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

by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Meditation was the Ancestor Art, the founding basis of all the insect-kinden. Whether it was meditation to make the Fly-kinden fly, and the Ants live within each other’s minds; to make the Mantids swift, the Spiders subtle, meditation was the Art that lived within them all, waiting to be unlocked.

He had all the written rules on his side, and all the unwritten ones working against him.

Even the greediest magnate wanted to be seen to be generous, and even false generosity could fill bellies.

‘It’s easy, once the lamps are lit, to scoff at shadows,’

Honesty – now there was a wound that was slow to heal.