Elitist Book Reviews

Over the last couple of years, Adrian Tchaikovsky has become one of my favorite authors. Very few authors actually take their setting and story and move it forward technologically. In Tchaikovsky's Shadows of the Apt series, we get exactly that, along with huge amounts of character progression, thrilling large-scale battles, and intense small-scale fights.

THE SEA WATCH is the sixth book in this projected 10-book story. I guess the best way to describe it is by saying THE SEA WATCH, in a way, is the Shadows of the Apt series' 20,000 leagues under the sea. The results overall are great, but that doesn't mean the novel is absent some missteps.

THE SEA WATCH is Stenwold Maker's book. By this point in the series he feels he has lost nearly everyone. For all the good he has done, the people of the Collegium look at him like he is a warmonger and a lodestone for misery. Then, when ships start going missing, Stenwold is the only one who listens and sees the threat.

The first thing to point out about THE SEA WATCH is how slow it is. This is easily the slowest novel in the series due in large part to the politics of the first 1/3 of the novel. Since the novel is almost entirely from Sten's PoV this isn't surprising, but it still is noticeable. There are lots of meetings and behind-closed-doors discussions. As a fan of the series, if you know this going in, it likely won't bother you.

Another reason this book feels so slow is due to how much explanation is needed in the midpoint of the story. Without getting into too many specifics, this novel is about, unsurprisingly, sea-kinden. Throughout this series we've been introduced directly--or in passing--to so many kinds of kinden. But that was done over the course of five novels. Now, we are introduced to an equal number of sea kinden in ONE book. These new people, their cultures, the way they live, their own abilities, and the unique dangers in the water are all SO MUCH to digest all at once that the story bogs down.

I feel I should clarify that last bit. Yes it bogs the story down. However, it is still completely fascinating. Up at the beginning of this review I talked about how the evolution of the technology--that progression of setting and world--was so awesome in this series. THE SEA WATCH does something similar, but in the sense of giving the readers the piece of the puzzle we have been missing. What happened when the societies when from inapt to apt? What was that change like? We get this picture from Sten's eyes as he sees the sea-kinden go through this evolution. Absolutely, positively fascinating.

There are some chunks in the middle of the novel that seem repetitive, and maybe could have been condensed to make the pacing a tad better, but overall I was pleased with this novel. The banter between Stenwold and the Spider Teornis was fantastic, and the subplots dealing with the Spider held so much weight. Just the story being told here, and the spy-novel undertones, make THE SEA WATCH a great read.

And then that ending...man. Stenwold showing just why he is soooooo awesome. That final bit alone made the entire novel a must-read.

THE SEA WATCH is one of the better novels in the series, and it shows how much Tchaikovsky has grown as an author. As a huge fan of Tchaikovsky's work, I was not let down in the least. In fact, I was blown away by how massive he has made this wonderful world. Not to mention I love Tchaikovsky's characters and the way they have grown over time. I cannot wait to see were the series goes from here.

Simply put, The Shadows of the Apt is a series that every reader of Fantasy should be devouring.

Recommended Age: 16+
Profanity: Some, but not much.
Violence: Oh yeah. Tchaikovsky does it right.
Sex: Nope.

Look, you really should be reading this series. It's one of the most unique out there. Here are your links:

EMPIRE IN BLACK AND GOLD
DRAGONFLY FALLING
BLOOD OF THE MANTIS
SALUTE THE DARK
THE SCARAB PATH
THE SEA WATCH

Adrian Tchaikovsky is gold! Gold, we say! We have stated over and over in our reviews that one of the main things we look for in a series is growth. Growth in the story, growth in the characters, and especially growth in the author. The instant we began reading Tchaikovsky's work we were hooked. Sure, EMPIRE IN BLACK AND GOLD had some problems--what authors don't have problems in their first novel? But even with those problems, EMPIRE was awesome. With each novel he got better. The problems slowly vanished. The characters in the series matured. The setting, somehow, got infinitely better. It got to the point where we were mentioning Tchaikovsky in the same breath as our favorite authors.

The first chunk of Tchaikovsky's Shadows of the Apt series came to an end with SALUTE THE DARK. It was his best novel yet. Unfortunately, as many of you know, we are paranoid readers. We constantly fear that the next book by our favorite authors will be a let-down. So when Tchaikovsky's fifth novel, THE SCARAB PATH, was sent our way we dove in with a mixture of nervousness and excitement.

It only took a few pages for us to realize this novel was going to be awesome.

THE SCARAB PATH reads like a new beginning to the Shadows of the Apt series. The pacing of the beginning is slow, yet extremely interesting. Following the events of the the last novel, in THE SCARAB PATH we are reintroduced to Tchaikovsky's characters...only they are all broken. The loss they have all suffered is illustrated to perfection. This novel mostly follows Che as she is sent as a delegate to a backwater city called Khanaphes. Everyone wants the city for different reasons, and the city is the core of the mystery in this novel.

The main characters of this novel are Che, Totho and Thalric. Totho became awesome in the last novel, and Thalric has always been a pleasure. But Che...she's a different story. She's always been our least favorite of the characters. So color us impressed when Che was a supremely entertaining read for the entire novel. It all leads back to growth. When we looked back over the series as a whole, it was truly in this novel that we got to see Che take huge steps as a character. While she maintains those few small nuggets of character that keep her anchored in her unique position, she now has grown into a strong and entertaining read. Perhaps the main thing here is that she doesn't stumble and bumble the whole novel. She becomes more decisive.

Throughout this series we've seen the world advance technologically step-by-step. So this was the perfect time to introduce a city that refuses to advance in a similar fashion. In every novel Tchaikovsky manages to surprise us. He manages to introduce something new and fresh. The city of Khanaphes and the mystery surrounding it add such a cool dynamic to the novel. Really what this all boils down to highlighting the disparity between Apt vs Inapt--something that hasn't ever been totally explored in the series so far.

But what would a Tchaikovsky novel be without war? Every novel in this series has a fresh sort of battle scene in it. We get sieges, coliseum battles, guerrilla strikes, germ-warfare...the list goes on. In THE SCARAB PATH we get a battle that reminded us a little of 300. A small force holding a choke-point against overwhelming odds. The writing here was so clear that we could visualize every little piece of the action. For us it ranks as one of his top action/battle sequences to date.

The real treat, however, is the end of the novel. When the mystery is revealed, it gave us chills. This novel works perfectly as a stand-alone novel following the first 4-book arc, yet it also sets up the next novels in the series without resorting to being just a set-up book--the balance is spot-on.

The main thing we want to point out though is that all those tiny issues that bugged us in the first novels are gone. There are a lot of new authors out there that should read Tchaikovsky's work as an example in growing as an author. As aspiring authors ourselves, we look at Tchaikovsky as one of our main examples to follow. He get's better with every book, and learns from his successes and small mistakes.

THE SCARAB PATH has everything in it that we have come to expect from Adrian Tchaikovsky. An amazing world, evolving characters, incredible actions sequences...it's all here. Plus we get an old-fashioned mystery thrown in, and some insight into the history of the world and the old races. What more can a reader ask for? This is easily Tchaikovsky's best novel yet, and we cannot wait until THE SEA WATCH is put out here in the US.

In all honesty we may not be able to wait...

Recommended Age: 15+
Language: A little.
Violence: The action here is described so clearly that all the violence has greater impact. It does make it all more brutal, but the skill of the writing removes it completely from the realm of shock-value. Our hats are off to Tchaikovsky.
Sex: Nope.

We recently discovered that Adrian has a bajillion short stories on his website http://shadowsoftheapt.com/. We knew he had a couple, but man, there were way more there than we realized. Adrian REALLY needs to put all these out in a collection.

Adrian Tchaikovsky, we hate you…but in that way that results from loving you too much, and being jealous of your skills. Let’s start by saying how worried we were about Tchaikovsky’s fourth novel in the Shadows of the Apt series, SALUTE THE DARK. With three completely excellent novels released, isn’t it about time that Tchaikovsky had a misstep?

No. No it isn’t.

SALUTE THE DARK is the wrap-up of the four book arc that started with EMPIRE IN BLACK AND GOLD. Here we have what is essentially the temporary conclusion of the wars with the Empire, and it is a very bloody conclusion. But really, at its core, SALUTE THE DARK is a novel about closure, sacrifice, and heroes who receive no glory, but dramatic loss instead.

It didn’t start pretty. It was slow out of the gates, and we were worried. Some of the PoV issues are still there. We had a huge cast of beloved characters, yet we felt that it was time for Tchaikovsky to get rid of a few. For a long time it looked like Tchaikovsky was going to just let all of his characters carry on into immortality. And then the end came. The body-count kept rising. It included characters we loved. We had asked for it, but when death(s) finally came, it shocked us. We have often stated how good Tchaikovsky writes characters. For whatever reason they are instantly likable, and we fear for them in every situation. Because of this strength, when characters die, the impact is felt so much more powerfully. It was a lot like reading the end of Erikson’s MEMORIES OF ICE. Yeah. Powerful, tragic and fitting.

This novel is about the Shadow Box, and how the Wasp Empire is at the utter brink of all-out domination. Uctebri, the Mosquito-kinden, has his own plans of vengeance an power. Pretty much every novel in this series has been about Stenwold Maker sending out his little band of agents and spies on secret missions. That isn’t the case here. In SALUTE THE DARK, each of these young agents have come into their own, and they each leave to see to tasks of their own making. Che goes to save Achaeos after his grievous wound at the hands of Tynisa. Tynisa herself is off to track down her father Tisamon who has exiled himself. Salma leads his mercenary force, and Totho continues to walk a moral line as he attempts to balance his love for his work and his horror at what his creations cause. Through all of this, Stenwold is left alone to manage another siege upon the Collegium.

It is all about character in this novel. Yes, there is war, and gladiator-styled personal battles. Yes we get to see the continued technological revolution of this incredible world. However this novel is really about some characters trying to gain some sort of closure and forgiveness. It is about the heroes who give up everything for the cause, and aren’t left with Ewoks celebrating over bonfires at their success. Once you read this novel, you will understand just how poignant the title of the novel really is.

This story arc is (temporarily) finished. But there are six more novels to come. It is everything we can do not to import book 5 from the UK where it was just released. We NEED to see how Tchaikovsky handles the political and emotional fallout of the climax of SALUTE THE DARK.

At the moment, this is one of our favorite Fantasy series. It has everything we could ask for in a story. We absolutely loved it.

Recommended Age: 15 and up.
Language: Hardly any.
Violence: Oh yes. All sorts, and it is described soooo well.
Sex: Nope.

We love Adrian Tchaikovsky. There really is no way around it. It can be an inconvenience at times, seeing as we stare at other novels and wish that they were another novel in the Shadows of the Apt series. It turns out Tchaikovsky just keeps putting out novels that continually feel fresh, and that are immensely fun to read. Now the third book of the series, BLOOD OF THE MANTIS, could have been awful. Tchaikovsky could have tried to go even bigger than DRAGONFLY FALLING. That would have been a terrible mistake. There was such huge-scale warfare in book 2, that to try to one-up it would have been nearly impossible. And yet we see it all the time.

BLOOD OF THE MANTIS didn't do this. In fact, there was no real large-scale war at all in this novel. No, rather Tchaikovsky went MUCH smaller scale, but also went MUCH more personal. The result is an extremely character oriented novel with more a more distinct focus on the sinister, political and spy-ish aspects of the world.

The plot of MANTIS is essentially the search for the Shadow Box introduced in book 2. Tchaikovsky does a fantastic job keeping this item mysterious while at the same time giving the reader a good idea as to how dangerous it is. Mostly this is done through the attitudes of the characters. When someone like Tisamon or Achaeos becomes frightened over the possibilities the Box brings, the readers naturally feel the same way. This is truly a tribute to how well Tchaikovsky writes his characters. Again, as in previous novels, new characters are continually introduced. Somehow we are interested in all of them. We were anxious follow their adventures, and feared for them during their plights. The world is legitimately dangerous, and that sense is transferred onto the characters.

In this third novel, the evolution of warfare is continued. The character Totho--one of our least favorites during the majority of books 1 and 2--suddenly becomes extremely interesting due to changes in his attitude. An assassin is introduced that has almost no screen-time, yet has us giddy with his prospects. Entire races and their circumstances (specifically the Bee-kinden) were so effortlessly made important and interesting.

Really, all of these things are Tchaikovsky's strengths. Does he have weaknesses? Sure, but they seem to be slowly vanishing as each book progresses. His PoV jumping is far less noticeable. His clarity has improved, as has his pacing.

BLOOD OF THE MANTIS ends in a cliff-hanger...a very, "Holy crap, what happened!?" cliff-hanger. As intelligent and awesome as we are, we still have no idea how this particular story-arc is going to end. BLOOD OF THE MANTIS was a fantastic novel, and in many ways the best of the series thus far.

In Tchaikovsky's Shadows of the Apt, we have one of the most interesting worlds created by a modern fantasy author. This is a projected (at least) 10-book series that will be broken into segments. If you aren't reading this series, you must have eaten paint-chips as a child. Or someone terrible like Goodkind has you under some form of Stockholm Syndrome.

Unfortunately for all you, SALUTE THE DARK isn't released until September. Fortunately for us, Steve has the ARC for it in his greedy hands. WEEEEE!

Again, we love Adrian Tchaikovsky.


Recommended Age: 15 and up.
Language: Not so much.
Violence: Yeah, but nothing graphic, and well described.
Sex: Mentioned, but not focused on or shown in any detail.

Tchaikovsky's Website:

http://shadowsoftheapt.com/

Also, the cover for this book is awesome. John Sullivan really is an incredible artist.

http://www.jonsullivanart.com/

We love when sequels improve upon their predecessors. You'll recall we gave a favorable review to Adrian Tchaikovsky's EMPIRE IN BLACK AND GOLD. Sure, there were issues with it, but that doesn't mean the book wasn't good. The second book in Tchaikovsky's Shadows of the Apt series is DRAGONFLY FALLING, and for the most part it improves upon the original in every way.

DRAGONFLY picks up right where EMPIRE ends. The Wasp Empire is is poised to invade the Lowlands, and are beginning with strategic cities used in trade and manufacturing. Our main cast of characters from EMPIRE are all here, and are in different corners of the known world trying to convince different races to band together against the Wasps. Really, this sounded like it could have become bogged down in people talking and negotiating. This kind of thing bugs us (Get it? Bugs? Never mind...) Did that happen? Uh, no.

You see, DRAGONFLY FALLING is all about war. Lots and lots and lots (that's a lot of lots) of war.

We love action and war scenes as much as the next reader, and these scenes are well done for the most part. But while they strengthen the novel, they simultaneously hurt it. Especially in the middle of the novel, the pacing is lacking. Or maybe it was just because we began to feel jaded by all the war and siege. Seriously, there is enough war here for three novels. Three big novels. The pacing does pick up nicely at the end, and Tchaikovsky does a good job illustrating the horrors of war, but man, we are talking nearly 500 pages of wars and battles. Even to us, it was a tad excessive.

"Well gee-whiz guys," you say, "why should I even read it then?" Why? Because we say so. Also because of the characters, world, and the introduction to some awesomely sinister stuff brewing behind the scenes.

What Tchaikovsky does best, we've decided, is make his characters unique and likable. He humanizes (insectizes?) nearly every character that is introduced, no matter what side of the conflict they are on. There are the characters who fall definitively on the Good Guy/Bad Guy teams, but the majority end up in the middle. True to our hive-mind...uh...mentality, we both were floored by how effortlessly we liked characters that were newly introduced. Our main PoVs are growing up and making hard and meaningful choices. The new PoVs grab our attention and refuse to let it go.

The world Tchaikovsky has created just gets better with every page of his series. New races--some previously thought as myths--pop up, and we get a better look at the already-introduced ones. We specifically liked the concurrent wars going on with the Ants towards the end of the book. One army was good, one army was bad; but they weren't fighting each other. It was executed extremely well both in terms of writing, and in emotional impact. In addition, the industrial revolution in this setting is fascinating, and the invention of new weaponry and transportation is superbly done.

Beneath all of it, we get a strong sense of the sinister. We love the sinister. So should you.

Did Tchaikovsky solve all the issues we had with EMPIRE? No. The PoV switching is still jarring in places, though it HAS improved. The clarity of fight scenes? Still rough in places, but again improved. In short, with DRAGONFLY Tchaikovsky has done nothing to put us off of the series, and has done a lot to make us want more. While not for everyone--and some people just won't like the exclusive focus on war in DRAGONFLY--we positively enjoyed it, and liked it even more than book one. Thankfully we have book three, BLOOD OF THE MANTIS, sitting on the top of our stack of books to review, and book four, SALUTE THE DARK was just announced by Pyr.


Recommended Age: 16 and up.
Language: Some, but nothing excessive.
Violence: It's a novel filled with war. There is a lot of violence, especially when new inventions are introduced.
Sex: Never any shown. It is alluded to and described, but never explicit.

We would feel terrible if we didn't again mention how awesome the covers are for this series. EMPIRE was cool. DRAGONFLY was excellent. MANTIS (which we'll review in a few weeks or so) is unbelievable. John Sullivan is the artist. His work is fantastic.

His website:
http://www.jonsullivanart.com/

And, of course, Adrian's website:
http://shadowsoftheapt.com/

If there was one 2010 fantasy series that had us chomping at the bit, it was Adrian Tchaikovsky's Shadows of the Apt. Finally, after salivating over its inevitable US release, we finally got to taste the dish that the UK has enjoyed without us; EMPIRE IN BLACK AND GOLD.

How about we start from the outside? The cover art on EMPIRE is simply unbelievable (and yes, the covers are as awesome on the two sequels we also have in our hands; DRAGONFLY RISING and BLOOD OF THE MANTIS). You know we judge books on their covers all the time. The cover of EMPIRE lends perfectly to its content, and gives the immediate impression of war and chaos. It is in our personal opinions that our US covers for this series are far superior to their UK counterparts. About time, right?

So, after gazing lovingly at the cover for a good long while, we opened up EMPIRE hoping the unique premise we had read about was delivered. It could have gone wrong. Horribly wrong, even. It wasn't perfect, but it was a far cry from bad, or even mediocre.

Just think about it. Tchaikovsky's Shadows of the Apt series, human races have taken on aspects of different insects. You know as well as we do that this could have been sooooo bad. Instead what we are really given is a slightly more unique take on dwarves and elves. Honestly, we were a tad disappointed initially. Too many of the different cultures in EMPIRE were far too reminiscent of the races we have already read about a thousand times. One of the aspects that a culture takes in EMPIRE is that of the Beetle. They may as well have been called dwarves. The Mantis? Elves. Thankfully, things didn't go much further than that. We were given enough unique ideas to balance the thinly veiled similar ones--like the Ants, who are incredibly cool warriors that, obviously, think collectively--that the presentation was fresh enough to keep us involved. Realistically, the majority of the readers won't immediately identify the disguised clichés, and really even when we realized what was going on, we were still swept along by the story. This, dear readers, is the mark of a good storyteller.

Now, one thing we didn't know going in, was how full the world would be. In EMPIRE, we are introduced to a whole lot of world. A world where the melding of technology, industry, and the traditional fantasy elements we are familiar with is at near perfection. There are complex machines used, and all are well designed and described, as well as their relationship to the culture created in EMPIRE. The moment the quasi-steampunk elements began being introduced, we began to genuinely be sucked into the world.

With a multitude of races (insect-aspects), naturally comes a multitude of conflict. Fear, ignoring danger for profit, crucifying religion for reason, racism, etc. It makes for a very engaging fantasy book. The issues are tangible and real, without feeling arbitrarily political. At it's core, EMPIRE is an extremely thoughtful book while telling an entertaining tale.

What is the book about? The easy answer is the Wasp Empire is on a conquering spree, Alexander the Great style. Our main PoVs, basically, are spies. In the first chapters, Tchiakovsky gives a real sense of threat. No, not during the initial attack by the Wasp Empire in the first chapter (which is really more of a prologue, and is quite awesome in itself). It is after, when the main character Stenwold realizes he has spent years and years preparing, and has still run out of time. When we are introduced the other four main PoVs (naturally each being of a different insect aspect to fully showcase the diversity), we are treated to their attempts to fully grasp the magnitude of what an invading Wasp Empire means.

Tchiakovsky is a gifted writer, but perhaps his biggest failing was with PoV. We both had frustrations with the swapping of multiple PoVs on the same page. It was almost an omniscient perspective, but...not. He would stay at an omniscient level, but then delve down into 3rd Person Limited when it suited...and then back to omniscient. The other big problem was description during fight scenes. It was all very generic and drawn out. We have come to expect and want, especially from UK authors, a certain sense of immediacy and danger to the violent scenes. EMPIRE just didn't have it.

EMPIRE is a fantastic first book that opens up an intriguing series. Despite some of our problems, we really were easily caught up in the story that Tchiakovsky weaves. There were very few lulls in the pacing, and we can only expect this will get better later as Adrian improves his writing. Since we just put down EMPIRE, we can say that honestly, we are itching to pick up the sequels.

Adrian Tchaikovsky, after all was said and done, didn't let us down with EMPIRE IN BLACK AND GOLD. Take our advice and go pick this book up.

Recommended Age: 15 and up.
Language: Not really.
Violence: Yep, but as we mentioned before, sometimes the scenes are vague, and it hurts the action a bit.
Sex: There are some frank discussions on it, but nothing on an R Scott Bakker level.

Adrian's website:
http://shadowsoftheapt.com/