Product Description

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 gather what allies they can before the Wasp armies march again, conquering everything in their path. If they cannot throw back the Wasps this spring then the imperial black-and-gold flag will fly over every city in the Lowlands before the year's end.

In Jerez begins a fierce struggle over the Shadow Box, as lake creatures, secret police and renegade magicians compete to take possession. If it falls into the hands of the Wasp Emperor, however, then no amount of fighting will suffice to save the world from his relentless ambition.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3680 in Books
• Published on: 2009-08-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

Review
`Blood expands this scope further, and brings a richer diversity of tone...this leaner instalment foes to interesting places.'
--SFX

Review
'There is magic and engineering, epic fantasy story lines and steampunk ones, love stories, betrayals, and intrigue...Highly, highly recommended.'

About the Author

Adrian Tchaikovsky was born in Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire before heading off to Reading to study psychology and zoology. For reasons unclear even to himself he subsequently ended up in law and has worked as a legal executive in both Reading and Leeds, where he now lives. Married, he is a keen live role-player and occasional amateur actor, has trained in stage-fighting, and keeps no exotic or dangerous pets of any kind, possibly excepting his son.

Catch up with Adrian at www.shadowsoftheapt.com for further information about both himself and the insect-kinden, together with bonus material including short stories and artwork. His previous novels in this series are Empire in Black and Gold and Dragonfly Falling.

Customer Reviews

The Red Baroness jions the party
Having loved the first two in the series, I was very anxious to read this next installment of the Shadows of the Apt series. And a series it definately is, as there is not only no conclusion to the story here, but no immediate sign of one either, as Tchaikovsky weaves an ever more complex web of intrigue and world conflict.

By the time I had prised my copy off my wife, I had read a couple of fairly negative reviews of the book which reduced my expectations significantly, so I was actually very pleasantly suprised by it. Yes, it is not quite the masterpeice Dragonfly falling was and is a couple of hundred pages short of his previous offerings. But there is still an enormous amount to enjoy here. This includes a couple of exciting new charactors, one a female fighter pilot Ace, who is part of an exclusive little pilot club, with it's own code of honour. (Very Red Baron like)

Also as other reviewers have alluded to, there is another new wave of Kinden races. I think Tchaikovsky has with this brilliant idea sown a harvest so potentially rich he doesn't know quite where and what to put in next and is just starting to throw the goodies about like a spoilt kid coming out of a sweet shop. I would urge him not to get too carried away but curb the creativity till this story and already huge cast list conclude! Then perhaps write another series on the same world. There is just a risk readers could be swamped by all storylines and ideas coming at them.

Anyway back to the book. Our party of heroes are once again sent to the 4 corners of the world. Che and Nero to spy on the Wasps further expansions. Tisamon and Tynisa (and interestingly Thalric) are sent in search of the Darakon box and Sten continues to try and unite the Lowlands against the wasps. On the other side of the fence the 'slave' Mosquito Uctebri starts to flex his magical wings to bring a bit of internal trouble for the wasps and the Rekef continue their own private battle for power. It's action packed, clever, witty and within a fantasy framwork very original. I think lovers of Trad Fantasy will enjoy it as will fans of sci-fi and 'Steampunk'. Particularly those who enjoy Stephen Hunt.

Strong continuation to an excellent series
"Blood of the Mantis" is a tight and well-plotted addition to the Shadows of the Apt series, and boasts the same vivid characterisation and powerful innovation as the earlier offerings. Tchaikovsky is going from strength to strength, and clearly not suffering from the sort of malaise that can afflict fantasy authors around the middle of a series. The only criticism I can offer is the wait for the next installment!

Good book - not the last though
Like the other reviewers i also really enjoyed the first two books in this series and was very keen to grab this next installment. When it finally arrived it was a little thinner than the others and that surprised me a bit since i thought this was the final book in a trilogy, considering the scale of events in the first two books i doubted it would all get finished off in this book. Unfortunately that somewhat coloured my view of the book as i read it. I kept expecting there to be some big climactic battle or plot twist, but instead the book gently continued on, introducing new characters, a whole new region map and another storyline.

However, dont let that put you off. If you go into this knowing it is not the thrid and final installment, and you liked the earlier two books then you will like this one. There is plenty of action and story to keep you going.

One thing that does amuse me is the somewhat abundance of new 'insect kinden' that pop up! This is probably my only (small) criticism. It seems that whenever there is a lull in the action, or a twist needed, out pops a new Insect Kinden with exciting new talents etc.
I appreciate that the insect kingdom is somewhat rather vast, but still, surely there are not human insect kinden for all of them?

Anyway, enjoyed this one and need the next one soon!