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

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

by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Goodreads Author)

3.9 of 5 stars 3.90 · rating details · 946 ratings · 45 reviews

Driven by the ghosts of the Darakyon, Achaeos has tracked the stolen Shadow Box to the marsh-town of Jerez, but he has only days before the magical box is lost to him forever.

Meanwhile, the forces of the Empire are mustering over winter for their great offensive, gathering their soldiers and perfecting their new weapons. Stenwold and his followers have only a short time to...more

Paperback, 429 pages

Published by Tor Books (first published July 1st 2009)

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The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

2009 DGLA Fantasy Book Nominees

20th out of 63 books — 95 voters

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Jul 08, 2012 Daniel rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is what I'm talking about: move away from the big, empire-sized plans and send your protagonists on small, covert missions to backwater locations that we have yet to visit on the map. This was Tchaikovsky's approach in the first book--which was by far the stronger of the first two--and it serves him well here.

Spoiler tags follow, as I touch up material that would ruin it for the unread.

(view spoiler)...more This is what I'm talking about: move away from the big, empire-sized plans and send your protagonists on small, covert missions to backwater locations that we have yet to visit on the map. This was Tchaikovsky's approach in the first book--which was by far the stronger of the first two--and it serves him well here.

Spoiler tags follow, as I touch up material that would ruin it for the unread.

(view spoiler)

At some point while reading this, I realized that I was reading a book that has a juvenile mindset in the genre. Yeah, Mr. Tchaikovsky does bring up some mature topics, such as the mechanization of weaponry in early warfare and what it means to bear the deaths of soldiers you send into war; unfortunately, when Mr. T does go into these topics, he leans on "telling" far more than "showing" in his prose--a fact which is telling in and of itself. When it comes to moving the plot along and spinning mysteries about these insect totem-bearing people, Tchaikovsky writes confident prose that reads well, and it is this material that keeps me coming back for the next installment.(less)

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May 03, 2012 Forrest rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: cbr4

Despite the fact that all but the 7th book in the Shadows of the Apt series were written before I started reading the first one, I can’t help but feel that Adrian Tchaikovsky somehow channeled my review of Dragonfly Falling when he was writing Blood of the Mantis. It is far more likely that Tchaikovsky saw for himself where his story was going off the rails and acted to correct the problem, but the reviewer in me is a little smug about being right, even if it was 3 years after the fact.

Mantis ad...more Despite the fact that all but the 7th book in the Shadows of the Apt series were written before I started reading the first one, I can’t help but feel that Adrian Tchaikovsky somehow channeled my review of Dragonfly Falling when he was writing Blood of the Mantis. It is far more likely that Tchaikovsky saw for himself where his story was going off the rails and acted to correct the problem, but the reviewer in me is a little smug about being right, even if it was 3 years after the fact.

Mantis addressed all the problems I had with Dragonfly, from the sprawling story that proved harder to follow, to the bland characters, and even the minor focus issues that plagued the battle sequences. Unfortunately, he also overcorrected for some of these problems. An expansive world with more than a half-dozen plots is suddenly replaced with a tight narrative at the expense of several unresolved stories and lost PoV characters. The remaining cast starts to flesh out a little, but become strangled by their reduced plotlines. Tchaikovsky also hasn’t stopped introducing new concepts and characters to the still complex setting. These new elements feel flat at best and extraneous at worst. In spite of these weaknesses, the book completely succeeds in its task: prolonging the series and setting up the next book.

Blood of the Mantis skips forward a few months from the end of Dragonfly, presumably to avoid descriptions of the upkeep that follows major military actions. Like Dragonfly and Empire in Black and Gold, the action quickly splits up and we again follow small teams of protagonists off on a variety of missions. Two of the original main cast, Salma and Totho, have lost their main character privileges, with Salma also losing PoV character status. Another three major characters introduced in Dragonfly have received similar treatment, so instead of seven or eight major actions taking place, we’re down to three: Stenwold Maker in the Lowlands, Che acting as a cat’s-paw for the Spider-kinden, and a gaggle of characters following Achaeos in pursuit of the Shadow Box. The tighter narrative is the perfect tool for reeling in the exponential expansion that the series underwent in Dragonfly. Events are easier to follow and we are allowed to metaphorically catch our breath and take stock of the setting.

Mantis can clearly be classified as a ‘middle’ novel in the series; a transitional work designed to address holes in the plot and prepare the reader for the next major plot arc. In some ways, the book is nothing more than an extended dénouement for Dragonfly Falling. As such, it fails to stand up as an individual work of fiction, but it doesn’t really need to. Longform fantasy occasionally needs ‘middle’ books to bridge events that would otherwise become increasingly heavy with the need for continued rising action. The presence of Mantis in the series is a good signifier that Tchaikovsky has a good grasp of the longform narrative, and that he is improving his craft as he writes. This bodes well for the rest of the series, promised to span ten books.

Because the structure of these ‘middle’ books denies the heavy advancement of plot arcs, it can be problematic to try to force one through. Mantis has this problem in its Shadow Box arc. Part of the problem is that too many PoV characters were jammed into the arc. Six principle protagonists and several secondary antagonists get substantial PoV paragraphs, which makes the whole narrative seem a little muddy. To make matters worse, Achaeos, who should be leading his own story, is relegated to a support role until the very end. Tchaikovsky uses some round-and-round story techniques to draw the whole plot out for a few chapters, giving all the PoVs enough time to establish and interact, but there’s still not enough page space to really do anything of substance. The end result is thoroughly unsatisfying.

These are relatively minor flaws when contrasted to the series as a whole, and the progress forward outweighs the damage done by the overcorrection. Blood of the Mantis does exactly what it was supposed to do and leaves the Shadows of the Apt in a great place for book four, Salute the Dark, to pick up.(less)

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Jan 08, 2012 Alytha rated it 3 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I'm a bit underwhelmed by this one. Not much that is relevant to the general plot happens.
Che and Nero travel to Solarno, in order to look for potential allies. They fail in that, but there's a lot of very detailed flying and aeriel combat scences.
A bunch of rather badly defined and interchangeable Imperial officers plot stuff.
Tisamon, Tynisa and Achaeos travel to Jerez in order to recapture the mysterious evil box that was stolen from Collegium in the last book. They fail rather spectacularly,...more I'm a bit underwhelmed by this one. Not much that is relevant to the general plot happens.
Che and Nero travel to Solarno, in order to look for potential allies. They fail in that, but there's a lot of very detailed flying and aeriel combat scences.
A bunch of rather badly defined and interchangeable Imperial officers plot stuff.
Tisamon, Tynisa and Achaeos travel to Jerez in order to recapture the mysterious evil box that was stolen from Collegium in the last book. They fail rather spectacularly, but find out that there's a secret underwater civilisation in the lake next door.
The Emperor is still a paranoid idiot.
Seda and the Mosquito are plotting something evil for which they also need the box.
Sten is trying to found an alliance of Lowlander peoples in Sarn, which includes the common use of the snapbow, the new weapon of the Empire. His mission is a bit more successful but only after almost failing and some deaths.

So, all in all, the plot hasn't advanced much and we've been mainly shown some admittedly nice worldbuilding, for example the underwater society, and the pilots' culture in Solarno. The rest is mainly plotting though.

Something I've been wondering about: the pilots of Solarno use something that sounds very much like a machine gun, which uses bullets powered by black powder, with a feeder belt. Why, thus, is the snapbow, which is essentially an air-rifle, the new wonder of the Lowlands? The Solarnese don't seem to be keen on keeping it secret. They might not be in much contact with the Lowlands, but the Spiders are, and they seem to be astonished by the snapbows.

I also don't know what to think about the Apt/Inapt thing. I mean, I only have a vague idea about how the internal bits of my doorlock, computer, TV, car, or a gun work, which doesn't prevent me from using them. Is it logical for a species which once dominated the Lowland to not be able to wrap their head around: point that end there, and pull that trigger? Or: this is a doorknob. You turn it that way and the door opens...it's an interesting concept at first sight, but somehow it gets a bit weak as you go on.

Also, new Arts keep popping up left right and centre, just when it's useful for the characters to have them...a bit more consistency there would be good...

All in all: 6.5. and I might be done with the series for a while.(less)

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Feb 23, 2011 Rob Oakes rated it 4 of 5 stars

As Tchaikovsky’s fantasy universe in the “Shadows of the Apt” series continues, it becomes increasingly difficult to classify it. It certainly contains elements of high fantasy (sweeping scope, magical races, a race against time to save the world), but it also contains elements that aren’t so easy to identify.

For all the trappings of High Fantasy, though, there are also other goodies to be found here. At times, Shadows of the Apt borrows components of spy thrillers, murder mysteries, and even St...more

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Jun 20, 2011 Mark rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy

The third book of this series is a setup book and the shortest of the three so far. It feels like it. A lot of the action takes place in far-flung locales and to me it seemed like there wasn't as smooth a transition from the second to third book as there was from first to second. I think I would have liked more time spent on the attempt to hold together the coalition in Sarn and trying to recover the shadow box than whatever was going on at the far end of the Spiderlands, but so it goes.

It's pro...more

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Apr 10, 2013 Christopher rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jul 16, 2010 Elliotwoodward rated it 4 of 5 stars

This was the first book I have read on my Kindle app, and I would say I enjoyed the experience. I recommend it.
On the topic of this book, I have little to say. It keeps(and improves on) the expected character development and world-building that Adrian has showed us in the first two books. This book immediately opens up many new plots, an keeps doing so throughout the book. This can make it harsh reading at times, but Adrian seems to do well with it anyway. He chooses suitable cliffhangers, so t...more

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Aug 29, 2009 William rated it 4 of 5 stars

The Shadows of the Apt series continues to be an entertaining and interesting read, although this book is possibly not quite as good as the first two novels. Compared to the first two books there is less happening and some of the major plots in this novel feel a bit peripheral to the main story, such as Che and Nero's journey to the Exalsee which is reasonably entertaining but perhaps not substantial enough to justify the number of pages spent on it.

I had previously believed that this was to be...more

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May 10, 2011 Benjamin Newland added it

Shelves: 2011-reads

The third book in this series and my only complaint is that it was so short! It felt like an episode of television more than a novel, picking up where the previous installment left off and then ending without a great deal of conclusion-y bits.

I liked the atmosphere of the thing especially. It was primarily set in a foreign port city. In fact, now that I type that I'm realizing that it reminded me a great deal of Casablanca, not in terms of plot obviously, but in the sense that most of the action...more

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Mar 14, 2010 Jason rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-2010, e-books

I am not happy that I feel that 3 stars for book 3 might actually be too much. I gave the first 2 books of this ambitious series 5 stars each, and loved every bit of them. This, the 3rd in the series basically stops doing what the other 2 did best, and that is character development. This series is strong because of the amazingly diverse cast of characters, coupled with the thought provoking race that is the insect kinden. I feel that Tchaikovsky focused this book on a few plot twists and action...more

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Jul 23, 2011 Ruth rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: spec-fic

P2009. Absolutely brilliant. The plot and characters remain strong and I am even getting to like poor old Thalric. I am hoping against hope that Mr Tchaikovsky is not going to be long in writing the next one which I am terrified that I will miss out on for some reason. This really is a well written series of books and I can not recommend highly enough. Sci Fi Now said "A new universe populated by unique characters" which is really an understatement. "Fear is the greatest motivator, fear can make...more

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Jun 01, 2010 Justin rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

Things begin to slow down some in Blood of the Mantis. The third book in the Shadows of the Apt series is the smallest, and yet took the longest for me to read. Adrian Tchaikovsky maintains the same level of writing established in the first two, but seems to be struggling a bit with middle-book syndrome. The events in book 3 are too important to completely leave out of the story, it’s too long to be split between other books, and feels a little wanting after the first two books’ onslaught of awe...more Things begin to slow down some in Blood of the Mantis. The third book in the Shadows of the Apt series is the smallest, and yet took the longest for me to read. Adrian Tchaikovsky maintains the same level of writing established in the first two, but seems to be struggling a bit with middle-book syndrome. The events in book 3 are too important to completely leave out of the story, it’s too long to be split between other books, and feels a little wanting after the first two books’ onslaught of awesomeness.

Blood of the Mantis is not a bad book by any stretch of the imagination; it’s just not as good as the first two. It had some seriously high standards to meet after Dragonfly Falling. Dragonfly blew me away and is likely to be a contender for my favorite book this year. I think my perspective might be a little skewed as well. I’ve been reading these one right after the other, so the differences between the two are immediately apparent to me, possibly making my judgment a little unfair. With the previous two so fresh in my mind, I simply can’t help making comparisons.

The plot is a continuation of what is set in motion in the previous books, and Blood of the Mantis doesn’t have an strong subplot of its own. The characters are still hunting the ShadowBox, and Stenwold is still dealing with political intrigue in Collegium and Sarn while trying to rally an increasingly unlikely Lowland alliance. The character development that was so amazing in both the previous books is almost nonexistent here. A few side characters get a little more attention, but nothing develops to the level of the previous books.

Tchaikovsky does take the reader to some new places. We get to see the lands around the Exalsee, and the potpourri of kinden that inhabit that area. I did enjoy the notion that Shadows of the Apt will have a much larger geographical playground. The first two books never talked much about anything beyond the Spiderlands. Blood of the Mantis is the first to take the story into those other foreign lands.

Tchaikovsky has set himself up with a beautiful and amazing world to play in. The variety of races and characters at his disposal is limitless. Blood of the Mantis may be a bit of a stumble in the series, but it’s a very small stumble. I’m very excited for book 4, and I get the feeling my reservations about Blood of the Mantis will be quickly forgotten.

www.fantasyliterature.com (less)

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Feb 07, 2013 Christopher Hernandez rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: sci-fi-fantasy-read

This third book in the Shadows of the Apt series seems to slow the pace of the storyline's war, and focus more on the political intrigue (particularly in the previously unexplored Spiderlands), changes to the war landscape with the introduction of new deadly weapons ( the snap bow), and a storyline arc involving the Darakyon Shadow Box.

The pacing of "Blood of then Mantis" felt painfully slow in parts, but it was good to see the split perspective storyline's from the plot characters which was us...more

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May 20, 2011 Krasytod rated it 3 of 5 stars

60/100. По-слаба от първите две, но наистина интересно как корицата на българското издание е същата корицата на оригиналната 7ма част .. Ако първите две книги имаха някаква завършеност, то в третата вече се вижда ала Джордан подхода, да се размиват нещата с цел написване на още две-три допълнителни книги. Тъпо.

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Oct 04, 2011 Elondel rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: own

Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Shadow Of The Apt is quickly becoming one of those series where every new book is highly anticipated. With anticipation, however, comes expectation and when one starts skyrocketing, the other usually does as well. The laws of reading do state, however, that the higher expectation, the more likely becomes disappointment. It’s up to the writer to make sure that anticipation and thus expectation is high where disappointment is avoided at all cost. Guess which series was able to...more Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Shadow Of The Apt is quickly becoming one of those series where every new book is highly anticipated. With anticipation, however, comes expectation and when one starts skyrocketing, the other usually does as well. The laws of reading do state, however, that the higher expectation, the more likely becomes disappointment. It’s up to the writer to make sure that anticipation and thus expectation is high where disappointment is avoided at all cost. Guess which series was able to do that?

The thing that made this third book in the series particularly vulnerable to disappointment is the fact that this is quite a different novel compared to the first two instalments. Whereas those were primarily books filled with warfare – and big books at that – Blood Of The Mantis is anything but that. At 430 pages, it is quite a bit less big and also in terms of plot it takes quite a different course. Gone are the big fights and battles and instead the main focus here is on the intrigue and smaller collisions. This book also sees the fighting – if it does happen – taking place in the air.
The storylines lead out in the first two novels are barely touched upon and instead new threads are woven into the existing story. Blood Of The Mantis is nothing but a set-up for the big finale of the current story arc in the fourth book, but that is not to say that things aren’t interesting. Magic is slowly coming back to lay its claim on the world and this is helped by the creepy Mosquito-kinden who perform some very disturbing magic. This book also sees another growth in terms of worldbuilding as we discover new places in the world and get acquainted with some new kinden. Blood Of The Mantis showcases very tight plotting, instead of the big stories from the first and second book and it works very well in this case. It really mixes things up and provides a nice reprieve from all the warfare.
This book also sees in reduction in characters as the crew is split up and we solely follow the story from three POV’s. This makes for a deepening of those characters and the one who profits most from this, is Thalric. He’s always been quite a fascinating character and it has become quite hard to pinpoint which sides he’s actually on. Here, he gets a lot of narrative and you as a reader get the chance to make up your mind about him. I, for one, quite like him despite him being a Wasp and the fact that I don’t trust him. The limitation to only three POV’s also gives the book a nice flow and allows for things to develop quite naturally, instead of the restless shifting between different settings and characters in the previous novels.
The writing also made this book very engaging and to be more specific, the lack of chronology therein. See, at the beginning and ending of the book, there is a shift in time which provides quite a dramatic flavour to the story. If it were told in chronological order, then things would have been way less exciting than they are now. I thought this was quite a clever trick to pull and highly appreciated the tension this brought with it.

In the end, Blood Of The Mantis is mainly setting things up to come to a dramatic conclusion in the fourth book but it sets things up in style. Whereas the ending doesn’t feel forced in any way, it does feel – compared to the first two books – unfinished. There is only one solution for that, and that’s reading Salute The Dark ASAP.(less)

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Jun 14, 2011 Christina Stind rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011, fantasy, fiction, series

In this the third volume in Adrian Tchaikovsky's fantasy series The Shadow of the Apt, we dive even deeper into several sub-stories of the overall storyline. Once again, Stenwold Maker sends his allies, his friends, family and students, out in the world to find out what the wasp Empire is up to.
We follow Cheerwell on a mission to the skater city of Solarno to try and tell them what's going on, we follow Stenwold himself on a journey to the ant city of Sarn to try and create a unity against the w...more In this the third volume in Adrian Tchaikovsky's fantasy series The Shadow of the Apt, we dive even deeper into several sub-stories of the overall storyline. Once again, Stenwold Maker sends his allies, his friends, family and students, out in the world to find out what the wasp Empire is up to.
We follow Cheerwell on a mission to the skater city of Solarno to try and tell them what's going on, we follow Stenwold himself on a journey to the ant city of Sarn to try and create a unity against the wasps and we follow Archaeos along with Tisamon and Tynisa travel to Jerez, trying to find the Shadow Box containing the soul of The Darakyon, the former Mantis stronghold.
Alongside this, we also get a closer look at the Wasp Emperor's attempt to avoid having to marry and have children and thus create rivals for himself by going along with his mosquito 'slave' Uctebri's plan to give him eternal life - a plan, that involves both the Shadow Box as well as the Emperor's sister, kept around partly so the Emperor always knew where the threat would come from but also for his amusement. But Uctebri is old, wise and sinister and has plans of his own. It is never certain if he is really a slave or not - even to himself - but it is certain that his powers extends far beyond his prison cell.
They extend so far as to create a revolution among the bees, the formerly so docile people suddenly rising against the wasps - thereby creating a for Uctebri most needed distraction for the Emperor.
But things are not what they seem in this book, we are not given many answers and things are definitely not always what they seem - and this book leaves us with the series' first really cliff hanger.
Once agin, Tchaikovsky dives into subjects larger than just this fantasy story of unlikely heroes. He dives into the question of loyalty - even when you have been cast out, you might try to get back in because your loyalty is not gone - exemplified by Thalric's storyline, former wasp officer and Major in the Rekef, now deemed useless because of inner Rekef power struggles. He is part of Stenwold's group, all of a sudden, but will he be able to shake his lifelong loyalty to the Empire?
And what about war and power in itself? When is power right? "They put the brand of the Empire on yet another lesser people, and believed only that their ability to do so was all the right they needed." (p. 357). Tchaikovsky has his black and white characters - where in former books, Thalric and Stenwold were the two opposites, Stenwold's opposite now must be the Emperor himself - although so far away as to be fully unknowing about Stenwold's existence. But Stenwold is the ringleader for the Lowlands, the center for the opposition against the wasps. But between these two poles, an area of grey exist where a lot of the rest of the characters in this series are. People switch alliance, they are not always what they seem, and even the good have bad sides. This makes the series seem very real and makes it interesting - alongside the insect kinden which is still fascinating enough to keep my interest - although I wouldn't mind if we didn't meet any new insect kinden in the next book but stuck to the ones we have already met. There's plenty of action to come with the plots hinted at or started so far even if no new players are introduced and it would be nice to get some closures to some of these storylines.
Still, the book is really good once again and another solid 4 stars read.
Finally, I just want to applaud the artist who are creating the covers for these books. They are truly extra-ordinary and really captures the various insect kinden named in the titles as well as being just very aesthetically pleasing and engaging. They really draw you in and will definitely make many pick up these books when lying in book stores.(less)

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Oct 02, 2011 canoppus rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"...Изключително нестандартна... Вълшебно разнообразна... "
Няма да пиша подобни дивотии. Само ще отбележа, че наистина поредицата е неочаквано интересна. Нестандартно фентъзи, мноооого далеч от традиционните дракони, магия, мечове, рицарски двубои....

Хареса ми и богатството на героите и развитието на характерите. Това е третата книга от поредицата (досега предедени на български), която е по-кратка от предходните две, но е много по-наситена с действие :)

Препоръчвам поредицата с удоволствие на в...more

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Nov 22, 2009 Corey Frampton rated it 5 of 5 stars

The third installment in the 'Shadows of the Apt' series.

This book is significantly shorter than the other two so far, but is no less fantastic for it.

The overarching plot of the series begins to unfold, the traitorous wasp Captain Thalric continues to be a key part of the story. The moth, Acheos and the coming of the Darkaryon forest...

Read them! Enjoy them! I can't wait for the fourth volume to come out next year!

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Jul 21, 2012 Patrick rated it 4 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Aug 07, 2011 Neil Pearson rated it 2 of 5 stars

This installment is a lot shorter but still covers a lot of ground. Despite this it is clearly a transition novel where the pay-off is yet to be seen. Good groundwork though and Adrian's writing is improving quite quickly. The best evidence of this is how all the new characters introduced in this novel are some of his strongest yet. The series has yet to have a "jaw-dropping" moment but it remains interesting, and the settings varied, enough to keep me reading the series.

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Aug 01, 2009 Liviu rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2009_release_read, review_fbc, genre-fantasy, read_2009, t1_recommended_2009

Blood of the Mantis is very good, but it is much more of a setup book than Dragonfly Falling; that one left us with 3-4 threads, this one adds 3-4 more so it's going to be a long series for sure; I would say 6 minimum

Without too many spoilers, this one is about intrigue, new cities and new kinden, no battles, no solution to the Dragonfly threads;

Great character development and Tisamon still rocks, the coolest sword master in recent fantasy by far

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Oct 20, 2011 Bishopza rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy

The series seems to be getting better the further it gets along. This novel open up the world a bit, showing us the Spider lands as well as glimpses of the Bee lands. I am enjoying the characters and the feel of a fantasy world on the brink of an industrial revolution.

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May 06, 2012 Greg rated it 5 of 5 stars

Third in the Shadows of the Apt series and the shortest is a tightly plotted caper, diplomacy war story that follows four separate plot threads and does so with what the Dude would call great brevity. This is a middle hood that of a much longer series that does not feel at all like a bridge between events and succeeds in developing both the strange and brilliant world and the conflicted and interesting people in it. It's nit the place to start the story since he does spare story and character re...more

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Feb 03, 2010 Jose Kilbride rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy

This is the third book in the Shadows of the Apt series. After an initial shaky start (on my part) with book one, the series has really started rolling. The characters and plot/subplots are well developed, the world itself works well, with the character races wonderfully realised and the tension between technological progress and tradition well played. All this against a backdrop of war, politics and the last vestiges of magic.

Ace stuff, can't wait for number 4.

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Apr 05, 2011 Ria rated it 3 of 5 stars

This author's world gets more and more interesting with each new instalment. At this stage, I'm just reading to find out about new kinden, because I'm not really bothered about the war that's going on.

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May 13, 2010 Paul rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shadows of the Apt is turning into a very solid epic fantasy series and this third book is a solid entry - but it is very much the third part of an ongoing series. The novel assumes you are familiar with its predecessors and the ending is very much a non-event.

That said, the overarching story is a powerful one and I shall almost certainly be picking up book 4 in the series some time soon.

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Jan 23, 2010 Chris Godsil rated it 4 of 5 stars

Suffors from classic "middle of a series" syndrome, with the concomitant weak ending.
It was still fun though, and I will look for the sequel (in paperback).

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Dec 09, 2011 Nathan rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: author-male, high-fantasy, rated-3-star, steam-punk, read-2011

Obvious "middle" book. Slow start, but finishes up nice, except for some bad editing that doesn't let us know there is a flashback coming. Still loving the series as a whole.

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Nov 28, 2011 Aaron Anderson rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011, 5-fantasy

Didn't like this as much as the first two, but it just made the cut for 4 stars instead of 3. Continuing the series soon.

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Aug 27, 2012 Tyson rated it 4 of 5 stars

Review here.

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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.

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Books by Adrian Tchaikovsky

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

Dragonfly Falling (Shadows of the Apt, #2)

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

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

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“Progress is made by the improvement of people, not the improvement of machines.” — 1 person liked it

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

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