5 Stars
The Shadows of the Apt series by Adrian Tchaikovsky is in a nutshell, the must read series for all fantasy readers. This also applies to a smaller to degree to those that read science fiction and steampunk. To me this is a series that should be receiving all the notoriety, the fan fare, and the must read attention, that much lesser works receive. For me, over the last three years of my life, no books have called to me as these have. No other series has continued to push my imagination, my emotions, and my enjoyment.

Sure, Book # 4, Salute the Dark, closes many of the main storylines, plot points, war with the Empire of Black and Gold, and of course many our heroes lives, it does so by ending as the beginning to the much larger story line. Tchaikovsky has really done a fine job at blending a science fiction heavy world, with old school magic and twisted it in a steampunk fashion.

I really feel that this is an incredibly underrated series and work of fiction. In a fantasy world that is filled with cutout characters, repetitive plot lines, too many bloodsuckers, and stereotypical villains and heroes, Tchaikovsky has found a way to show true imagination, unique story lines, and unparalleled epic action. Each of his books has shown the evolution of his writing skills. Each new book has made the earlier books better, by giving them new and deeper meanings. He writes with world building in mind, and does it better than most. Everything he writes is epic, the battles, the plot lines, the weaponry, and the emotional payout. His stories are about characters. Memorable protagonists and antagonists, that comes across in three dimensional forms. You will remember them long after you finish each book. Some you will remember old friends and others as archenemies. Over 3200 pages so far and at least 3 more books to go. Tchaikovsky has found a way to make an old genre fresh again…Long live the Kinden.

Now about my feelings for this book, #7 in the series, Heirs of the Blade. It is simply the best book of the series so far. I did not think that this would be possible, as I absolutely loved #5 The Scarab Path, and did not think that the intimacy of that book could be beat. Where that book is solely about my two favorite characters of the series, Che and Thalric, this one was about them, about Tynisa, and it tied in many of our past heroes and villains.

The Scarab Path this is a dark, moody, and very grey novel, and hopefully it is the true direction that the series is headed at. The new world Apt, technological driven kinden are now coming to believe and come in contact with the old world magic and mysticism Inapt. At the center of it all is Cheerwell Maker, to me the real heart of this series, the real center around all the plot lines, and the most likable among an amazing cast of characters. Her relationship with the old wasp enemy Thalric fuels much of the emotion and intensity of the series as a whole. Tchaikovsky smartly builds their relationship at an incredibly slow pace, allowing circumstances, and tribulations to slowly chip away at the walls she had up for her natural enemy. They have gone through so much together that their closed feelings for one another are nearly palpable for us the reader. A favorite moment of mine in this book was a quiet one in which Thalric was pondering some tough decisions while Che was asleep.

“I should leave, he told himself, not for the first time. Che is not in her right mind. This entire business is madness. But he made no move to go, just looked down at her face in the firelight. We have travelled a long road together, since my men caught you in Helleron, he considered. We shall walk a few miles more in each other’s company. Why not?”

As this book progresses their relationship grows more and more, and I loved every bit of it.
Thalric really is a complex character, not quite an antihero, nor a true enemy, he is a man that without saying so, wants to be a good man. Che is the strong heroine for everyone to root for. She also is a mystery in that she was born a Beetle but is now Inapt.

“‘I am caught between two worlds,’ she considered, as Maure shifted from foot to foot beside her, keen to get away. ‘Child of the new, but scion of the old. Nobody could have intended that, but it has happened, and I refuse to let it become nothing more than a handicap.’ She was speaking quietly, calmly, but with that last word she summoned her will and pushed it through both hands, tearing at the sky with invisible fingers, clutching and dragging and throwing . . .”

Tynisa is truly her father’s daughter, the fearless and relentless killer Tsiamon, whom is just as scary dead now, as he was when he was alive. This book is about the ghost of the legendary warrior and his plans for his broken daughter. Tynisa really is a haunted woman. She is plagued with guilt over her hand in her sister’s lover’s death. She is weighed down with the burden of being the daughter of Stenwolds greatest warrior, and she is beset with the loss and betrayal by her now dead lover. The book unfolds as her world crumbles around her…

There are so many characters in this series worth writing entire on. This book had several side characters that really elevated this book as a whole. Maure, Felipe Shah, Angved, Soul Je, Salma Alain and my favorite the wasp Sentinel Varmen.

This book gave us a much deeper look back to book number four and the end of Tsiamon and the Emperor. Many old plot lines were revisited and made better for it. Tchaikovsky laid out the foundations to the remainder of the series and all I can say is that I cannot wait. The prophecy Che portends is a hint at what is to come:

“"Falling leaves, red and brown and black and gold. A rain of burning machines over a city of the Apt. The darkness between trees. The Seal of the Worm is breaking."

If you any type of science fiction or fantasy and your things epic, you need to make it a priority to buy these amazing books. I loved this novel and this series and think that there is so much for all types of readers to get from it…

read-201122 s John McDermott415 77

Excellent. Book 7 focuses mainly on the Commonweal and Kanaphes with Tynisa , Che, and Thalric, taking centre stage. Characterisations, again,are a real strength of the book, with even the minor characters playing an integral part . I do how Thalric's character has developed - from an out and out villain to anti-hero .
The pace at times does slow down, but such is the strength of the world building that I was happy just spending time there.
Very good indeed.camelot-its-only-a-model17 s Eric179 64

4 Stars

An excellent addition to the series that continues to expand on previous worldbuilding and introduces a number of new and interesting characters. While Heirs of the Blade still had some of the same issues I’ve had in the 2 previous books, it marked an overall improvement and return to the faster pace of the beginning of the series.

Book 5 was all about Che. Book 6 was all about Stenwold. Now it’s Tynisa’s turn, as Stenwold’s adopted daughter travels far from her friends and family. Driven away by the deaths of her father, her love, and her role in the death of Acheos, she seeks out the Commonweal, Salma’s home, though what she’s searching for even she isn’t exactly sure of. When she arrives, she finds the Commonweal very different than she expected. Meanwhile Che and Thalric are hunting her down, seeking to find her before the ghost of her slain father Tisamon can reach her. While she seeks her sister, Che starts to discover that her encounter with the Masters of Khanphes has left her irrevocably changed.

Tchaikovsky has done it again, creating yet another fully realized culture and populating it with a new set of characters, each of which felt real and distinct. This time we it’s the Dragonfly Commonweal that we spend time in. I’ve been interested in the Dragonfly kinden since the first book so I was very curious to find out more about their culture and learn a bit of the history to their Twelve Year War with the Wasps. Tchaikovsky didn’t disappoint, creating something that felt both different to other societies seen so far and entirely real. He also did a fantastic job showing the impact that not only fighting but losing a long war has on a nation.

There was a new series of characters as well, from Dragonfly nobles and war veterans to brigands and outlaws. Several of them left a strong impression despite their newness and not a great deal of page time. As someone who has written two fantasy books (unpublished as of now, sadly), I’m very impressed with how he manages to create memorable secondary characters in a short period of time. We also get to see some returning characters as well, with a few others thrown in alongside the primary ones of Tynisa, Che, and Thalric. I have to single Thalric out for particular praise. His transition from a villain to a reluctant ally to someone who isn’t quite sure himself which side he is on has been handled masterfully, and he is perhaps my favorite character in the entire series.

My only real issue with the book is that it took a while to get going. Tynisa at points was a struggle to read about, her grief and guilt becoming a burden to slog through. Although those parts probably should be uncomfortable and difficult based on the topic, there were times I was glad when the focus shifted off Tynisa.

The first 4 books of the series were all out war. The last 3 books have been slowly fleshing out the world and building to the next confrontation. Despite my occasional frustration with the slow progression of the overall plot, I can see how Tchaikovsky is moving all the pieces into place and I think my patience is going to pay off as the series starts moving to its conclusion. I can’t wait to see what happens next. adrian-tchaikovsky fantasy12 s Algernon (Darth Anyan)1,610 1,034

I find it hard to believe this is already the seventh book in the Shadows of the Apt series. It feels as full of energy and invention as the first one, something none of the other big epic series going to seven volumes or above managed for me. They all seemed to lose steam or to wander slightly aimlessly around the plot, wondering how to reach the requisite number of pages. I got this feeling with Wheel of Time, with Sword of Shadows, with Crown of Stars, even with Steven Erikson or George R R Martin.
Adrian Tchaikovsky doesn't seem to have any problem. There are still places on the map to explore, cultures and myths to flesh out, characters that need to discover themselves or to reincent themselves.

The cover of Heirs of the Blade is extremely appropriate: this book is less about big battles, city sieges or technological inventions. This one is about individuals and their prowess with their weapon of choice. It is the turn of Tynisa to take center stage and to find out what she really is: a Spider kinden who will manipulate others, or a bloodthirsty Weaponmaster with a death wish that is as much a danger to her friends as to her enemies.
The arena where our heroes perform is now the Commonweal, with a detour in Khanapes that serves to link the book with The Scarab Path and with the overall epic plot. In this, the last installment feels less a vacation / sidetrip than The Sea Watch. Cheerwell and Thalric also play a major role in the story, and connect the dots that were left open after the events in Khanapes.

I don't usually it when an author introduces new main characters so late in the series, but surprisingly I became much involved in the fate of the new faces, especially Dal Arche and his Sherwwod Forest brotherhood and Varmen "Pride of the Six" and the last of the imperial Ironclads. They are not really new, and their background is fleshed out in some of the short stories recommended by the author in a blog post here as a good introduction to Heirs of the Blade.

Here's an extract of what I d about Dalla:
"A bandit, a man-hunter, a lawbreaker, a bow for hire. I never wanted any grand cause. If it looks I'm fighting tyrants, it's only because the world's so damned full of them that you can't draw a sword without crossing some of their laws. Easy as easy, it is, to become an outlaw."
2011 favorites10 s Metodi Markov1,489 363

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????????? ???? ??????? ? ??????? ?? ?? ??????? ??? ???? ?????????!2019 adventure brexit ...more10 s Gabi723 143

Second read: Nov 2021 - the emotional impact is still strong - masterful writing


Why is this series not known/read more?

This 7th volume was mindblowingly fantastic. The last third had me biting my nails with its impeccable pacing (and the author's inclination to kill off main characters ...). After the connecting problems I had with book 6 I was full on board again with this part. The main plotlines are for the foster sisters Che and Tynisa, both deeply marked by the war and the loss of loved ones, both trying to find a new footing in their life on rather different paths. While Che still is a driving force with her often naive trusting, Tynisa is torn by hate, honour and obsession/possession forgetting her own self.

In a few other POVs the stage is set for the last three books, which hints at all encompassing war.

Other than most of the previous books this one features no grand scale battle but a lot of smaller, individual fates. We have a lot of character development, comrade-in-arms and last-stand moments, each of those intimate and moving. I'm sure we're back to full-scale war in the next installments, so much more I appreciate this character book that placed the players for the endgame on the board.fantasy-series series-to-follow9 s Brent482 64

This is the only Apt book that is in the "dis" camp thus far. I didn't the focus on Tynisa nor did I enjoy her "finding myself" storyline. The pacing was slow and the plot was boring. Even adding Che to the mix didn't help because her whole plot was a search for her friend. And of course Tchaikovsky always has to include weird instalove in all these books. When there wasn't much else to it annoyed me even more.epic-fantasy shadows-of-the-apt10 s Phil1,985 204

Whereas the last volume The Sea Watch centered on Stenwold and his adventures underwater with the sea-kinden, HofB features the two 'sisters' aka 'daughters' of Stenwold-- Che and Tynisa. I believe the time-line is the same as The Sea Watch, but the action takes us primarily to the Commonweal of the Dragonfly-kinden. Che and her frenemy Thalric leave the ancient city of Khanaphes looking to 'save' Tynisa, who Che knows is in the Commonweal; the problem is that is a long way away. Tynisa, overcome with something guilt over her stabbing of Che's Moth lover, heads to the Commonweal to 'find herself' and of course gets mixed up with some of the local Commonweal aristocracy.

From the start, we know the new Queen of the Wasp empire is up to no good in Khanaphes, where she went to glean the secrets of the Slug Kinden-- the oldest of the Inapt races. It seems her father's death, and the destruction of the 'magic box' by Tynisa's father served to write a new fate of sorts, as all the actors involved seemed to have been magically touched in certain ways. Che is now Inapt and on her way to the Commonweal starts to share dreams and visions of the Queen (and vice versa). Tynisa is being haunted by her father's ghost, but only the violent, mantis-kinden aspect, leading her to some nasty business...

While Mr T has tinkered around the edges of magic for the last few volumes, HofB develops it in some detail. The ancient Inapt races/kinden all had some sort of magical beliefs, un the 'scientific' Apt kinden, the wasps and beetles. Yet, certain events challenge even the most skeptical of the Apt folk, Thalric and eventually Tynisa. The Queen of the wasps and Che share some sort of magical link and various mystics in the Commonweal emerge to help with their struggles with the magic.

In the last volume, Stenwold managed to fight off the Spider Kin from their lowland's invasion (with some help from the sea-kinden), but he knows the wasp empire will be coming back soon; the next wasp invasion are also hinted at here, with the Wasp Queen gearing up for a new kind of war. It seems the next volume will once again take us on a military journey!

Tchaikovsky once again manages here to build upon his epic series without falling into the formulaic route; HofB was in a way a spiritual quest for Che and Tynisa-- their 'coming of age' if you will. Plus, the old feudal- society of the Commonweal was fleshed out in some detail, something of a blend of Medieval Europe and Japan, with a ridged class structure and featuring a small cast of nobles ruling over a vast peasantry. The Commonweal is basically living off its past and facing a very uncertain future; it fought the Wasp Empire for 12 years, ceding every inch with gallons of blood, but that further exposed the cracks in the system as well.

Looking forward to the next volume, which will undoubtedly feather another Wasp invasion of the Lowlands. 4 stars!! fantasy steampunk9 s Emiliya Bozhilova1,548 280

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3,5 ??????ebook epic fantasy5 s Scott Hitchcock788 236

Book:1 4.5
Book 2: 4.5
Book 3: 4
Book 4: 4.5
Book 5: 4.25
Book 6: 4
Book 7: 4.5

Hopefully things end with a bang.
steampunk5 s Madeleine79 2

This may very well be my favourite book in the series so far, and that's saying something. At the very least I have a LOT of feelings about it. I may come back and write a proper review once it's rolled around in my head a little more.4 s John GwynneAuthor 41 books13.2k

Another great instalment in the 'Shadows of the Apt' series. Fantastic plot developments and twists, with some seriously epic battle scenes. Don't know how Adrian Tchaikovsky keeps up this kind of momentum and quality - plot, character, action, all brilliantly balanced. Loved it.fantasy8 s Madhurabharatula Pranav Rohit Kasinath312 20

This is a review of the entire series - there are NO spoilers.

When I look back at the Shadows of the Apt, what strikes me at first might seem incongruous to most.

There are no unnecessary descriptions of food.

None at all.

10 books, each of them 400 to 700 pages in length - covering battles, history and multiple points of view - and not a single one of them had any descriptions of food.

Or sex, clothing, family crests, whores or incest.

And I loved it.

Not a single wasted line.

There may be many reasons why the Shadows of the Apt is a success, why you SHOULD read these books no matter how difficult it may get at times. If I had to choose one, however, its this - Tchaikovsky doesn't waste a single page, character or event in his storytelling - the march of story is relentless through thousands of pages, culminating in a satisfying finale.

The World in which the Shadows of the Apt (SOTA) is set is astonishing in its originality. There are no elves, trolls, orcs or dwarves - instead, Tchaikovsky populates this world with Insect Kinden - human beings of different races who derive their primary characteristics from insects. Beetle kinden are slow, plodding, hardworking and intelligent with a flair for statesmanship. The Ant Kinden are war and live in each other's heads, attempting to work towards the betterment of the Ant city - a frightening and at the same time amusing allegory for communism. The Mantis Kinden live in the woods, are excellent fighters and are generally rooted in arcane magic and rituals - individualists who are dying out due to adherence to traditions which have lost all meaning. There are Spiders, Moths, Thorn Bugs and Flies each with their own definite characteristics that would require an encyclopedia to cover in entirety. At someone's last count there were close to thirty distinct kinden introduced in the series and I belive that must just be scratching the surface.

Another important differentiating factor amongst the people of this world is Aptitude. The Apt are those who are skilled in the art of artifice, and mechanics. They are scientists, using the laws of nature to change the world around them. Crossbows, artillery and even primitive air power all based on the principles of clockwork make their appearance in the early pages of the series. On the other end of the spectrum however, are the Inapt - the erstwhile rulers of the world to whom the apt were but slaves until a long ago revolution altered the power structure forever. The Inapt live in a world of magic, intuition and prophecy - incapable of so much as unlatching a door, their minds unable to comprehend the machine world in form or function.

This status quo is under threat from the Wasp Kinden of the north - a ferocious war race which has come into its own and seeks to conquer the world. While this might sound a cliche far too common to all fantasy fiction there is an important difference - the Wasps aren't inherently evil. The initial stand off is more one of culture and ideology than of good and evil. Two of my favourite characters are, in fact, Wasps. The only people who are aware of the threat the Wasps pose to the world are the beetle Stenwold Maker, a master in Collegium and his Mantis friend Tisamon. As the series begins Stenwold sends his niece Che, his adopted daughter Tynisa, a spider and his halfbreed student Totho and the dragonfly prince Salme Dien to the factory city of Helleron for espionage against the Wasp empire. Having turned its eyes towards the university city of Collegium, a beacon of enlightenment and artifice in the Lowlands, the Wasps are determined to stop Stenwold Maker at any cost.

Anymore would give away the joy of experiencing the plot for yourself. Rest assured, things get complicated very quickly, alliances shift and change, people die and before you know you might find yourself rooting for a villain. Over ten books we are treated to multiple detailed accounts of various battles, war movements and deaths. The narrative moves effortlessly between personal accounts of war and one on one battles. There is a very real sense of forward progression in the book with characters always changing, finding their ideals and comfort zone being challenged on a regular basis and reacting to the world in new ways. These interactions might not always be pleasant and not everyone might walk away from them alive - however, it is wonderful to see such attention to character progression. No one walks out of this book unscathed or unchanged. Some change for the better, some for the worse - but all changes seem normal, organic and make sense. This series capitalises on this characterisation to make things all the more gripping.

SOTA cannot be labelled as grimdark fantasy either. There is war, death, murder, rape and cruelty. There are slave camps, dying civilisations and loss. A large chunk of characters are dead towards the end of the book. However, there is a resilience to all the characters that makes it possible to believe they will eventually find a way out. It might be because the author is British but all the characters have a stoic, stiff upper lip approach to situations which makes even the darkest segments of the book immensely enjoyable. The dialogue is witty, snappy and fluid - more importantly, it's distinctive in a sense and tailor made to each character. Atrocities, when they are committed are mentioned but not described in detail. This seems to be a more effective method of conveying the horrors of war. I have seen fantasy where rape and murder are described to a distasteful degree under the excuse of realism. Tchaikovsky actually doesn't indulge in voyeurism which significantly increased the emotional impact when bad things eventually DID happen. (Basically books 4 and 10)

A standard fantasy talks about heroism in the face of darkness with a well demarcated line between good and evil. SOTA takes a different tack. While set in a fictional world the themes are often all too relevant. The novels are given over to varied themes - whether duty to oneself comes over and above duty to the city state, are we willing to enslave others so that we may be free, the struggle between the old world and new, between science and superstition. There are also deeper questions about the creation of weapons of war and deterrents- does an inventor take pride in a weapon that has been created solely for killing, and if he is horrified what mental toll does this take? The stark contrast between killing a person yourself and ordering the deaths of hundreds in a mechanised attack is also touched upon. The question asked of a lot of the artificers in this series is whether they feel war has allowed them progress and innovation and whether, coming on the heel of the human cost, this innovation is worth it. A lot of the characters might answer yes. The beauty in Tchaikovsky's characters lies in how easy it is to understand if not exactly sympathise this point of view.

Over the course of the series, we are also treated to innovation and how it can change the face of war. Ranged weapons are deployed against an unarmed infantry, submersibles are invented out of necessity and there is an entire book devoted to an Air War that brings to mind the Battle of Britain and the RAF during World War II. This mechanical progress is a plot point which drives the book forward. The enemy improvising and modifying weapons while the defenders need to think on their feet to win the war and vice versa.

The only criticism I might want to level against this series is that it seems a little too dry at times.Tchaikovsky's prose is fluid, and wonderful on page. However, at times, it fails to convey the images necessary to visualise the world around. I am an extremely visual reader, by which I mean that I enjoy building the environment around me. Tchaikovsky was adequate to this task but I wanted more. However, I choose not to reduce any points for this - This is Tchaikovsky's first work. A ten volume series which serves as a nuanced account of the wages of war in a fantasy world. It is rare for anyone to get something THIS RIGHT on the first round and I am sure he will only get better as he continues to write more.

The SOTA is un any fantasy I have read in a long long time - nuanced, with wonderful characterisation, multiple plot threads and points of view and absolutely no narrative drag. It begins, builds to a crescendo and ends almost perfectly. I don't recommend this to just lovers of fantasy but to all lovers of good literature. Don't turn your nose down on this, you won't be disappointed.
espionage fantasy female-protagonist ...more3 s Will R281 19

Holy shit. There's definitely things happening in this book, a return to the overall plotting that The Sea Watch deviated from. We finally see the inside of The Commonweal, and its depiction is a fascinating portrait of an Inapt Empire gone to seed. Reminiscent of pre-Meiji Japan, the Commonweal's distant Monarch is ruler in name only. Local nobility rules at their own discretion, with their own force of "Mercers" but a pale imitation of the Monarchs own.

We return to Tynisa, haunted by the ghosts of her recent past and seeking some sort of purpose. Che and Thalric search for her, travelling through the formerly-occupied Principalities and across the Commonweal itself. The real highlight, however, is the cultures and kinden of the Commonweal. The bandit Dal, the fields of stick insects, and a touching and introspective commiseration between two people who were on either side of the Twelve Year War. Fantasy at its best.fantasy3 s Joebot179 6

Solid book. Lot to here.

Really having the Commonweal as a backdrop. Some very interesting cultures living in it. Very much an Inapt region; and I am very much inapt > apt. The snippets of magic we've gotten in this series thus far has always been intriguing and the spirit magic at play in this book was on point and well done.

This is a good story of family, by both birth and choice. Lots of concern, shame, loss here. Lots of finding one's purpose in the aftermath of major events. Cheerwell is becoming a fave of mine; she shined brightly here. Thalric's character arc is a highlight of this series as a whole. The new side characters here were well thought out and executed.
Seda, the wasp empress.. hoo-boy am I a big fan of her.

Some of the plot fell a bit flat and felt a bit forced, keeping this a 4 star vs 5. But, again, solid book.3 s Tanner Sturgeon81 8

3.5. Focused on one of my least favorite characters, still enjoyed3 s Kaden Hall28 1 follower

A very enjoyable read from start to finish. The cast of characters in this instalment was very good and the ending has very interesting implications for the next book. I’m saddened that I am approaching the end of this series. World-building and plot remained very tight. 3 s aria749 111

‘They can be spoken with, and bound to service even, and they can haunt others, or objects, places. Broken things, they are, most often, but still recognizable as who they once were. Even the smaller fragments may contain some ounce of self, some emotion – a hate, a love.’

“Heirs of the Blade” is the seventh instalment in the Shadows of the Apt series. And if I’m right, it is also the final book in the second arc of the series. The further I read into the series, the shorter the will be. As a result this will be quick and short.

Picking up from the end of Scarab Path, Che and Thalric leave Khanaphes, heeding the warning from the mythical Masters that Tynisa is in grave danger. Che is struggling, haunted by the old magic. She’s seeing things she can’t explain, people in different places in the Lowlands but the most concerning is Empress Seda, who has grown wild with power. She’s connected to Seda, she can feel it and Thalric, while sceptical, can’t explain what’s happening to either Che or the Empress.

There was only one other person that Thalric could name who had suffered the same reversal, and the fact that she had done so was a closely guarded secret. Seda, Empress of the Wasps, was wise become Inapt, and on nights these, when sleep kept its distance from him, he was forced to confront that curious web of interdependence: Che and the dead man Achaeos, Seda and the dead man Tisamon. Why do I feel they are linked? Why? There could be no connection, and yet some part of him remained sure of it, beyond any rational argument.

Occurring simultaneously with The Sea Watch, Praeda and Amnon hear news of the Empire taking over Khanaphes, leave Collegium to try and aid Amnon’s people.

The main star of this book was Tynisa. Tynisa having suffered loss of Salma and Tisamon and struggling with the guilt of killing Achaeos, rushes to Salma’s home to assuage her guilt. If only she can find her purpose, if she could have her Mantis death then she would be free from the suffocating pain. There she meets Prince-Minor Salme Alain of Elas Mar Province, Salma’s brother. Meeting him is her chance to finally be with Salma, if only as a substitute. But nothing is as it seems and the dragonflies, the spiders, have their own games.

She remembered how it felt to lose Salma, first to the wiles of the Butterfly-kinden girl, and then to hear the news of his death, abandoned and alone in the midst of the enemy. She remembered seeing her father hacked to death before her eyes. But of her murder of Achaeos, of the bite of her blade into his unsuspecting flesh, the wound that had sapped him and ruined him until he died, she remembered nothing, she felt nothing. In such a vacuum, how could she possibly atone?

As seen in the previous two books, this addition expanded the world. We learned of the Inapt Beetles of Khanaphes in book five, the mythical sea kinden in Sea Watch and here we delve deeper into the Dragonfly lands, their kinden, history and culture. This book definitely solidified the Dragonfly kinden as my favourite. Aside from that, the conclusion!! Empress Seda is a crazy psychopath and I can’t wait to see what else she will do for power. That last page had me excited for what’s to come.

‘They share one, but it’s not a dead man’s. You can be haunted by the living in a strange sort of way, as you yourself have cause to know. They’d rather be elsewhere, maybe even not in each other’s company, but I can see the same hand rests on each of them. Loyalty to a living friend can haunt you as much as the ghost of a dead one.’ adult-sff military-fiction political-intrigue ...more3 s Alytha279 59

Finished volume 7 of Shadows of the Apt by Adrian Tchaikovsky; Heirs of the Blade.

(slightly spoilery!)

In terms of plot, the first part of the book follows Tynisa, who fled Collegium after Achaeos' death, and is now wandering through the Commonweal, hunting some idealistic spark of an ideal society that she caught from her friend Salma.

Later, Che and Thalric are trying to find her. And there's a violent peasant uprising that they all end up right in the middle of.

So, looking at the general summary, there's not all that much happening in terms of plot, but there's quite a lot of good character stuff. Tynisa finally gets her day in the limelight. Poor thing...child of two warring kinden, raised by a third, in a city of Apt, where, on the one hand, she is cut off from a lot of aspects of life in Collegium, being Inapt, and, double whammy, also from the Inapt magic stuff of her parent kindens. No wonder she doesn't feel she fits in. Through Salma, she gets an idea of the Commonweal being an ideal place, happy peasants governed by benevolent nobles. She decides to go there, to find Salma's family, and maybe also find a place where she belongs.

Unfortunately, she not only finds out that everything isn't quite as nice in the Commonweal, and that Salma's mother is a bitch, but she also gets caught by her father's errant ghost, who uses her crush on Salma's brother (as replacement for Salma himself) as a hook to turn her into an emotionless killing machine, and guide her towards a Mantis-typical bloody and heroic end.

Fortunately, Che and Thalric and a magician they picked up on the way arrive in time to help her cast out the ghost. Unfortunately, that's not the end of Tisamon...

I didn't really the peasant rebels when they were introduced. Maybe they weren't really supposed to be able, as they're not very Robin-Hood-, at least not in the beginning. They do become slightly more endearing though. And they do have a certain reasin to be, as they've been abandoned by their nobles after the end of the war.

I quite d the changing focus onto the Inapt kinden and their magic. I wonder how far Che will be going in that regard. I guess she'll have to face off against Seda at some point. After The Sea Watch, which was a bit of a sideline, despite being very interesting, we've moved furter back into the main action now. Or rather, it's been set up to hit the fan sometime soon.

Interesting things in this one:

I bet nobody else ever noticed either that there's almost no birds in Kinden-world? The insects probably ate them in revenge when they started growing into gigantism...Tynisa clearly has never seen one before.
I see bad things coming...the Empire declares the Provinces as protectorate, is setting its sights back on Collegium, has an agreement with the Iron Glove. Oh, and rock oil. And undead Tisamon (in a bad mood). Good times are coming...
Varmen's blaze of glory... :(
We finally find out that Salma isn't actually his first name, but his family name. Barbarian lowlanders...
I really wonder how the Mantids have managed to survive as a kinden so far, seeing their overblown ideas about honour and dying in battle and things that. Definetely the most mentally screwed-up of all kinden...or maybe Tisamon was an extreme example of the kinden.


And now, I've really caught up with the writer...I hope the next one will be out soon.
(Although, dear Mr Tchakovsky, could you please stop flogging the dead Mantis? just let him rest in whatever amount of peace he can, poor sod...)

In short, really really d this one.
9/103 s Neil Pearson458 3

With book 7 we finally catch up with the remaining "lead" character, Tynisa, who we haven't seen since the end of "salute the dark". Her story is quite a sad one and it's an interesting journey watching her make all the wrong choices and how one person's loss can have an effect on thousands. Adrian does a great job of expanding on his world with the commonweal and it's interesting to discover it's not quite as romantic a place as the dragonfly-kinden Salme Dien had us believe.
It was also good to see Thalric and Che again. Che becomes more fascinating with each appearance although I do feel that Thalric needs to get his edge back soon as he's a little too "nice" in this adventure. The most interesting characters this time around are the various wasps. Varmen is a complicated character and his loss is tragically romantic and Gaved is a "simple" opportunist. Adrian is basically showing us that the wasp-kinden can be human too and it's the empire that gives them the bad reputation.
I was slightly disappointed with the Khanaphes and Seda subplot. I initially thought they were going to be a big part of the book but they disappear completely about a third into the plot. It's all useful set-up but it does feel a bit tacked on.
I'm not sure whether book 8 will merge all the stories together again but I'm hoping they will as I think the various stories work better together than separately. It's been an interesting experiment though (The scarab path was excellent) and it's allowed Adrian to play around with some different styles/approaches. I'm eagerly awaiting the next installment.3 s Ben Kahn248 130

Yet another extremely solid entry in the Shadows of the Apt! 4.5 stars rounded down to put it on par with the previous one.

It's a quieter book than all the others 'til now with less complex plotting and less action, but it was very impactful on a character and theme level along with moving some very important series-level plot arcs into place. The exploration of the fallout of war and the moral complexities of a noble/peasant society was always present in the background of this one, as was the duality in this world of the apt/inapt or those who believe in magic/materialism.

I've really enjoyed how each of the last three books has focused around a single different location and just a few of the main characters -- the shift in storytelling style from the first arc has felt a real level up in Tchaikovsky's character work, as everyone feels deeper now and more vital to the narrative than in his debut books.

This is shaping up to easily be one of my all-time favorite series, and the consistency in quality from book to book is just incredible.scifi-fantasy3 s Katy2,010 192

I actually enjoyed this installment of the series a bit more than the last few. Missing are the long and endless major battle scenes (still plenty of fighting action though). I just don't love the big battle scenes. Che becomes a bit more likable for me and this book has much more of Tynsia -- one of my favorite characters. 3 s Blaise394 105

https://undertheradarsffbooks.com/202...

Tynisa is still haunted by the sins of her past with both grief and regret at the loss of her loved ones. Looking to seek comfort in the Commonweal of the dragonfly kinden, Tynisa will come face to face with her own demons and find many more along the way. Cheerwell and Thalric are on the move looking for Tynisa as she is being hunted by a ghost from her past. The Empire is getting ready to wage war on the Lowlands once again but the Empress Seda needs to put the final touches together and the power lies in the ancient ruins of Khanaphes. This will be a spoiler free review but I will be touching upon events that took place in previous novels.

Forced to endure the heartbreak of her love Salma choosing another and then learning of his death at the hands of the wasp empire, Tynisa is crestfallen with grief. Adding to that witnessing the death of her father Tisamon when he stabbed the shadow box and mortally wounding Achaeos with her own blade, Tynisa is searching for answers. Her travels lead to the dragonfly Commonweal where she is looking to divulge the fate of Salma to his kin. Tisamon’s shadow is hunting Tynisa and he is looking to shape her to his will. Long has the mantis kinden viewed the traits of strength, pride, and vengeance in high regard and Tisamon had lost track of that throughout his life. He will not make that same mistake with his daughter.

Cheerwell and Thalric know the desires of Tisamon since he was released from Che’s mind by the rulers of Khanaphes. Desperate the save her foster sister from more pain, the two must hurry across the land before Tynisa becomes an architect for her own destruction. All the while, the Empress is pressing her advantage and has the desire to visit the rulers of Khanaphes. Much Che received the blessing of the slug kinden, Seda looks for that same blessing and to be the avatar for the old powers of history in the new world. Old faces will return while new enemies will take shape and all the while an ancient evil is stirring with the release of the old magic just waiting to be unleashed.

The best thing about this series are the heartbreaking emotions we feel the characters endure is almost too painful to read but riveting in its beauty we can’t help but be infatuated. Combine this with the complex nuances of the world, magic, rivalries, and themes to the series put this in line with the all time greats of the genre. Can’t tell you how many friends and authors a who have picked up this series and are flabbergasted by not reading this series sooner. I feel their is a good deal of misinformation about this series either by the covers or the descriptions of the books being about insect. The relationship to the insects can be seen as attributes and not anything you would come across in a horror movie. Human characters with insect- powers and awareness, sign me up!

Heirs of the Blades has notoriously been one of the Top books in the series among fans and it is in my Top 3 to say the least. The story just pushes forward and the second war is about to be unleashed on the Lowlands. I have been listening to this series on audible and now I have to wait until November 2021 for the final 3, oh the pain! It will all be worth it and here is to the climactic concluding volumes in the Shadow of the Apt series.

Cheers!2 s Liviu2,347 657

I have finished Heirs of the Blade (book 7 of the Apt series) and I enjoyed it a lot as expected though I am yet unsure where I would rate it - Scarab path is still my all time favorite with salute the Dark next and while recreating the dark and moody atmosphere of Scarab, Heirs is not quite there maybe because it is second after Scarab, but i think it worked better than the complete change of feel in Sea Watch which was enjoyable but "lighter" in many ways

Heirs of the Blade is a follow-up of The Scarab Path though it also references Blood of the Mantis/Salute the Dark too and has a clear "this is what's next" ending which neither Scarab nor Sea Watch had ( Heirs is parallel chronologically to Sea Watch as far as I can see), so one can say that Heirs concludes the "middle part" of the 10 volume series after the first part of four volumes and with the last part of three volumes to come in 2012 and beyond.

And the most magic so far - in that sense the book reads a major amplification of the magic in Scarab Path; dark, moody, lots of fights and duels, new kinden too as usual

The ending was both a homage to one of the most cliched tropes of sff and a masterstroke; and it really worked well

Full FBC Rv:

INTRODUCTION: There is no secret that in the past three years the Shadows of the Apt has become one of my favorite ongoing fantasy series for its combination of superb world building, great characters and extreme inventiveness. Salute the Dark ended quite emphatically the first part of the series dealing with the war between the Collegium and the Empire in Black and Gold, while The Scarab Path, a standalone withing the larger series context, has been my personal favorite to date and I rated it the best fantasy of 2010.

In The Sea Watch the author changed the feel and the focus from the heavily atmospheric and magical, to a fast adventure style with a science fictional bent and while I enjoyed it quite a lot, I missed the more "doom and gloom" darkness of the magical world.

I strongly recommend to go and get the first six books and read them before proceeding further here, though I will try to keep the spoilers to the minimum possible. Be warned that even the blurb of Heirs of the Blade consists of huge spoilers for the ending of the first part.

OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: In talking about Heirs of the Blade, there are at least three aspects to consider. The writing style, the way the book belongs in the series as characters and feel and the way it belongs as storyline. I will just mention that the more we are advancing in the series, the better the author has been getting at writing technique and Heirs of the Blade just flows on the page.

But the real tests of the novel are in the second and third parts since it is easy for long series to get bogged down in repetition of events, sameness of "feel" and generally leave the impression that the author copied and pasted from an earlier book and just changed a little here and there.

And I am happy to say that Heirs of the Blade overall passes these tests with flying colors and I will explain why I think so. The novel focuses on Tynisa, Che, Thalric and Seda, while introducing several new characters that play important roles here, as well as bringing back some characters from earlier novels and short stories, most notably Felipe Shah, Angved, Praeda and Ammon. Geographically, most of the action takes place in the part of the Commonweal visited in earlier novels too, but there is a lot of surveying of the wreckage of the Wasp invasion in its eastern parts and we return to Khanaphes and the Nem desert too for some memorable scenes. As usually, new kinden are introduced.

As can be seen from the above, Heirs of the Blade is a direct follow-up of The Scarab Path though it also references Blood of the Mantis/Salute the Dark too and has a clear "this is what's next" ending which neither The Scarab Path nor The Sea Watch had. Chronologically Heirs of the Blade seems to be parallel to The Sea Watch, so one indeed can say that the book concludes the "middle part" of the 10 volume series after the first part of four volumes and with the last part of three volumes to come in 2012 and beyond.

Heirs of the Blade is a pure fantasy book in many ways - though there is a technological advance subplot - and it has the most magic so far, reading a major amplification of the magic in The Scarab Path; the feel is dark and moody and it works extremely well.

Nothing symbolizes this better than the famous prophecy line from Salute the Dark which I thought I understood at the time but it seems to be even deeper, as now someone else utters it in trance, adding more:

"Falling leaves, red and brown and black and gold." "A rain of burning machines over a city of the Apt. The darkness between trees. The Seal of the Worm is breaking."

There is a lot of action - fights and duels, intrigue and skirmishes, while the overall feel is one of darkness descending and the characters trying to keep it at bay a moment longer; another line emphasizes this:

"Let us have peace and prosperity, as much as this late age allows it."

And of course the ending is the final masterstroke of the novel, being an homage to one of the most cliched tropes of sff and which worked really well. So the stage is now set for the last part of the series and while through both volume five and six, I have wondered where the author intends to go, now there is a clear sense of the storyline. I am still wondering where the events of The Sea Watch will fit, since now that novel rather than The Scarab Path feels a little out of joint as the series goes heavily magic rather than sfnal. Very interesting times are announced for the Kinden world and I am eager to be there.

Overall, Heirs of the Blade (A++) was the Shadow of the Apt novel I have expected after the awesome The Scarab Path and it immediately jumped into my top ten novels of the year.
2011_release_read genre-fantasy read_2011 ...more2 s Bridgit532 38

3.75 - My least favorite of the 2nd story arc. Heirs of the Blade took a closer look at Tynisa, the spider-mantis daughter of Tisamon as she deals with her depression and guilt following book 4. There are a lot of things i d about this book, including the character development for Che and the menacing power that is blossoming over in Capitas with Seda. i also enjoyed some of the side characters and revisiting a couple of peripheral characters from previous books.

However, I was not a fan of the pathway that Tynisa went down. This book took a kickass, independent warrior and turned her into a lovesick, man-focused, mentally weak pawn. I also spent most of the book resenting Tisamon's fate. He was a noble, loyal warrior who was stripped in death of everything that made him him. I don't that his one goal in returning as a spirit was to basically possess his daughter and turn her into a single-minded monster.

That said, what happens with Tisamon at the end of the book is so freaking brutal and brilliant, it terrifies me for future books and where that will lead.

Really looking forward to the next book because this did set up the series to move forward in a very cool way. 2 s Mrs Jane303 2

Excellent as ever. Deeper into the Commonweal, Che travels in search of Tynisa, accompanied by Thalric and magic. A complex weaving of different threads.2 s Shaz683 17

Not enough Thalric, but what else is new? There were some interesting new secondary characters and viewpoints. I especially noticed Maure. And the Commonweal is fascinating.

I can't say I was particularly emotionally invested which definitely reduced any impact.2 s David Firmage220 61

In the minority on this one, it just didn’t click. The world of the Kinden is amazing and interesting but I felt detached from the characters. This volume felt ponderous and quite boring in places. Hopefully the final arc has more action.4 s Trent364 47

Enjoyable, but my least favorite of the three 'standalone' Apt novels.

I was actually very excited to head to the Commonweal, as it was an area of the world that 1) Is run mostly by Inapt, and 2) Had a lot of mystery surrounding it. And for the most part, I REALLY d it. It feels very feudal - inspired both by medieval England and also a bit from Japan or other Asian societies. Another fascinating setting.

It was the characters that dragged this one down a bit for me. Tynisa never really had a ton of depth for me, and while she is certainly fleshed out in this one, she also is pretty flagrantly stupid. Some of her actions are understandable, especially considering she is definitely suffering from PTSD after Salma Dien and her Father's deaths (not to mention the ghost of her father haunting her), but she was still frustrating to read for a lot of this book.

And don't get me started on Che - I'm not sure who was more irritated by her behavior - me, or Thalric.

That said, I did enjoy the story, and I thought the side characters introduced were pretty awesome. This was both a solid standalone story, and a great lead-up into what I assume will be the second Lowlands War starting next book.

Shadows of the Apt is an incredible series that I highly recommend for fans of Sanderson, Erikson, or Jordan.shadows-of-the-apt3 s Josh1,695 160

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