign to consolidate and strengthen her position by firs...more

like 1 like · see review

Dec 24, 2012 Algernon rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012

This is the eigth book set in the Apt world, so the review is addressed mostly to those already familiar with the story. For the other readers, you should start at the beginning: you'll discover one of the most imaginative and energetic epics currently being published. I have been a fan from the start, and the latest book sits well with the overall quality of the storytelling and the incredible richness of the setting. Briefly, the Apt world is populated by humanoid nations, each borrowing some...more
This is the eigth book set in the Apt world, so the review is addressed mostly to those already familiar with the story. For the other readers, you should start at the beginning: you'll discover one of the most imaginative and energetic epics currently being published. I have been a fan from the start, and the latest book sits well with the overall quality of the storytelling and the incredible richness of the setting. Briefly, the Apt world is populated by humanoid nations, each borrowing some insect characteristic / aptitude that determines their place in society and the nature of their culture: Beatles are stocky and industrious, Wasps can fly and sting and are generally violent and impulsive; Bees are hard working, Moths like the shadows and the ancient mysteries; Spiders are treacherous, Flies are small and fast and sociable, and so on for at least another two dozen kinden.

The conflict is basically between the expanding Wasp Empire and the city states alliance around Collegium - center of academic study and technological research. This eigth book is in fact a return to the positions at the start of Empire of Black and Gold with the Wasps attacking the city of Sarn and threatening the whole Lowlands. The reboot vibe is accentuated by the introduction of a lot of new characters, including a youthfull quartet of student fighters in Collegium echoing the adventures of of the original group Cheerwell-Totho-Salma-Tynisa. Also new: a couple of spies on both sides of the conflict, an assassin with conflicted loyalties, a Wasp General and his Spyder counterpart. What has changed in a dramatic way since the first war is the technology, with the focus in this book on airplanes. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and Tchaikovsky has done his research well into the nature of aerial tactics, enough for the book to merit comparisons to the historical events of the Battle for Britain in WWII, while maintaining enough original concepts to avoid being called derivative. I loved the detailed descriptions of dogfights and the book was, as usual, a page turner that after a slower start gained enough momentum in later chapters to become a speeding train without brakes. But, since I mentioned technology, I should also mention that this was the most difficult part for my suspension of disbelief to function. For one thing, progress is much too fast, with about five centuries of military development crammed into a decade of storytelling: from bows and arrows, siege walls and trebuchets, to machine guns (snapbows) , heavy tanks (sentinels) , large caliber cannons, targetting computers, fighter planes and bomber squadrons. Few of these machines are actually viable : machine guns powered by compressed air, tanks on legs instead of tracks, airplanes with wind-up clockwork engines. In this particular case, I believe the effort for originality led to some hard to swallow engineering features.

The Inapt part of the series worked much better for me, proving that I am curiously more open to magic than to science in my fantasy reading. Although the Inapt chapters are few in this volume, and are focused mostly on the Wasp Empress Seda, the developments look promising for the next books, where I expect the technological overtones of this one to be more balanced with mysteries and hidden powers. I would also like to see a return of some of my favorite characters that have been ignored in favor of concentrating almost exclusively on the airplanes and their pilots.

In general, the author is really good about creating likable characters and controlling a very complex plot, but I have a small gripe about The Air War and I can't let it pass. I've noted this problem with other big epics, so it's not particular to the Apt universe, and it's basically about rising the odds against the heroes and piling misfortune after misfortune on them in order to make their victory so much sweeter in the end. Not so much that any character in Shadows of the Apt is immune from injury or death, but when the chances of victory are so slim as to be non-existent, the writer would be forced to pull a 'deux-et-machina' out of his magic hat, and it sorts of detracts from the credibility already strained by the technological wishful thinking. In this particular case, I didn't mind so much the device (view spoiler) as the poor cloaking of the twist, made rather obvious well in advance of its deployment. What's more, when you already have tens of thousands of deaths in one of the early books of the series, how much more can you raise the stakes? Go for millions? Go for WMD? Go for the ubiquitous end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it cataclysm?

Despite these small critical comments, I really enjoyed the ride, and the Series remains one of my top five fantasy epics. I can't wait for the next one to hit the stores.(less)

like 5 likes · see review

Aug 25, 2012 Jennifer rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy

I'm impressed at the level of quality that Tchaikovsky continues in the Shadows of the Apt series. The Air War is the 8th book in the series and it still has the awesome pace and characterization of the previous books. I'm typically not a fan of battles, but the Air War over the Collegium is a reminder of the Battle of London during WWII.
I think the strength of the novels is that the characters change and grow through out the series, and the society is inventing new technologies at a breakneck...more

like · see review

Dec 02, 2012 Alytha rated it 3 of 5 stars

I really really adore this series, its setting, and all the weird creatures running about...but I didn't enjoy this volume as much as I had hoped to. And I am an aviation geek.

Unfortunately, there's just not enough happening. There's just one aerial battle after the other, with endlessly detailed descriptions of every pilot's moves, which does get boring after a while. In other volumes, I really admired the author's skill to evoke strong emotions in the battle scenes, but that didn't work here.

T...more

like · see review

Sep 12, 2012 Stephen rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, fiction

OK, this is never going to be categorised as great literature, but I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed it, as I did its predecessor, though for very different reasons. As others have said, who wouldn't like a fantasy take on the Battle of Britain?!

The action is non-stop and the battle scenes gripping. Interspersed with that is some genuinely interesting character development, with Stenwold straying towards the Dark Side as his obsession makes him lose perspective, and Jodry simultaneously growing...more

like · see review

Nov 12, 2012 Tom Boshell rated it 5 of 5 stars

Outstanding book. I can tell that it is getting hard to focus on all the characters and the author is having to dedicate the books to following one or the other character. It will get interesting when the climax hits (the Maker and his niece team-up). Still a trip reading about clockwork engines, so incomprehensible to my modern taught mind. These books are building and building into a huge storyline--which I personally like since it is well developed. I just can imagine that the author will hav...more

like · see review

Jan 03, 2013 Rachel_vip added it

I adore this series, but i didn't like this book as much as i liked the previous books. I missed Thalric and Che. It's not the same without them. They are the reason i am a fan of "Shadows Of The Apt".
I hope there will be much more of them in the next book. I can't wait!

like · see review

Aug 05, 2012 Lindsay rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book was absolutely freaking amazing. I loved it, It is book 8 and yet it is as fresh and exciting as if it were book 2 or 3.

Only downside is i have to wait another year before the next one comes out!

like · see review

Aug 17, 2012 Maryesther rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy

Dropped a grade as there is no Che and Thalric in it.

like · see review

May 18, 2013 Rob marked it as to-read

May 16, 2013 Alex marked it as to-read

May 16, 2013 Horne rated it 4 of 5 stars

May 15, 2013 CJ marked it as to-read

May 15, 2013 Vicky marked it as to-read

May 14, 2013 Joseph marked it as to-read

May 14, 2013 Johannes rated it 4 of 5 stars

May 13, 2013 Jared Wright rated it 3 of 5 stars

May 15, 2013 Franklin Fabrygel rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

May 12, 2013 Bootpirate rated it 5 of 5 stars

May 12, 2013 Ben marked it as to-read

May 11, 2013 Bob Nixon added it

May 11, 2013 Eugen rated it 4 of 5 stars

May 14, 2013 Szati rated it 3 of 5 stars

May 09, 2013 Pat King rated it 5 of 5 stars

May 08, 2013 Thomas Falkenberg rated it 3 of 5 stars

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 17 18 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Be the first to start one »

Recommend it | Stats | Recent status updates

combine
Other Editions (1)

Genres

Fantasy

30 users

Science Fiction > Steampunk

5 users

Fantasy > Epic Fantasy

3 users

See top shelves...

Readers also enjoyed similar books

About Adrian Tchaikovsky

ADRIAN TCHAIKOVSKY was born in Lincolnshire and studied zoology and psychology at Reading, before practising law in Leeds. He is a keen live role-player and occasional amateur actor and is trained in stage-fighting. His literary influences include Gene Wolfe, Mervyn Peake, China Miéville, Mary Gently, Steven Erikson, Naomi Novak, Scott Lynch and Alan Campbell.

More about Adrian Tchaikovsky...

Books by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Empire in Black and Gold (Shadows of the Apt, #1)

Dragonfly Falling (Shadows of the Apt, #2)

Blood of the Mantis (Shadows of the Apt, #3)

Salute the Dark (Shadows of the Apt, #4)

The Scarab Path (Shadows of the Apt, #5)

More…

Share This Book

Facebook Twitter Your website

Trivia About The Air War

No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »

title link	preview: The Air War
avg rating	preview: The Air War Goodreads rating: 4.03 (150 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13511946-the-air-war?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1330945717l/13511946.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13511946-the-air-war?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]The Air War by Adrian Tchaikovsky[/url]

The Air War (Shadows of the Apt #8)

Friend Reviews

Community Reviews

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website