Blood of the Mantis by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Book 3 of The Shadows of the Apt

Rating: 4 out of 5

How does one follow up on a action-packed grand war epic? Well, Adrian Tchaikovsky did it by making things a little bit mellow in his third book, Blood of the Mantis. After three bloody battles that leveled one city, almost destroyed one, and put another in a practical state of siege, one shouldn’t wonder that the characters of the Shadows of the Apt series are practically exhausted. And, probably, so would the readers, too.

Tchaikovsky quiets things down by making Blood of the Mantis a story of subterfuge and espionage and political wrangling - which doesn’t mean things slow down to a crawl. The Wasp Empire is still on the march, although a little bit jarred on their tracks. While they have taken the industrial city of Helleron and razed the Ant-city of Tark, they lost an Army to an ambush by Mantis warriors, and almost got another destroyed by the Ants of Sarn, if not for the timely arrival of a new powerful weapon, the snapbow, forcing the army of Sarn into retreat in disarray into their city. Now, the Wasps are regrouping and preparing to make the final investment of Sarn all the while keeping an eye on their main prize of Collegium and also towards the exotic Spiderlands.

Meanwhile, in the capital city, plans are set into motion for the recovery of an ancient artifact that may just give to whoever happens to hold it, the power to destroy nations. Magic, it seems, contrary to what people have come to believe is not dead in this world and is preparing to make a huge comeback. Already in this book, the characters indeed find themselves battling shadow-forms that are clearly magical in source.

In order to counter the Wasps, Stenwold Maker, the Beetle-kinden who has now been fighting his own personal war against the Wasps for decades now sends his allies into two directions. He sends Cheerwell and Nero towards the Spider-city of Solarno, while the Achaeos leads Tisamon, Tynisia into a frontier town searching for the missing ancient artifact before it can get to the hands of the enemy, taking with them for assistance two renegade Wasps, the hunter Gaved and one very notorious Major Thalric, formerly of the Rekef. Moreover, Stenwold himself, who through a strange twist of fate came into possession of the plans of the dreaded snapbow, has to decide whether to proliferate it to his “allies” in the Lowlands, who could just as easily use the weapon on one another.

Tchaikovsky ably weaves the plot that is becoming more and more complex as the series moves on without missing a beat. And as before, his strong point remains his characters, as unique as they are; his characters breathe life that complements his plot. More and more, his series is becoming an exploration of man's worst activities: the desire of one society to dominate others for national interests, man's fascination with war as a social means, and the arms race - the desire of man to create more and more complex ways do destroy his own society without ever realizing it.

But with the ever-increasing size and complexity of the plot, the number of significant characters also increases. This means that some of the characters don’t get focused on the current storyline. For this book in particular, it is rather disappointing that Thalric, who was probably the most enigmatic and charismatic character of the previous two books (and an antagonist, at that) is relegated to a background role for this book.

The world-building remains on the surface, too - as it was in the first two books. Sure, there are new and interesting kindens, we get a glimpse of interesting races ready to make major impact on succeeding books, but the readers, as your typical epic fantasy followers, would find themselves wishing there was more background stories concerning these peoples, this cities and cultures, because from what you read, they sure are interesting. One just wishes there is more.

Still, at the end of the day, Tchaikovsky has delivered yet another good installment on the series and a fine contrast to the slam-bang action one went through in Dragonfly Falling. Certainly, he delivers a book where the story, the characters and the world built becomes more and more interesting as the plot progresses. For most of the readers the final chapters will for sure make them wish they had their hands on the next chapter of this wonderful story.

Dragonfly Falling by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Book 2 of 6 of Shadows of the Apt

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Adrian Tchaikovsky offers us a profound thought: if weapon-makers were mandated that they should be the first ones to test the weapons they create on live subjects then maybe the arms race would slow down. But then again we are talking about mankind with all its faults, including, for some, a particular fascination for mass destruction.

This is just one of the themes presented in the second installation of The Shadows of the Apt series which started with Empire in Black and Gold. In Dragonfly Falling, Tchaikovsky amps up the level of action and offers and amazing story of battles. It includes two desperate city-sieges and a set-piece battle and they blow away everything in their path.

After the events of Empire…, the Wasp Empire continues on their mission to control the Lowlands and are two full armies are on the march. One is headed for the Ant city of Tark, while the other heads towards Kes, another Ant city. No one seems to be capable of stopping such a juggernaut as the Lowland cities are still disunited – the city of Collegium itself, where the main protagonist Stenwold Maker bases his activities against the Wasps, refuses to believe that the Empire is aiming towards the center of learning that is their city.

Meanwhile, the characters from the first book are separated from each other going through different missions: Totho and Salma head for Tark to spy on the Wasps; Tisamon has taken his daughter Tynisia to a dangerous quest towards his homeland, where half-Spider-kindens aren’t exactly welcome on the pain of death; Cheerwell and Achaeos are in Sarn, trying to convince the Ant-kinden there to send help to Collegium in fighting the Wasp army.

By now the reader is now used to the idea of human-insect hybrids that makes up the races of this particular world, and that these “kindens” are subdivided into those that understand technology and those that remain tuned to the old world of magic (if it did exist). The concept takes off in this book and soars to delirous heights. Fast flying machines battle the skies against giant flying insects, huge zepellins drop incendiary bombs on a city evoking images akin to World War I or II, automotive machines (tanks) plow through armies, and new weapons are invented that shoot projectiles capable of piercing through the sturdiest armor. Tchaikovksy paints an amazing world that blends quasi-medieval cultures with steampunkish technology and it paints quite well in his canvas.

And through it all, Tchaikovsky introduces more new kindens, and expands the world-building, making for a more interesting setting, giving special focus on the Ants - those disciplined, martial race of tough warriors who can communicate through their thoughts. And they are both the good guys and the bad guys.

Tchaikovsky writes a spectacular action and it succeeds in gripping the reader not only because of the great pace (that, daresay, would give Steven Erikson, the current master of epic fantasy battle scenes, a run for his money), but also for the insightful thoughts that the author drops into them. Example, in one scene he tackles the question of the arms race. Would man just keep on finding new and better ways to kill each other? Or would it somehow stop because

“the weapons would become…so terrible that if anyone used them… everyone would die.”

Sadly, Tchaikovsky also presents a possible answer in the next line:

“There is no weapon so terrible that mankind will not put to use. On that day that you describe, the end of war would come only after the end of everything else.”

Has the human race reached that point?

Moreover, Adrian Tchaikovsky did not leave behind what made the series interesting in the first place: character development. Each of the character grows. (One main character in this story would become something no one probably would expect.) Even the antagonists are quite fully developed. The author knows how to build rich fully-dimensioned characters and they help keep the reader in the story.

Of course, there are shortfalls. Despite the amazing races, places, gadgets, technologies or personalities that the story has, the world doesn’t have a rich history and background. It would have been great if readers knew, say, how the Commonweal came to be established; what the culture of its people is; what happened during their 12-year war with the Wasps. Or who founded the college city of Collegium. Or why the Ant-kindens want to kill each other. There is none of that. Or at least, they haven’t been revealed yet. And the world still comes up a little shallow, as it did in the first book; and pales when one thinks about the worlds of Tolkien, Erikson, Martin, or even just the city of Bas-Lag from Mielville.

Yet, this doesn’t take away the fact that the reader will walk away with one heck of an adrenaline-filled story. The amazing three battle scenes alone would be worth one’s while. New interesting characters are introduced, although at the expense of page-time for some of the existing ones. Ugly politics, nefarious schemes, dark forces and ominous portents, a great blend of technology and magic. One would be hard-pressed not to love this book.

Empire in Black and Gold by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Book 1 of Shadows of the Apt

Rating: 4 out of 5

Adrian Tchaikovsky’s real name is Adrian Czajkowski (pronounced the same way). It was thought that the Polish spelling of his name would confuse potential readers and so his surname was given its Latinized spelling. Whatever… this reviewer always thought that it is a good story that always attracts readers and not how an author spells his name, especially if the new pseudonym seems to borrow from a famous classical Russian composer. But if you have a story as good as Tchaikovsky’s first offering, Empire in Black and Gold, you can spell your name any way you want.

The Wasp Empire is on the march. They have just conquered the city of Myna and are now poised to invade the Lowlands. One man, Stenwold Maker, who just escaped the fall of the city, has decided to make the detriment of the plans of the Wasp Empire his life’s work. He becomes a member of the council of the city of Collegium where he tries to spread his warnings against the coming catastrophe. The problem? No one believes him. It has now been 20 years since the fall of Myna and the Wasps seem to have their attention elsewhere.

But Stenwold is sure they are coming. He has established a school which he can use as a vehicle to teach students of the dangers of the Wasps and find suitable recruits for a spy network he also planted within the Lowlands. But the enemy knows this and is now making plans to eliminate Stenwold lest someone starts to believe him, because the time has indeed come for them to make their move. This forces Stenwold to send four of his most cherished students into the jaws of danger, possibly never to see them alive again.

Looking at the plot, one wouldn’t be faulted for thinking this is another one of those “evil empire invades peaceful land threatening to engulf the place into a dark age” kind of story, and the thought would probably be right. But Tchaikovsky capably manages to bring a fresh look into this story and present something new. Tchaikovsky’s concept presents a world not of dwarves and elves and any of the usual fantasy creatures. In his world, humans (or human-like creatures) have developed in ways that they have acquired features and characteristics that are similar to insects. Hence, each community (or race) of these people seem to be classified according to their “totem” insects with their own unique characteristics.

There are the Beetle-kinden, who are tough as well as great artificiers (machine-makers). The Spider-kinden are known for their beauty and their deadly subtlety and decetifulness. The Dragonfly-kinden are graceful flyers and exceptional archers. The Ant-kinden are great fighters and are capable of linking minds which they use to perfectly coordinate their actions. The Mantis-kinden are the best individual fighters in the world. The Moth-kinden are night-fighters and the only remaining practitioners of the art of sorcery (if it ever was real). And, of course, the Wasp-kinden, the story’s antagonists, who are ferocious warriors of great number and posses a deadly “sting” in the form of some sort of plasma blasting from their hands. There are more of these kinden, and they are presented in the book.

The world is also not your usual medieval-flavored fantasy world of fairies, dragons and wizards. This is a world were early scientific technology has begun to appear and the kindens are subdivided into the “inapt” – who once ruled most of the lands but who can’t understand the concepts of technology which is the cause of their downfall; and the “apt” – former subjects who because of their proficiency in technology are able to break the bonds of subjection and rise as powerful city-states. It has elements of steampunk and more. There are gunpowder weapons, repeating bolt guns, airships, single-wing flyers, automotive “walkers” and electric-powered trains. And magic is practiced by a few and is disbelieved by the vast majority as nonexistent.

It is a world that is unique and fascinating, but that in itself isn’t just the reason why this book is good. Adrian Tchaikovsky creates a story that is well-thought, and quite interesting. The story has a good pace and easy to read; the action scenes are quite exciting. One can easily get immersed in the story and before one knows it, the reader is halfway through the book.

However, as good as the story is, the main strong point is the characters. Well-rounded and quite alive, they have well-defined strengths and weaknesses that readers will find themselves able to relate to all of them, including the main antagonist of the story, Captain Thalric, who is probably the most interesting and sympathetic persona, if one can say such things for story antagonists (but then again, George R.R. Martin made a living of doing just that).

The bad part? Sometimes the reader might wish there was more information and background on the world Tchaikovsky has created, because interestingly enough the author offers nothing in this book with regards to distant history, culture or society structure of each of the kindens (at least in this book, there are five more books coming up), making his world seem a little bit “shallow” without any soul. But the story isn’t finished yet, so we may get more data in later installments.

Tchaikovsky has made a quite commendable effort for Empire in Black and Gold as an initial work. With an easy-to-read style, fascinating concept and great characters, he gives readers something to look forward to in the coming months and years as the Shadows of the Apt series unfolds. Another good news? Book Two is out almost at the same time as Book One and it seems that readers do not have long to wait before the succeeding books hit the stands. Always a plus for any epic fantasy writer.