All of the characters are layered and some are more grey tinted than others. Their struggles and doubts feel real in this epic war world. Everybody, including the antagonist, goes through emotional development - and since this is only book one I am eagerly looking forward to see what is in store for them.

I am hooked and I want to see what my favourites are up to, what kind of fate lies in wait for them. What more can I wish for from a good Fantasy read? Solo, gran parte del tempo si cerca di capire quanto ci sia di umano e quanto di insetto, visto che anche a livello mentale e di "odio razziale" sembra che queste persone abbiano assorbito moltissimo dagli insetti, e si fatica un po' in questo, finché col passare del tempo e delle pagine non ci si abitua. After an attempt on Stenwold's life by thugs hired by the Wasps he decides to send Tynisa and Salma on the airship Sky Without to the industrial city of Helleron to meet with his associates there. Totho also makes an impression on Stenwold and he includes him in the group, but it is only after the attempted assassination that Stenwold agrees to let Cheerwell go as well, taking his place on the airship so his presence will not endanger the young agents. Once aboard the airship and bound for Helleron Tynisa seduces a Wasp captain on the ship, Halrad, to keep him from investigating them too hard. However, the tables turn when Thalric, a Rekef Outlander agent for the Wasp Empire tasked with ending Stenwold's activities, arrives on board looking for him. Once he discovers them the agents are forced to flee the ship, stealing the flier he arrived in and killing some of their pursuers. They crash-land a few miles from Helleron and are forced to complete their journey on foot, arriving later than planned. By this time the man they were meant to meet with, Bolwyn, has been killed by Scyla, a shape-shifting Spider-kinden working with Thalric, and their rendezvous is a trap. Though all four agents escape they become seperated. Totho is rescued by Scuto, a Thorn-bug kinden and Stenwold's head agent in Helleron who controls his own espionage operation within the city. Tynisa flees through the streets, increasingly taken over by her killing instincts, and ends up among a street gang who her take her in as an enforcer. Cheerwell and Salma make their way to one of Cheerwell's relatives within the city, Elias Monger. While staying at his house outside the city Cheerwell encounters a young Moth-kinden man, Achaeos, who was injured in a raid on Monger's mine workings. Rather than turn him in she overcomes his mistrust and tends to his wound. Now the Empire is marching toward the Lowlands and his home city of Collegium lies directly in the path. Now, if this was something Tchaikovsky was trying to achieve then he’s succeeded. But I’m not sure. And the more I think about it, the more I’m not fully convinced by the cities we visit.

It’s at this stage you’re introduced to the real main characters: Cheerwell Maker, a Beatle-kinden and Stenwold’s niece/adopted daughter, Tynisa, a Spider-kinden and Stenwold’s other adopted daughter, Salme Dien, a Prince of the Dragonfly-kinden who’s perpetually amused and Totho, a squat Beatle-kinden and apprentice-artificer. They’re all friends, and weirdly in some kind of gladiatorial squad. I’ll be honest; I struggled with the beginning of this book. I even tried to pass it off to other reviewers. I felt that I wasn’t jiving with the whole premise. I kept reading because I recognized quality writing and hoped that in itself would endear me to the story. Well, it did. I was so glad I didn’t set this one down. Adrian Tchaikovsky’s characters and world grew on me and I finished the last ¾ of the book in half the time it took me to read the first ¼. If - for example - I tell you about a character named Rut Djawiar, an elder prophet of the Kshintu-people, a race of Fraktuars, I would then need to slowly introduce you into what each of these things mean. If there would be plots at play, that focus around changes in the culture of the Fraktuars, the society or whatever, there would be some type of legwork woven in. We follow several characters on this journey and each one is better than the next. First we follow Cheerwell Maker: Stenwold’s niece and student at the collegium. Beetle-Kinden curious about the world and its inhabitants until the war is brought to her front door. Next we follow Tynisa: Stenwolds student and ward. Spider-Kinden who finds that she has no interest in the learning and knowledge of building machines but instead wishes to take up the way of the sword. Then we have Tisamon: Mantis-Kinden and a fierce warrior. Guilted by the betrayal of his once friend, he had lived in isolation for the past 17 years until Stenwold calls for help and the war with the wasps begin. Finally there is Achaeos: Moth-Kinden on a secret mission until it goes horrible wrong, He is a seer in training and his scenes involving his powers were the one of my favorite parts of the story. Tchaikovsky, Adrian (30 March 2008). "The Long Good Lunch". Empire Rising. Archived from the original on 13 March 2012. However, as the possibility of the Polish rights being sold seems extremely viable, there is an epilogue to this tale of Frankish ignorance, for in Poland, one would strongly assume, I may finally see my name in print in its unadulterated form.

The author also created some really intriguing characters. You have Stenwold, an aging engineer (what they call an artificer), who has become a spymaster in the face of an invasion he knows is coming yet no one will believe. He assembles four younger charges, each of them different in ability and temperament. Salma, a Dragonfly kinden, and Tynisa, a Spider kinden, were 2 I particularly liked. Special mention has to go to Tisamon as well, a Mantis kinden who is simply cool. The author also managed to add depth to the conflict by presenting a character from the enemy, Captain Thalric, who is a Wasp officer working against the rest of our characters. The Wasp Empire itself, with its entire male population serving as soldiers and its use of captured people as slave labor, reminded me a bit of ancient Sparta, which as someone who finds the Spartans fascinating was another positive. I cannot even begin to explain how much I enjoy the Shadows of the Apt books. Their level of originality and the sheer epic-ness makes for some of the best fantasy entertainment out there’ Story behind Shadows of the Apt by Adrian Tchaikovsky – Entering the Shadows". Upcoming4.me. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014 . Retrieved 8 August 2014. So with that, their furstration while trying for years to convince the capitalistic and blinded societies they live in, that they need to act against this unstoppable, fanatic empire, becomes the frustration of the reader.Clute, John (13 June 2022). "Tchaikovsky, Adrian". In Clute, John; Langford, David (eds.). The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (4thed.).

Adrian Tchaikovsky interview". Archived from the original on 9 November 2009 . Retrieved 28 May 2010. The story itself is pretty standard: there’s an Evil Empire that must be fought, but no one with political power in the main characters’ world will recognize the threat. The good guys must find a way to make the threat obvious to their compatriots, and must prevent the war from finding their homeland before their politicians wise up. Skullduggery, treachery, negotiation, and political shenanigans predominate. There are also the mandatory confrontations between bad guys and good guys in both a threatening situation that fails to ignite and in a peaceful setting where the enemies are revealed as just folks — and each comes to have a grudging respect and even a degree of admiration for his or her adversary — before the ultimate battle that ends the book. Tchaikovsky still uses role-playing games to help develop his stories, but now also uses live action role-playing, which assists in describing the numerous action and battle sequences in his books. He is currently involved with the LARP game Empire. [15]We will mee the other important members of the group and learn about the different powers and cultures of the Kinden. But the story also looks at the major players on the Wasp side. From Thalric to the secretive Rekef. No more spoilers. What really sets apart this setting from other fantasy worlds however, is not so much the world itself, but the different races inhabiting the world. By that, I’m not talking about elves, dwarves, hobbits, trolls, orcs, etc. I’m instead referring to the simple, yet ingenious idea of insect-kinden. To break it down, insect-kinden are humans, who long ago adapted to the prehistoric insects that terrorized their world by adopting their traits. For instance, Ant-kinden operate as a hive-mind, Wasp-kinden can fly and use stingers, and Mantis-kinden are deadly warriors, blessed with prodigious speed, skill and such natural weapons as spines jutting from their arms. The technique by which the insect-kinden are able to accomplish such feats is simply known as meditation: Everyone can imagine, what a culture/society of people looks like, that are inspired and derived from spiders. Tchaikovsky's first Warhammer 40,000 novel Day of Ascension (2022), like his short story "Raised in Darkness" from Inferno! Volume 6 (2021), concerns the insidious Genestealer Cults. It’s an interesting plot concept which brings to mind the film 300 (well, my mind. maybe nobody else’s). The Wasps play the part of the Xerxes led Persians as they sweep over the land conquering all before them aiming for their end goal of ‘One Nation’. Stenwold Maker, a beetle spymaster defeated in the books opening battle at Myna, is laying low in Collegium keeping his eye on the advancing Wasps as they slowly make their way to the Lowlands. His attempts at convincing the governors of Collegium to take action and prepare for the inevitable invasion are rejected due to their selfishness. The idea of invasion is a joke to them so they’d rather turn a blind eye and live like fat kings. Fed up of Collegiums ignorance Stenwold assembles a team and departs for the Industrial city of Helleron, which seems to be the Wasps next conquest.

What Tchaikowsky did instead, was telling you about a character named Atryssa, a ambassador of the spider-kinden. Let me say straight off the bat that I enjoyed reading Empire. It was a good book. But there are some gaps that I’d like to get into further on. The Private Life of Elder Things (2016), ISBN 978-1911034025. Co-authored by Keris McDonald and Adam Gauntlett. A collection of new Lovecraftian fiction about confronting, discovering and living alongside the creatures of the Mythos. And so knowing he could do both science-fiction and fantasy, he seemed like the perfect crossover author to begin this year with. If you don't know yet, the Shadows of the Apt series as its main catch uses all kinds of insects for its races. There aren't big insects running around, if that is what it sounds like, think more of humanity having evolved to share skills and typologies with different types of insects.

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I feel like this is so far a worldbuilding-focused story, with characters, that are likable and easy to grasp. Wright, Jonathan (September 2009). "Meet a Brit author in the vanguard of the new heroic fantasy…". SFX Magazine. Archived from the original on 8 March 2010 . Retrieved 15 March 2010. A fast paced and interesting story. The world building is quite good, from the various powers, the intra-Kinden conflicts, the differing cultures and philosophies of the kinden and the hidden history. The characters are also excellent. From Stendwold and Tisamon, to Cheerwell and Achaeos, all the characters were interesting and each had their own skill set that made them integral. Since every reader knows the different types of insects, there is instantly a picture painted, of how these people might look, what their abilities might be, how they might behave, etc.