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Shadows of the Apt #8
The Air War
The Air War is the eighth book in the critically acclaimed epic fantasy series Shadows of the Apt by Adrian Tchaikovsky.
An empress demands her birthright....
All is in turmoil as the world moves towards war. In Solarno, spies eye one another and ready their knives – while the people of Myna watch troops gather at its borders. Emotions run high as old fears reawaken. And in Collegium students argue politics, too late to turn the tide.
At the heart of the Empire, new pilots complete their secretive training, generals are recalled to service and armies are readied to march. Their Empress, heir to two worlds, intends to claim her birthright. For nothing – either within the Empire or beyond it – will stand in her way.
The Air War is followed by the ninth book in the Shadows of the Apt series, War Master’s Gate.
An empress demands her birthright....
All is in turmoil as the world moves towards war. In Solarno, spies eye one another and ready their knives – while the people of Myna watch troops gather at its borders. Emotions run high as old fears reawaken. And in Collegium students argue politics, too late to turn the tide.
At the heart of the Empire, new pilots complete their secretive training, generals are recalled to service and armies are readied to march. Their Empress, heir to two worlds, intends to claim her birthright. For nothing – either within the Empire or beyond it – will stand in her way.
The Air War is followed by the ninth book in the Shadows of the Apt series, War Master’s Gate.
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First published August 1, 2012
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About the author
Adrian Tchaikovsky
191 books17.4k followersADRIAN TCHAIKOVSKY was born in Lincolnshire and studied zoology and psychology at Reading, before practising law in Leeds. He is a keen live role-player and occasional amateur actor and is trained in stage-fighting. His literary influences include Gene Wolfe, Mervyn Peake, China Miéville, Mary Gently, Steven Erikson, Naomi Novak, Scott Lynch and Alan Campbell.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 132 reviews
May 20, 2025
Tchaikovsky continues his epic with this brilliant installment. The long awaited (at least for this reader!) second wasp invasion of the lowlands commences like the German Blitzkrieg of WWII. In fact, the Wasp Empire is something akin to the Romans, in that it needs to expand to survive, taking subject cities and slaves along the way. On the other hand, it does have a German WWII feel to it as well, with its secret police rooting out 'traitors' and gathering intelligence. Still smarting from their 'defeat' of a few years ago, the wasps have a few new tricks up their sleeves that also reminded me of the Nazis and things get ugly for the lowlands quickly...
The imagination of Mr T continues to impress as well. You can think of the Apt kinden as an unlikely marriage of the bronze age with new, high tech that is developing at a rapid pace. Flying machines are still only a few generations old, the first being basically blimps and such, but now supplemented with fixed wind craft and hieliopters (machines that flap wings to fly) powered by spring-wound engines to more 'modern' fuel like mineral oil. At the title suggests, the second invasion of the lowlands will feature the new 'air-forces' of the various combatants.
Meanwhile, Seda, the wasp Empress, is still pursuing new ways to master the old Inapt magic, and you can bet Mr T is saving that for the next volume in the series. We also have a loose alliance between the spiderlands and the wasps, the spiders seeking vengeance against the lowlanders after their navel defeat at their hands a few volumes ago.
While Mr T always fields a pretty vast array of characters, this one centers on Taki-- the fly girl flyer from the spiderland hinterlands. Perhaps the best flying ace on either side, she has a new ship on a 'clockwork' motor and the novel starts off with her voyage to the Wasp capital for an air show of all things (the invasion has not kicked off yet). We also have some new faces-- the 'antspider' student at the Collegium and her circle of friends (including a wasp and a woodlouse kinden).
Mr T manages to build tension throughout this, building to an amazing denouement! The air battles are truly jaw dropping in their complexity and excitement. We also have lots of new weapons from various artificers, including something like a machine gun (bolt thrower of course), bombing runs by long distance aircraft to 'soften up' the enemy (lowlanders), new types of cannons with miles of range, making the war just a few years ago seem quaint.
I will admit I am a sucker for a good military science fiction or fantasy tale and Tchaikovsky is a true master here. This volume, like the second in the series, features the war with the wasp invasion and is chock full of action. Nonetheless, we also have several story arcs dedicated to other characters and their lives, like spies and such, not to mention the intrigue going on at the Wasp Imperial court.
Even though this is the eighth edition in the series, and each volume is a doorstop, Mr T still manages to keep things fresh and lively (unlike a certain George R.R. Martin's epic saga, at least in my opinion). The introduction of new characters and new tech on the rich palette of the world he has built continues to impress. This installment is the primary reason I decided to reread this series as I loved this one! 4.5 stars rounding up!!
The imagination of Mr T continues to impress as well. You can think of the Apt kinden as an unlikely marriage of the bronze age with new, high tech that is developing at a rapid pace. Flying machines are still only a few generations old, the first being basically blimps and such, but now supplemented with fixed wind craft and hieliopters (machines that flap wings to fly) powered by spring-wound engines to more 'modern' fuel like mineral oil. At the title suggests, the second invasion of the lowlands will feature the new 'air-forces' of the various combatants.
Meanwhile, Seda, the wasp Empress, is still pursuing new ways to master the old Inapt magic, and you can bet Mr T is saving that for the next volume in the series. We also have a loose alliance between the spiderlands and the wasps, the spiders seeking vengeance against the lowlanders after their navel defeat at their hands a few volumes ago.
While Mr T always fields a pretty vast array of characters, this one centers on Taki-- the fly girl flyer from the spiderland hinterlands. Perhaps the best flying ace on either side, she has a new ship on a 'clockwork' motor and the novel starts off with her voyage to the Wasp capital for an air show of all things (the invasion has not kicked off yet). We also have some new faces-- the 'antspider' student at the Collegium and her circle of friends (including a wasp and a woodlouse kinden).
Mr T manages to build tension throughout this, building to an amazing denouement! The air battles are truly jaw dropping in their complexity and excitement. We also have lots of new weapons from various artificers, including something like a machine gun (bolt thrower of course), bombing runs by long distance aircraft to 'soften up' the enemy (lowlanders), new types of cannons with miles of range, making the war just a few years ago seem quaint.
I will admit I am a sucker for a good military science fiction or fantasy tale and Tchaikovsky is a true master here. This volume, like the second in the series, features the war with the wasp invasion and is chock full of action. Nonetheless, we also have several story arcs dedicated to other characters and their lives, like spies and such, not to mention the intrigue going on at the Wasp Imperial court.
Even though this is the eighth edition in the series, and each volume is a doorstop, Mr T still manages to keep things fresh and lively (unlike a certain George R.R. Martin's epic saga, at least in my opinion). The introduction of new characters and new tech on the rich palette of the world he has built continues to impress. This installment is the primary reason I decided to reread this series as I loved this one! 4.5 stars rounding up!!
May 15, 2025
Страхотно продължение на приключенията в света на Умелите!
Империята в черно и златно напада отново Равнините и този път изглежда, че дори и обединени както никога до сега, те няма да могат да устоят на осите-войнолюбци. Първи, както обикновенно е на ред Мина и колелото на събитията се завърта бясно.
Въздушни схватки, предателство и шпионаж, нови оръжия и герои - отлично приключенско четиво!
P.S. Бард са ужасяващо некадърни, да не могат да се възползват от потенциала на тази сага е срам за гилдията на издателите у нас!
http://civilian-reader.blogspot.com/2...
Илюстрация, пресъздаваща въздушните битки за град Колегиум и Таки те Амре, мухородна - ас на Соларно, в последствие на Колегиум!
Империята в черно и златно напада отново Равнините и този път изглежда, че дори и обединени както никога до сега, те няма да могат да устоят на осите-войнолюбци. Първи, както обикновенно е на ред Мина и колелото на събитията се завърта бясно.
Въздушни схватки, предателство и шпионаж, нови оръжия и герои - отлично приключенско четиво!
P.S. Бард са ужасяващо некадърни, да не могат да се възползват от потенциала на тази сага е срам за гилдията на издателите у нас!
http://civilian-reader.blogspot.com/2...
Илюстрация, пресъздаваща въздушните битки за град Колегиум и Таки те Амре, мухородна - ас на Соларно, в последствие на Колегиум!
December 26, 2023
Return to Form
After struggling through Heirs of The Blade it was a pleasant surprise to see The Air War turn the series back into the kind of story I want to read. The plotting and pacing is a dramatic improvement over 2 of the last 3 books. Toward the end the chaos of war and the tension in the battles is palpable. It really kept me turning the pages which seemed to fly by.
I do have a couple of criticisms though. First is that for some reason Tchaikovsky enjoys shoving crappy insta love into these books and it doesn't work at all. One character's entire plotline involves risking life and limb due to an insta love relationship that provides 0 to the reader to get invested in. Luckily it's a fairly small part of the story. Secondly, there seems to be a fair amount of new characters that take up a big portion of the POVs while some legacy characters that were favorites are absent here. I struggled with some of the new POVs until the plot and pacing took off in such a way that it didn't matter.
Overall very good book and I'm excited to read the final 2 entries in the series.
After struggling through Heirs of The Blade it was a pleasant surprise to see The Air War turn the series back into the kind of story I want to read. The plotting and pacing is a dramatic improvement over 2 of the last 3 books. Toward the end the chaos of war and the tension in the battles is palpable. It really kept me turning the pages which seemed to fly by.
I do have a couple of criticisms though. First is that for some reason Tchaikovsky enjoys shoving crappy insta love into these books and it doesn't work at all. One character's entire plotline involves risking life and limb due to an insta love relationship that provides 0 to the reader to get invested in. Luckily it's a fairly small part of the story. Secondly, there seems to be a fair amount of new characters that take up a big portion of the POVs while some legacy characters that were favorites are absent here. I struggled with some of the new POVs until the plot and pacing took off in such a way that it didn't matter.
Overall very good book and I'm excited to read the final 2 entries in the series.
Read
June 26, 2022A thrill ride and a bloody conflict that builds momentum from start to finish. Exemplary military fantasy with a broad scope and in depth excellence across the boards, from tactics to the fog of war in a broadscale conflict, seen through the eyes of well rounded characters.
Adrian Tchaikovsky has accomplished a master work - a war of industry and magic with innovation, verve, technical invention and detail - and that rare quality for martial oriented fiction - characters with depth, quirks, and true heart.
The qualities on display in this series is astonishing - every facet created with care and detail from the minute aspects of character, to their growth, changes and evolving views, to the intricacy of a world of such imaginative scope, the complete tapestry is breath taking.
This series is an underrated fantasy gem from a formidably adept imagination!
Adrian Tchaikovsky has accomplished a master work - a war of industry and magic with innovation, verve, technical invention and detail - and that rare quality for martial oriented fiction - characters with depth, quirks, and true heart.
The qualities on display in this series is astonishing - every facet created with care and detail from the minute aspects of character, to their growth, changes and evolving views, to the intricacy of a world of such imaginative scope, the complete tapestry is breath taking.
This series is an underrated fantasy gem from a formidably adept imagination!
December 24, 2012
This is the eigth book set in the Apt world, so the review is addressed mostly to those already familiar with the story. For the other readers, you should start at the beginning: you'll discover one of the most imaginative and energetic epics currently being published. I have been a fan from the start, and the latest book sits well with the overall quality of the storytelling and the incredible richness of the setting. Briefly, the Apt world is populated by humanoid nations, each borrowing some insect characteristic / aptitude that determines their place in society and the nature of their culture: Beatles are stocky and industrious, Wasps can fly and sting and are generally violent and impulsive; Bees are hard working, Moths like the shadows and the ancient mysteries; Spiders are treacherous, Flies are small and fast and sociable, and so on for at least another two dozen kinden.
The conflict is basically between the expanding Wasp Empire and the city states alliance around Collegium - center of academic study and technological research. This eigth book is in fact a return to the positions at the start of Empire of Black and Gold with the Wasps attacking the city of Sarn and threatening the whole Lowlands. The reboot vibe is accentuated by the introduction of a lot of new characters, including a youthfull quartet of student fighters in Collegium echoing the adventures of of the original group Cheerwell-Totho-Salma-Tynisa. Also new: a couple of spies on both sides of the conflict, an assassin with conflicted loyalties, a Wasp General and his Spyder counterpart. What has changed in a dramatic way since the first war is the technology, with the focus in this book on airplanes. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and Tchaikovsky has done his research well into the nature of aerial tactics, enough for the book to merit comparisons to the historical events of the Battle for Britain in WWII, while maintaining enough original concepts to avoid being called derivative. I loved the detailed descriptions of dogfights and the book was, as usual, a page turner that after a slower start gained enough momentum in later chapters to become a speeding train without brakes. But, since I mentioned technology, I should also mention that this was the most difficult part for my suspension of disbelief to function. For one thing, progress is much too fast, with about five centuries of military development crammed into a decade of storytelling: from bows and arrows, siege walls and trebuchets, to machine guns (snapbows) , heavy tanks (sentinels) , large caliber cannons, targetting computers, fighter planes and bomber squadrons. Few of these machines are actually viable : machine guns powered by compressed air, tanks on legs instead of tracks, airplanes with wind-up clockwork engines. In this particular case, I believe the effort for originality led to some hard to swallow engineering features.
The Inapt part of the series worked much better for me, proving that I am curiously more open to magic than to science in my fantasy reading. Although the Inapt chapters are few in this volume, and are focused mostly on the Wasp Empress Seda, the developments look promising for the next books, where I expect the technological overtones of this one to be more balanced with mysteries and hidden powers. I would also like to see a return of some of my favorite characters that have been ignored in favor of concentrating almost exclusively on the airplanes and their pilots.
In general, the author is really good about creating likable characters and controlling a very complex plot, but I have a small gripe about The Air War and I can't let it pass. I've noted this problem with other big epics, so it's not particular to the Apt universe, and it's basically about rising the odds against the heroes and piling misfortune after misfortune on them in order to make their victory so much sweeter in the end. Not so much that any character in Shadows of the Apt is immune from injury or death, but when the chances of victory are so slim as to be non-existent, the writer would be forced to pull a 'deux-et-machina' out of his magic hat, and it sorts of detracts from the credibility already strained by the technological wishful thinking. In this particular case, I didn't mind so much the device as the poor cloaking of the twist, made rather obvious well in advance of its deployment. What's more, when you already have tens of thousands of deaths in one of the early books of the series, how much more can you raise the stakes? Go for millions? Go for WMD? Go for the ubiquitous end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it cataclysm?
Despite these small critical comments, I really enjoyed the ride, and the Series remains one of my top five fantasy epics. I can't wait for the next one to hit the stores.
September 17, 2025
[3.5/5 stars] After two somewhat tangent novels, it’s nice to be back with what feels like a main storyline… and the beginning of an end-of-series arc.
It has taken me a couple of years to get to this point in the series, and although many of the characters are different from where we first started, the overall atmosphere and vibes and “fix“ that I get from reading an Apt book is going strong. I love the world building and have a lot of emotional investment on seeing how the story ends.
As a sidenote, I was realizing through this book that I’m confused on what it actually means to be “Apt”. I think it’s backwards than what I thought it was.
Anyways…
I’ll admit, I could be a little more invested if we’d stayed with some of the early characters a tad longer. It’s one of those situations where a new POV is introduced every couple hundred pages, and then their stories slowly start to become more prominent. Before long, you only have a small page count dedicated to the original core cast. I tend to latch on to early characters, and by the time I figured out that I needed to pay more attention to the new POVs because they were more than just passing, it was a too late to garner investment for them. So at this point in the series, I am more reading to find out what happens to who’s left of the OG people, and a little less so to see what happens to these new people. I have only just so much capacity of shits to give.
All that said, the series has felt immersive, expansive, and wildly creative, and I cannot wait to finish things out. The next book is shaping up to be very exciting, indeed.
Recommendations: if you like the first book Empire in Black and Gold, you’re pretty much in for a solid ten book series of enjoyable stuff. Give that one a try – it was one of the strongest introductions I’ve ever read and easily one of my favorite examples of creative world building. If you’d like to taste-test the author’s fantasy works first, pick up Guns of Dawn (a standalone).
Thank you to my Patrons: Dave, Katrin, Frank, Jen, Sonja, Staci, Kat, Betsy, Eliss, Mike, Elizabeth, Bee, Tracey, Poochtee and Kinsey! <3
Find me on Booktube at: The Obsessive Bookseller
Via The Obsessive Bookseller at www.NikiHawkes.com
Other books you might like:
It has taken me a couple of years to get to this point in the series, and although many of the characters are different from where we first started, the overall atmosphere and vibes and “fix“ that I get from reading an Apt book is going strong. I love the world building and have a lot of emotional investment on seeing how the story ends.
As a sidenote, I was realizing through this book that I’m confused on what it actually means to be “Apt”. I think it’s backwards than what I thought it was.
Anyways…
I’ll admit, I could be a little more invested if we’d stayed with some of the early characters a tad longer. It’s one of those situations where a new POV is introduced every couple hundred pages, and then their stories slowly start to become more prominent. Before long, you only have a small page count dedicated to the original core cast. I tend to latch on to early characters, and by the time I figured out that I needed to pay more attention to the new POVs because they were more than just passing, it was a too late to garner investment for them. So at this point in the series, I am more reading to find out what happens to who’s left of the OG people, and a little less so to see what happens to these new people. I have only just so much capacity of shits to give.
All that said, the series has felt immersive, expansive, and wildly creative, and I cannot wait to finish things out. The next book is shaping up to be very exciting, indeed.
Recommendations: if you like the first book Empire in Black and Gold, you’re pretty much in for a solid ten book series of enjoyable stuff. Give that one a try – it was one of the strongest introductions I’ve ever read and easily one of my favorite examples of creative world building. If you’d like to taste-test the author’s fantasy works first, pick up Guns of Dawn (a standalone).
Thank you to my Patrons: Dave, Katrin, Frank, Jen, Sonja, Staci, Kat, Betsy, Eliss, Mike, Elizabeth, Bee, Tracey, Poochtee and Kinsey! <3
Find me on Booktube at: The Obsessive Bookseller
Via The Obsessive Bookseller at www.NikiHawkes.com
Other books you might like:
June 12, 2018
4 Stars
8 books in and the series is still going strong. The Air War continues to deepen and expand the series while delivering great entertainment.
The war has started again. The conflict built towards in the last few books erupts in The Air War, pitting the Wasps against the Lowlands once more. After being beaten back and forced to settle rebellions within the Empire, the Wasps push west, seeking to take the Lowland cities that have defied them once already.
After 3 books that focused on previously unseen areas in the world the author has created, The Air War brings things back to where it all started. The Lowlands. The plot is fairly straightforward but is executed with great skill. There is significantly more action in this book than in the last several, and Tchaikovsky shows again how well he writes large scale battles. A few scenes toward the end were particularly good.
As he has in the previous books, he also introduces new characters. Several of them were memorable, and I hope to see more of them in the future. We get to see a number of returning characters as well, several of whom are much different than when they were first introduced. In a few cases, those changes see characters move in unexpected directions. I think Tchaikovsky does a fantastic job of showing the human cost of war, not just in the lives lost but the change war brings to those that live through it. I also really enjoy that he continues to introduce characters on both sides of the conflict. It gives a real depth to the events and adds what I think is a realistic and sobering aspect to the war, showing that good and evil people exist on both sides.
Tchaikovsky also continues to show incredible imagination as he portrays the impact of burgeoning technology and how it continues to change the nature of war. There was one moment that seemed a bit convenient but it’s fascinating to how the world is being changed by technology innovated for the purpose of combat.
The ending is almost a bit abrupt, leaving readers wondering what is going to happen next. Only 2 books left in the series....
8 books in and the series is still going strong. The Air War continues to deepen and expand the series while delivering great entertainment.
The war has started again. The conflict built towards in the last few books erupts in The Air War, pitting the Wasps against the Lowlands once more. After being beaten back and forced to settle rebellions within the Empire, the Wasps push west, seeking to take the Lowland cities that have defied them once already.
After 3 books that focused on previously unseen areas in the world the author has created, The Air War brings things back to where it all started. The Lowlands. The plot is fairly straightforward but is executed with great skill. There is significantly more action in this book than in the last several, and Tchaikovsky shows again how well he writes large scale battles. A few scenes toward the end were particularly good.
As he has in the previous books, he also introduces new characters. Several of them were memorable, and I hope to see more of them in the future. We get to see a number of returning characters as well, several of whom are much different than when they were first introduced. In a few cases, those changes see characters move in unexpected directions. I think Tchaikovsky does a fantastic job of showing the human cost of war, not just in the lives lost but the change war brings to those that live through it. I also really enjoy that he continues to introduce characters on both sides of the conflict. It gives a real depth to the events and adds what I think is a realistic and sobering aspect to the war, showing that good and evil people exist on both sides.
Tchaikovsky also continues to show incredible imagination as he portrays the impact of burgeoning technology and how it continues to change the nature of war. There was one moment that seemed a bit convenient but it’s fascinating to how the world is being changed by technology innovated for the purpose of combat.
The ending is almost a bit abrupt, leaving readers wondering what is going to happen next. Only 2 books left in the series....
November 26, 2023
So it's back to the large-scale battles as the Wasp Empire relaunches its campaign of conquest. A host of new characters are introduced, all to great effect, to fight alongside the existing cast in another fine instalment of this excellent series.
July 7, 2025
This is the eighth book in the series and has a big shift in the story, it mainly focuses on air power within the different factions and races. The book blends war, politics, and personal struggles in a world where insect-themed races live with both magic and machines.
The flying machines are central to the plot which is slow but considering the amount of detail there is to explain it’s easy to see why. Tchaikovsky does a great job of showing how technology affects people, and is also a master of showing several different points of view throughout, including returning characters and new ones. Again the book handles large-scale battles and personal stories side by side wonderfully. You are almost able to feel the scale of war, but also care about the individuals and what they are going through.
The writing is direct and vivid, making it easy to picture air and city attacks without getting lost in too much detail. The tone is more serious than some earlier books and while this makes the book powerful, it can also feel heavy. There's less humour, and some parts are quite dark. The world building is exceptional it's very detailed without feeling like it's just filling pages, I love how he does this .
Overall it’s a slow paced, intense edition with awesome world building, as usual, and the characters are so very realistic you can’t help but love all of them. It’s a strong and thoughtful one that shows how far both the world and its people have come, and how much they’ve lost along the way. While this particular book didn’t grab me like the others due to the flying aspect it was still a wonderful story.
The flying machines are central to the plot which is slow but considering the amount of detail there is to explain it’s easy to see why. Tchaikovsky does a great job of showing how technology affects people, and is also a master of showing several different points of view throughout, including returning characters and new ones. Again the book handles large-scale battles and personal stories side by side wonderfully. You are almost able to feel the scale of war, but also care about the individuals and what they are going through.
The writing is direct and vivid, making it easy to picture air and city attacks without getting lost in too much detail. The tone is more serious than some earlier books and while this makes the book powerful, it can also feel heavy. There's less humour, and some parts are quite dark. The world building is exceptional it's very detailed without feeling like it's just filling pages, I love how he does this .
Overall it’s a slow paced, intense edition with awesome world building, as usual, and the characters are so very realistic you can’t help but love all of them. It’s a strong and thoughtful one that shows how far both the world and its people have come, and how much they’ve lost along the way. While this particular book didn’t grab me like the others due to the flying aspect it was still a wonderful story.
October 16, 2012
‘The Air War’ is the latest look at aviation fantasy in the Shadows of the Apt which comprises all the elements typical of this format from kamikaze characters, fierce air battles, and spiralling suspense at G-Force speed. Tchaikovsky’s first foray into air battle was in ‘Blood of the Mantis’ which tested the turbulence without going to the extremes of full scale warfare across multiple cities as depicted in ‘The Air War’. From Solarno, to Myna, all the way to Collegium, the cities of the Lowlands and environs – no sky is safe as the Wasp initiated war extends its boundaries with devastating results.
Taki and the fly-kinden rise to greater prominence than previous instalments with a number of characters contributing heavily towards the story that previously held minor or no roles. This helped to keep the series fresh and provided a means to expand upon the world building and deep characterisation of those who inhabit the Lowlands and environs. There is a not so subtle nod at the recreation of the successful band of mixed kinden popularised in ‘Empire of Black and Gold’ and ‘Dragonfly Falling’ with Straessa (ant/spider half-breed), Eujen (Bettle), Gerethwy (woodlouse), and Averic (wasp) the new breed of students at Collegium. Despite being new characters, Tchaikovsky does a great job at developing and making the reader care about them. Eujen is probably the most interesting, almost a younger Stenwold-like idealist.
The early battle in Myna is reminiscent of the ferocious land based encounters in ‘Dragonfly Falling’, with the exception being Myna’s battle is a mixture of ground and airborne assault. Tchaikovsky is a master of detailing combat through flawless narrative and picture perfect realism. While Collegium itself is touted as a place of peace and intellectual stimulus yet at its core, it’s politicking threatens to rot its very foundation. In an attempt to maintain a semblance of normalcy amidst times of war by clinging to order and bureaucracy, Stenwold himself undergoes an interesting change of perception.
There are many good things in 'The Air War' – the highlights of which are primarily focused on the full frontal warfare and interesting characterisation of key playerS on both side of the confrontation. I found myself cheering equally for fly-kinden wasp sympathisers (Pingge) just as much as I did Taki and Laszlo. I also liked the reference to ‘Makerist’ as a form of political view. ‘The Air War’ is building towards something big. Empress Seda, while not playing a large role, does lay the foundation for further interesting plot threads to unfold in future instalments. I cant wait for more. 5 stars
More information about the Shadows of the Apt series can be found at this wiki (which is also mentioned in the acknowledgements section of ‘The Air War’). http://shadowsoftheapt.wikia.com/wiki...
My review for ‘The Sea Watch’ (book six) can be found here: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
My review for ‘Heirs of the Blade’ (book seven) can be found here. http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
Taki and the fly-kinden rise to greater prominence than previous instalments with a number of characters contributing heavily towards the story that previously held minor or no roles. This helped to keep the series fresh and provided a means to expand upon the world building and deep characterisation of those who inhabit the Lowlands and environs. There is a not so subtle nod at the recreation of the successful band of mixed kinden popularised in ‘Empire of Black and Gold’ and ‘Dragonfly Falling’ with Straessa (ant/spider half-breed), Eujen (Bettle), Gerethwy (woodlouse), and Averic (wasp) the new breed of students at Collegium. Despite being new characters, Tchaikovsky does a great job at developing and making the reader care about them. Eujen is probably the most interesting, almost a younger Stenwold-like idealist.
The early battle in Myna is reminiscent of the ferocious land based encounters in ‘Dragonfly Falling’, with the exception being Myna’s battle is a mixture of ground and airborne assault. Tchaikovsky is a master of detailing combat through flawless narrative and picture perfect realism. While Collegium itself is touted as a place of peace and intellectual stimulus yet at its core, it’s politicking threatens to rot its very foundation. In an attempt to maintain a semblance of normalcy amidst times of war by clinging to order and bureaucracy, Stenwold himself undergoes an interesting change of perception.
There are many good things in 'The Air War' – the highlights of which are primarily focused on the full frontal warfare and interesting characterisation of key playerS on both side of the confrontation. I found myself cheering equally for fly-kinden wasp sympathisers (Pingge) just as much as I did Taki and Laszlo. I also liked the reference to ‘Makerist’ as a form of political view. ‘The Air War’ is building towards something big. Empress Seda, while not playing a large role, does lay the foundation for further interesting plot threads to unfold in future instalments. I cant wait for more. 5 stars
More information about the Shadows of the Apt series can be found at this wiki (which is also mentioned in the acknowledgements section of ‘The Air War’). http://shadowsoftheapt.wikia.com/wiki...
My review for ‘The Sea Watch’ (book six) can be found here: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
My review for ‘Heirs of the Blade’ (book seven) can be found here. http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
August 27, 2012
3 Stars
This was one of my most anticipated books of 2012. Adrian Tchaikovsky is one of my favorite authors today, and The Shadows of the Apt series is my favorite series. With the previous books, Tchaikovsky has consistently demonstrated his skills at developing and maintaining a massively epic story line. These are some of the most original fantasy / science fiction / steampunk hybrids one could read. The world building, character development, and depth of the storyline are top notch. The Shadows of the Apt series is simply an epic story that should not be missed.
Taken on its own The Air War is a fast, fun, high flying, and steampunk-esque fantasy read. It works in that it further develops the main story line, the reunification of the Empire of the Wasps, and the power gathering of the Empress. Stenwold is a major focus in this book and that is fine by me as the maker is an amazing man. There are many amazing action scenes that take place in the sky. Air battles, crazy flying, and cool steampunk air machines. This book has a great starting point and climaxes well, which in turn gives it some standalone appeal. There are many points of view, some plot twists, and some future threads revealed.
The problem that I personally had with this novel is that my two favorite characters, and unarguably the series major center, are not in this book at all. This normally would not be an issue for me in any other series, but Che and Thalric are far too magnetic, interesting, and unforgettable to be without. They are two of my very favorite protagonists and their relationship is the heart and soul of this incredible series. At book #8 now, we the reader have too much invested in these two characters to not be given more about them. It is due to these two people that several books in this series have finished atop my favorite of the year.
I cannot emphasize enough as to how serious I am when I say that Fantasy readers should not miss out on this epic series. It ranks among my very favorite and Tchaikovsky has really created something special. Please go out and buy book one and join me in my love for the insect kinden and all that is the Shadows of the Apt series.
This was one of my most anticipated books of 2012. Adrian Tchaikovsky is one of my favorite authors today, and The Shadows of the Apt series is my favorite series. With the previous books, Tchaikovsky has consistently demonstrated his skills at developing and maintaining a massively epic story line. These are some of the most original fantasy / science fiction / steampunk hybrids one could read. The world building, character development, and depth of the storyline are top notch. The Shadows of the Apt series is simply an epic story that should not be missed.
Taken on its own The Air War is a fast, fun, high flying, and steampunk-esque fantasy read. It works in that it further develops the main story line, the reunification of the Empire of the Wasps, and the power gathering of the Empress. Stenwold is a major focus in this book and that is fine by me as the maker is an amazing man. There are many amazing action scenes that take place in the sky. Air battles, crazy flying, and cool steampunk air machines. This book has a great starting point and climaxes well, which in turn gives it some standalone appeal. There are many points of view, some plot twists, and some future threads revealed.
The problem that I personally had with this novel is that my two favorite characters, and unarguably the series major center, are not in this book at all. This normally would not be an issue for me in any other series, but Che and Thalric are far too magnetic, interesting, and unforgettable to be without. They are two of my very favorite protagonists and their relationship is the heart and soul of this incredible series. At book #8 now, we the reader have too much invested in these two characters to not be given more about them. It is due to these two people that several books in this series have finished atop my favorite of the year.
I cannot emphasize enough as to how serious I am when I say that Fantasy readers should not miss out on this epic series. It ranks among my very favorite and Tchaikovsky has really created something special. Please go out and buy book one and join me in my love for the insect kinden and all that is the Shadows of the Apt series.
May 1, 2021
Историята на Равнините и Империята продължава с размах и мащаб. Чайковски поема риск, връщайки сюжета отчасти в изходната точка - Колегиум и Империята се сблъскват повторно. Гениaлните мозъци на двете враждуващи сили подаряват на фентъзи света автоматизация и наченки на компютри, нови самолети и даже ПВО!
От многото гледни точки и локации изключително силна и оправдаваща цялата книга е тази с Империята, нейната отишла извън почти всичко човешко Императрица, призрак, един отчаян и амбициозен генерал, нови осородни пилоти с необичайни способности и един шармантен и отлично дегизиран убиец. В тази изпипана сюжетна линия с цялата и пъстрота и мрачна нееднозначност просто няма слабо място!
Не е така за съжаление със сюжетната линия на Стенуолд и неговия подход “а-ла-Чърчил за млада публика”. В началото действието се влачи пред заспиване и се въртят безсмислени повторения. Набира сила доста след средата, когато напрежението и един луд професор изправят всички на нокти.
Третата основна сюжетна линия - на пилоти и соларнийци е излишна в по-голямата си част. Ге��оите са схематични, макар и - като защитници на родина и ценности - да са “героични” (макар да се мяркат и няколко шпиони). Но в болшинството си, както са представени, са тотално излишни, особено бледите и дразнещи подобия на първоначалната четворка герои от първата книга.
Тук ми липсват и трима основни герои, умишлено невключени, за да скочат от нищото по-нататък, и това допълнително дразни.
На Чайковски някой трябва да му подари косачка за подрязване на сюжетни линии. Отплесва се малко произволно, макар по сравнение с други негови колеги да е доста стегнат. Но дори и той се задъхва в излишъци, които поне имат някаква връзка със сюжета.
Ако том 7 и 8 бяха една книга, изчистена от всичките си забавящи излишества, щеше да е отлично, но пък нямаше да се постигне квотата от 10 тома.
Да видим приближаващия край, когато основните персонажи ще се посъберат.
3,5 звезди
От многото гледни точки и локации изключително силна и оправдаваща цялата книга е тази с Империята, нейната отишла извън почти всичко човешко Императрица, призрак, един отчаян и амбициозен генерал, нови осородни пилоти с необичайни способности и един шармантен и отлично дегизиран убиец. В тази изпипана сюжетна линия с цялата и пъстрота и мрачна нееднозначност просто няма слабо място!
Не е така за съжаление със сюжетната линия на Стенуолд и неговия подход “а-ла-Чърчил за млада публика”. В началото действието се влачи пред заспиване и се въртят безсмислени повторения. Набира сила доста след средата, когато напрежението и един луд професор изправят всички на нокти.
Третата основна сюжетна линия - на пилоти и соларнийци е излишна в по-голямата си част. Ге��оите са схематични, макар и - като защитници на родина и ценности - да са “героични” (макар да се мяркат и няколко шпиони). Но в болшинството си, както са представени, са тотално излишни, особено бледите и дразнещи подобия на първоначалната четворка герои от първата книга.
Тук ми липсват и трима основни герои, умишлено невключени, за да скочат от нищото по-нататък, и това допълнително дразни.
На Чайковски някой трябва да му подари косачка за подрязване на сюжетни линии. Отплесва се малко произволно, макар по сравнение с други негови колеги да е доста стегнат. Но дори и той се задъхва в излишъци, които поне имат някаква връзка със сюжета.
Ако том 7 и 8 бяха една книга, изчистена от всичките си забавящи излишества, щеше да е отлично, но пък нямаше да се постигне квотата от 10 тома.
Да видим приближаващия край, когато основните персонажи ще се посъберат.
3,5 звезди
June 16, 2025
The air battles and technological arms race were incredible.
August 13, 2012
(aug 3) I read some 100 pages from Air War and besides being the superb book one expected, there are some surprises in so far there are quite a lot of new characters who seem destined for starring roles - a new "tetrad" of special Collegium (more or less as, well, would not want to spoil it but there is a scene that strongly reminds one of how we met the original 4, Che, Tynisa, Totho and Salma...) youngsters, a cool Assassin Bug kinden on a mission, a Wasp kinden spy master with a secret...
The lack of Che, Tynisa and Thalric that I was a little disappointed about, is at least for now more than compensated by the new guys and girls
(aug 5) Finished this last night actually and now rereading it but one can only say wow as Mr. Tchaikovsky manages to keep the series fresh while juggling all the freight from the previous 7 books; Seda just takes over whenever she is on the page and The Seal of the Worm (title of the last book!) makes its quietly menacing appearance while the ending is not unlike the one from Dragonfly, at a good stopping point but with a clear TBC stamped on the last page; next book (War Master's gate) cannot come too soon...
Full review for Tuesday (Aug 7) and I plan to either c/p it here or link it depending on length
A little bit later than planned but the full FBC review is up; as it is long, but in essence it says what i said above within a lot of context regarding the series, 8th volume and all, just the link here
http://fantasybookcritic.blogspot.com...
The lack of Che, Tynisa and Thalric that I was a little disappointed about, is at least for now more than compensated by the new guys and girls
(aug 5) Finished this last night actually and now rereading it but one can only say wow as Mr. Tchaikovsky manages to keep the series fresh while juggling all the freight from the previous 7 books; Seda just takes over whenever she is on the page and The Seal of the Worm (title of the last book!) makes its quietly menacing appearance while the ending is not unlike the one from Dragonfly, at a good stopping point but with a clear TBC stamped on the last page; next book (War Master's gate) cannot come too soon...
Full review for Tuesday (Aug 7) and I plan to either c/p it here or link it depending on length
A little bit later than planned but the full FBC review is up; as it is long, but in essence it says what i said above within a lot of context regarding the series, 8th volume and all, just the link here
http://fantasybookcritic.blogspot.com...
November 15, 2021
Over 600 pages of non-stop nail-biting action, masterfully written.
When I finished I needed some relaxing time to get my breath back.
Shadows of the Apt certainly is one of the best Fantasy series out there!
When I finished I needed some relaxing time to get my breath back.
Shadows of the Apt certainly is one of the best Fantasy series out there!
September 30, 2013
Originally posted at http://thebookplank.blogspot.com/2013...
Having finally been able to catch up with this series with Heirs of the Blade last month I was thrilled to continue the story once again in The Air War. So far the Shadows of the Apt series hasn’t let me down once and Adrian Tchaikovsky just keeps on amazing me with his rich and interesting world and the characters that inhabit it. Heirs of the Blade showed several piece of the storyline that will play an important in the finale of the series and I thought that they would be more explored in The Air War, but this isn’t really the case. The Air War focuses on revisiting several events and happening that went on earlier in the series, but this time explores them in the fullest detail and though The Air War isn’t a direct follow up of book #7, it didn’t let me down again. Because by this revisiting of the several earlier events, you get a much better grip on the threat that the Empire imposes but also gives a better grip on the technology and everything that makes the world goes round. This one of the strongest points of the series. Adrian Tchaikovsky keeps on taking the series further with new material but keeps to the true nature of the story with using earlier explored things. This is what makes epic fantasy. Top material.
With already the eight book in the series I will try to keep spoilers to a minimum and give a general description!
The Air War starts off with a completely different cast than what we were used in the last book. Most of the characters that have been focused on aren’t making a big appearance. Che, Thalric and Tynisa won’t make an appearance and Seda character only takes up a small part of the book. First off, the book is divided into two parts. The first is called “The Calm” now I could immediately guess where this might be aimed for... because there is also the calm before the... yes that’s right Storm. And the second part is called that. The Air War’s titles is self explanatory and this where the focus lies within the book, where the warring threats first occurred on ground, they are now translated to the skies. The aspect of air warfare was explored in a few books back already but now come to full color in The Air War, lying a heavy emphasis on a the steampunk and technology of the book.
The first part of the book focuses a lot on setting the storyline up for the second part of the book. Introducing the new characters and on the first go letting it seem that everything is just normal in Collegium, showing a new quartet of students taking several tests but on the other hand taking place in a different place you have the slow rise of the Empire. This way of exposing the storyline was done in a great way. Several of the storylines that you follow include Taki, who starts of the story and finds out that the Empire is amassing a new way of aerial warfare with new technology. Laszlo, who act as an agent for Stenwold maker in the city of Solarno, an Assassin Bug kinden who has the power to shape shift and is tasked with assassinating Seda, Seda herself, and that of Stenwold Maker. It was a solid decisions to reintroduce several past characters, Adrian Tchaikovsky’s characterization is strong and when I just read the names of several character, immediately several images and their backgrounds directly leapt to mind. From these different storyline most of them all converge into one in the end, as you have the defenders of Collegium trying to fend off the war with the Empire and the point of view of the Empire trying to invade and achieve what couldn’t e done earlier. I really liked how Adrian Tchaikovsky showed both sides of the story as this gives you a great feeling for several characters and even though Stenwold and his crew are the good guys in the series and the Empire the bad guys, it didn’t automatically wanted me to root for Stenwold. Adrian Tahckovsky does a great job in highlighting both sides.
Like I mentioned above Seda doesn’t take a strong role in this book but there is the occasional scene. And what does come to show in her is that it takes place after Heirs of the Blade. So I am hoping to see a bit of a catch up for Che’s and Thalric’s story in the book to follow. But that said. Seda’s part is cool, well cooler than cool. Because we all know what the last book in the series is called right? Seal of the Worm. Yes. Now that Seda is struggling with being Inapt, having a heavy weight on her shoulders to lead the Wasps to victory, she is contemplating using deadly magics. And this part really bring the worst in her to front but possibly the best of the series. Adrian Tchiakovsky starts to drop hints about what the Seal of the Worm is. And this is really something that got my hopes up when I read the first word. Especially given the fact that one of Seda’s advisers, Gjegvey, is telling her not to and why. But Seda is determined to see her plan for total domination, with no matter what costs. But what makes her character really strong is that Adrian Tchaikovsky shows her on one moment in a very fragile way and on the other moment determined, viscous and harsh. With the first hint of the danger of the Seal of the Worm shown in The Air War starts to give a promise a grande ending.
The overall storyline was solidly constructed from start finish, and even though you are already in the eight book of the series, Adrian Tchaikosvky doesn’t falter at all with what he has already shown in his narration in the first seven books. The story doest fall in a drag and he keeps on introducing twists and turns to really get you fired up about the proposed events will unfold. He keeps you on the edge of your seat and sharp about everything, from down to the battles to the relation amongst several characters. The way that the aerial combat is being described is just done in an amazingly rich way, like you were just co-piloting a plane together with Taki and the other aces. Good stuff. The ending of the story, with Collegium having fended of the Empire once again, does leave a direct entry for War Master’s Gate, and with this Adrian Tchaikosvky does show that the Empire isn’t bested with one loss. They are determined to win, to conquer and to destroy. The Empire is shown in this everpresent, everdetermined dangerous and nefarious way. They will never give up, they will never step down and there is only one solution...
The Air War continues the ever solid tradition of The Shadows of the Apt series. By revisiting earlier proposed idea’s and letting them come to full show in The Air War Adrian Tchaikosvky really shows that he is on top of his game with writing Epic Fantasy and knows how to build a series and an interesting and engaging world. The story starts off with a slow exposition of the direction of the story, but when the Storm hits, shows chaos, battles, and much much more. It’s like I said with Heirs of the Blade this is a series to read. And this might turn into a fan boy review, well frankly I don’t care. It’s extraordinary.
Having finally been able to catch up with this series with Heirs of the Blade last month I was thrilled to continue the story once again in The Air War. So far the Shadows of the Apt series hasn’t let me down once and Adrian Tchaikovsky just keeps on amazing me with his rich and interesting world and the characters that inhabit it. Heirs of the Blade showed several piece of the storyline that will play an important in the finale of the series and I thought that they would be more explored in The Air War, but this isn’t really the case. The Air War focuses on revisiting several events and happening that went on earlier in the series, but this time explores them in the fullest detail and though The Air War isn’t a direct follow up of book #7, it didn’t let me down again. Because by this revisiting of the several earlier events, you get a much better grip on the threat that the Empire imposes but also gives a better grip on the technology and everything that makes the world goes round. This one of the strongest points of the series. Adrian Tchaikovsky keeps on taking the series further with new material but keeps to the true nature of the story with using earlier explored things. This is what makes epic fantasy. Top material.
With already the eight book in the series I will try to keep spoilers to a minimum and give a general description!
The Air War starts off with a completely different cast than what we were used in the last book. Most of the characters that have been focused on aren’t making a big appearance. Che, Thalric and Tynisa won’t make an appearance and Seda character only takes up a small part of the book. First off, the book is divided into two parts. The first is called “The Calm” now I could immediately guess where this might be aimed for... because there is also the calm before the... yes that’s right Storm. And the second part is called that. The Air War’s titles is self explanatory and this where the focus lies within the book, where the warring threats first occurred on ground, they are now translated to the skies. The aspect of air warfare was explored in a few books back already but now come to full color in The Air War, lying a heavy emphasis on a the steampunk and technology of the book.
The first part of the book focuses a lot on setting the storyline up for the second part of the book. Introducing the new characters and on the first go letting it seem that everything is just normal in Collegium, showing a new quartet of students taking several tests but on the other hand taking place in a different place you have the slow rise of the Empire. This way of exposing the storyline was done in a great way. Several of the storylines that you follow include Taki, who starts of the story and finds out that the Empire is amassing a new way of aerial warfare with new technology. Laszlo, who act as an agent for Stenwold maker in the city of Solarno, an Assassin Bug kinden who has the power to shape shift and is tasked with assassinating Seda, Seda herself, and that of Stenwold Maker. It was a solid decisions to reintroduce several past characters, Adrian Tchaikovsky’s characterization is strong and when I just read the names of several character, immediately several images and their backgrounds directly leapt to mind. From these different storyline most of them all converge into one in the end, as you have the defenders of Collegium trying to fend off the war with the Empire and the point of view of the Empire trying to invade and achieve what couldn’t e done earlier. I really liked how Adrian Tchaikovsky showed both sides of the story as this gives you a great feeling for several characters and even though Stenwold and his crew are the good guys in the series and the Empire the bad guys, it didn’t automatically wanted me to root for Stenwold. Adrian Tahckovsky does a great job in highlighting both sides.
Like I mentioned above Seda doesn’t take a strong role in this book but there is the occasional scene. And what does come to show in her is that it takes place after Heirs of the Blade. So I am hoping to see a bit of a catch up for Che’s and Thalric’s story in the book to follow. But that said. Seda’s part is cool, well cooler than cool. Because we all know what the last book in the series is called right? Seal of the Worm. Yes. Now that Seda is struggling with being Inapt, having a heavy weight on her shoulders to lead the Wasps to victory, she is contemplating using deadly magics. And this part really bring the worst in her to front but possibly the best of the series. Adrian Tchiakovsky starts to drop hints about what the Seal of the Worm is. And this is really something that got my hopes up when I read the first word. Especially given the fact that one of Seda’s advisers, Gjegvey, is telling her not to and why. But Seda is determined to see her plan for total domination, with no matter what costs. But what makes her character really strong is that Adrian Tchaikovsky shows her on one moment in a very fragile way and on the other moment determined, viscous and harsh. With the first hint of the danger of the Seal of the Worm shown in The Air War starts to give a promise a grande ending.
The overall storyline was solidly constructed from start finish, and even though you are already in the eight book of the series, Adrian Tchaikosvky doesn’t falter at all with what he has already shown in his narration in the first seven books. The story doest fall in a drag and he keeps on introducing twists and turns to really get you fired up about the proposed events will unfold. He keeps you on the edge of your seat and sharp about everything, from down to the battles to the relation amongst several characters. The way that the aerial combat is being described is just done in an amazingly rich way, like you were just co-piloting a plane together with Taki and the other aces. Good stuff. The ending of the story, with Collegium having fended of the Empire once again, does leave a direct entry for War Master’s Gate, and with this Adrian Tchaikosvky does show that the Empire isn’t bested with one loss. They are determined to win, to conquer and to destroy. The Empire is shown in this everpresent, everdetermined dangerous and nefarious way. They will never give up, they will never step down and there is only one solution...
The Air War continues the ever solid tradition of The Shadows of the Apt series. By revisiting earlier proposed idea’s and letting them come to full show in The Air War Adrian Tchaikosvky really shows that he is on top of his game with writing Epic Fantasy and knows how to build a series and an interesting and engaging world. The story starts off with a slow exposition of the direction of the story, but when the Storm hits, shows chaos, battles, and much much more. It’s like I said with Heirs of the Blade this is a series to read. And this might turn into a fan boy review, well frankly I don’t care. It’s extraordinary.
June 14, 2013
The most common problem I have with the series is still present here (albeit not as extreme as in previous installments), apart from the occasional “my species doth protest too much” individuals who stray from the norm every person depending on race and Kinden is defined by what they are rather than who they are; every beetle is passive, clumsy and greedy, every wasp has a hair-trigger temper and is misogynistic to boot, every mantis is nuts, every scorpion a brute, every ant is xenophobic, violent, martial and has no personality so to speak of, every fly will steal anything that’s not nailed down, every moth is a creepy luddite, every spider is a total sociopath…actually lets discuss that for a second. They seem to have this “free pass” in the eyes of the rest of the world for being these impossibly clever chess-masters when actually they’re all just sociopathic jerks who habitually try to undermine society for shits and giggles…a culture like theirs should never have developed.
The blatant racism and superiority complex every city-state/Kinden/culture has, is supposed to be portrayed as “wrong” but it’s technically not racism when every culture does indeed adhere to all the negative stereotypes about them. I’m Irish so I’m guessing if I were a character in Tchaikovsky's works I’d be the freckled, red-headed drunken catholic relief character who only existed to get herself into comic situations because of her own stupidity…and I take exception to that…I’m blonde….but I digress, this writing style makes all the various sides just as bad as each other and frankly I can’t bring myself to give a damn about any of them. The only difference between every other culture and the “supreme bad guys” the wasps, as far as I can tell is that the wasps seem to be winning. My tip? Narrow down the number of Kinden you have or stop introducing new ones and give the existing ones some depth. Although at this stage it would take another eight books because of the number of Kinden he’s introduced…
Also for a steampunk technologically-advanced world why are they so damn insular? These are people who have invented guns, trains, bombs, steam-engines, submarines and freaking aeroplanes not to mention they have bloody superpowers which is always handy…and yet it’s only since the goddam war that they seem to ever realize that there are people beyond their own borders. Like, the various races are supposed to parallel real-world cultures and yet we were invading and conquering each other like it was going out of style during a time when the height of modern technology was the goddamn compass. It’s gotten to the point where the stupidity of every collective race is getting on my nerves, they’re all so…dumb…
Stenwold started out as a promising character, a couple of books ago…but now he has become a charactiure of the cliché it looked like he was going to subvert for a while. The man has no dimension to him whatsoever, “enemy of the wasps” is pretty much his defining characteristic, that this guy is considered the smart one in his world is a little worrying. I get that he’s lost so much that his anti-wasp crusade has eroded everything that once was Stenwold Maker but we never got to see the optimistic, energetic and naive youth he once was we are only told he was once like this.
Seda got some interesting emotional depth that I wasn't expecting, we learn that she’s still ruled by her own fear, or rather her fear of fear itself, her quest for power and taking over the world is not so much rooted in pure greed but rather a desperate almost childlike wish to conquer everything so nothing can ever hurt her again. This made her surprisingly sympathetic, ya know…murderous psychopath thing aside…
Once again most of the characters strike me as supremely selfish. Is this just me? I don’t know why but they seem to have little emotional depth or else the author is just bad at creating realistic interactions between characters without it seeming forced. Except Che and Thalric who sadly don’t feature…
The book also introduces a new quartet of characters, a young mixed-bag of college students that seem to parallel the original four, although they are infinitely more likable. what can I say, I loved them. I guess I’m a sucker for the underdogs; the original four are to these lot what the cool kids are to the guys playing dungeons and dragons at the lunch-table in the dark corner at the back of the cafeteria.Their friendships seem more genuine, thrust together because they are all on the peripherals of the insular and superior-minded collegium society, as opposed to being an ensemble of clichés including the suave sexy warrior, the handsome mysterious foreigner, the awkward dork who’s not actually that awkward and a genius who is constantly overlooked, sorry but their little group seemed so damn…artificial …they’re also older, or at least not explicitly revealed to be goddamned teenagers…Looks like Tchaikovsky is picking up a few tricks after all…I hope they feature prominently in the next books, maybe at the expense of Lazlo? Sorry, the guy just annoys me...
Also the apt vs. inapt thing, the “one group can do magic one can’t” thing is cool but the complete lack of understanding it’s just…too unbelievable, (and yeah that’s saying a lot about a story set in a steampunk world inhabited by super-powered insect-human hybrids)…it’d be fine if the magicians were hiding behind a masquerade, like say a werewolf in an urban fantasy book, but they go around openly calling themselves magicians and magic clearly exists in this world…if these Kinden really are human they should be able to understand both at least nominally, I have a colleague who works in the lab with me who believes in psychics and her head hasn’t imploded at the sheer paradoxical nature of it yet, coz you know humans are a bundle of contradictions we can believe in all sorts of stupid asynchronous crap. Similarly, an inapt-Kinden should be able to open a bloody door, my dog can open doors, hell, my cat can open doors…find me a moth big enough and I bet I could train it to open doors…but then again I’ve already mentioned how dumb I find most of the characters…
But all those irritating little details which I have come to accept are part of this series aside, they are fun and easy to read, just don’t think about it too hard. The quasi deaus ex machina at the end was a bit too contrived for my liking however…
The blatant racism and superiority complex every city-state/Kinden/culture has, is supposed to be portrayed as “wrong” but it’s technically not racism when every culture does indeed adhere to all the negative stereotypes about them. I’m Irish so I’m guessing if I were a character in Tchaikovsky's works I’d be the freckled, red-headed drunken catholic relief character who only existed to get herself into comic situations because of her own stupidity…and I take exception to that…I’m blonde….but I digress, this writing style makes all the various sides just as bad as each other and frankly I can’t bring myself to give a damn about any of them. The only difference between every other culture and the “supreme bad guys” the wasps, as far as I can tell is that the wasps seem to be winning. My tip? Narrow down the number of Kinden you have or stop introducing new ones and give the existing ones some depth. Although at this stage it would take another eight books because of the number of Kinden he’s introduced…
Also for a steampunk technologically-advanced world why are they so damn insular? These are people who have invented guns, trains, bombs, steam-engines, submarines and freaking aeroplanes not to mention they have bloody superpowers which is always handy…and yet it’s only since the goddam war that they seem to ever realize that there are people beyond their own borders. Like, the various races are supposed to parallel real-world cultures and yet we were invading and conquering each other like it was going out of style during a time when the height of modern technology was the goddamn compass. It’s gotten to the point where the stupidity of every collective race is getting on my nerves, they’re all so…dumb…
Stenwold started out as a promising character, a couple of books ago…but now he has become a charactiure of the cliché it looked like he was going to subvert for a while. The man has no dimension to him whatsoever, “enemy of the wasps” is pretty much his defining characteristic, that this guy is considered the smart one in his world is a little worrying. I get that he’s lost so much that his anti-wasp crusade has eroded everything that once was Stenwold Maker but we never got to see the optimistic, energetic and naive youth he once was we are only told he was once like this.
Seda got some interesting emotional depth that I wasn't expecting, we learn that she’s still ruled by her own fear, or rather her fear of fear itself, her quest for power and taking over the world is not so much rooted in pure greed but rather a desperate almost childlike wish to conquer everything so nothing can ever hurt her again. This made her surprisingly sympathetic, ya know…murderous psychopath thing aside…
Once again most of the characters strike me as supremely selfish. Is this just me? I don’t know why but they seem to have little emotional depth or else the author is just bad at creating realistic interactions between characters without it seeming forced. Except Che and Thalric who sadly don’t feature…
The book also introduces a new quartet of characters, a young mixed-bag of college students that seem to parallel the original four, although they are infinitely more likable. what can I say, I loved them. I guess I’m a sucker for the underdogs; the original four are to these lot what the cool kids are to the guys playing dungeons and dragons at the lunch-table in the dark corner at the back of the cafeteria.Their friendships seem more genuine, thrust together because they are all on the peripherals of the insular and superior-minded collegium society, as opposed to being an ensemble of clichés including the suave sexy warrior, the handsome mysterious foreigner, the awkward dork who’s not actually that awkward and a genius who is constantly overlooked, sorry but their little group seemed so damn…artificial …they’re also older, or at least not explicitly revealed to be goddamned teenagers…Looks like Tchaikovsky is picking up a few tricks after all…I hope they feature prominently in the next books, maybe at the expense of Lazlo? Sorry, the guy just annoys me...
Also the apt vs. inapt thing, the “one group can do magic one can’t” thing is cool but the complete lack of understanding it’s just…too unbelievable, (and yeah that’s saying a lot about a story set in a steampunk world inhabited by super-powered insect-human hybrids)…it’d be fine if the magicians were hiding behind a masquerade, like say a werewolf in an urban fantasy book, but they go around openly calling themselves magicians and magic clearly exists in this world…if these Kinden really are human they should be able to understand both at least nominally, I have a colleague who works in the lab with me who believes in psychics and her head hasn’t imploded at the sheer paradoxical nature of it yet, coz you know humans are a bundle of contradictions we can believe in all sorts of stupid asynchronous crap. Similarly, an inapt-Kinden should be able to open a bloody door, my dog can open doors, hell, my cat can open doors…find me a moth big enough and I bet I could train it to open doors…but then again I’ve already mentioned how dumb I find most of the characters…
But all those irritating little details which I have come to accept are part of this series aside, they are fun and easy to read, just don’t think about it too hard. The quasi deaus ex machina at the end was a bit too contrived for my liking however…
February 27, 2024
4.5 stars
Powerful novel about war. Loved that the first 200pgs cover the tense time where people know what's coming, but not necessarily when. Brilliant. True to its title, this is a war being fought in the air. Lot of WW2/WW1 vibes. There's a David v Goliath element here; as the "good guys" are scrambling and struggling to find ways to combat a stronger and more advanced foe. Felt some essence of Follett here as Tchaikovsky based a lot of this from the POV of the common man/soldier.
While mostly Apt-related things were going on, we still got a decent amount of Inapt here (squeeee), with more Inapt on the horizon. The imbalance of magic v tech in this series, the slow fall of one v swift rise of the other is such a fantastic and compelling backbone.
Strong characters. We see Fly-kinden in big time leading roles for the first time in this series. Love it. I hope that the next book folds some of the other series stars back in, picking them up from Heirs to the Blade.
Big stars in this one for me are Laszlo, Antspider, and Empress Seda; with the latter's journey into darkness having me completely hooked. Solid stuff here.
Powerful novel about war. Loved that the first 200pgs cover the tense time where people know what's coming, but not necessarily when. Brilliant. True to its title, this is a war being fought in the air. Lot of WW2/WW1 vibes. There's a David v Goliath element here; as the "good guys" are scrambling and struggling to find ways to combat a stronger and more advanced foe. Felt some essence of Follett here as Tchaikovsky based a lot of this from the POV of the common man/soldier.
While mostly Apt-related things were going on, we still got a decent amount of Inapt here (squeeee), with more Inapt on the horizon. The imbalance of magic v tech in this series, the slow fall of one v swift rise of the other is such a fantastic and compelling backbone.
Strong characters. We see Fly-kinden in big time leading roles for the first time in this series. Love it. I hope that the next book folds some of the other series stars back in, picking them up from Heirs to the Blade.
Big stars in this one for me are Laszlo, Antspider, and Empress Seda; with the latter's journey into darkness having me completely hooked. Solid stuff here.
June 14, 2024
3.75/5
January 27, 2023
4.5 - Fantastic military fantasy. Really cool strategy. Loved seeing the introduction of aviation and fixed wing flight, rather than blimps and orthopters. The pacing in the first half was a little slow, but the second half had me racing through it.
The Air War basically takes a bunch of previously minor or side characters and brings them back. I definitely missed our former crew, with really only
Very curious to see where the next book goes, as it seems we are left in the thick of it.
The Air War basically takes a bunch of previously minor or side characters and brings them back. I definitely missed our former crew, with really only
Very curious to see where the next book goes, as it seems we are left in the thick of it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 18, 2012
The Shadows of the Apt series for me is wonderfully unique, truly epic and the remarkable concept of the insect-kinden is a credit to the imagination of the author.
This novel is the start of the final segment of the story and we are introduced to the history of the seal of the worm, the title of the final novel.
For five years there has peace between the Wasp Empire and its neighbours.
The Wasp Empress Seda has used these first years of her reign to consolidate and strengthen her position by first taking care of business at home, while the artificers have been busy developing new weapons that can cause untold damage on a new scale. Now all is ready and Seda ignites the campaign to enslave the Lowlands with the Air War.
My only disappointment was the fact that Che, Tynisa and Thalric are not in the book.
However for me Seda and what goes on around her steals the book, I wanted to read more of her and the underhand plotting of the Rekef agents to take control of the empire. Seda strives to resurrect the lost magic of the world and the potential here is massive.
There is also the Assassin Bug kinden on a mission who starts to question his loyalties after finding a position close to the Empress and the Mantis guard led by the resurrected Tisamon.
Despite a slow start the battle of Collegium starts around half way through the book and this is where the story really takes off, characters from previous books resurface along with a host of new characters that maintain the interest.
One of the spider clans align with the Wasp invaders and the allies must fight on two fronts in the air over Collegium and against a land invasion.
Overall a good continuation of the story and everything is set up nicely for the last two novels.
This novel is the start of the final segment of the story and we are introduced to the history of the seal of the worm, the title of the final novel.
For five years there has peace between the Wasp Empire and its neighbours.
The Wasp Empress Seda has used these first years of her reign to consolidate and strengthen her position by first taking care of business at home, while the artificers have been busy developing new weapons that can cause untold damage on a new scale. Now all is ready and Seda ignites the campaign to enslave the Lowlands with the Air War.
My only disappointment was the fact that Che, Tynisa and Thalric are not in the book.
However for me Seda and what goes on around her steals the book, I wanted to read more of her and the underhand plotting of the Rekef agents to take control of the empire. Seda strives to resurrect the lost magic of the world and the potential here is massive.
There is also the Assassin Bug kinden on a mission who starts to question his loyalties after finding a position close to the Empress and the Mantis guard led by the resurrected Tisamon.
Despite a slow start the battle of Collegium starts around half way through the book and this is where the story really takes off, characters from previous books resurface along with a host of new characters that maintain the interest.
One of the spider clans align with the Wasp invaders and the allies must fight on two fronts in the air over Collegium and against a land invasion.
Overall a good continuation of the story and everything is set up nicely for the last two novels.
December 15, 2022
She would not live in fear again, and for that she must become greater, more fearsome, than all others. Her armies and their machines would make her so in the world of the Apt, and she would hunt down the power of the Inapt, the relics of their lost world, and take everything to herself.
“The Air War” is the eighth instalment of the Shadows of the Apt series. It is also the first book of the third and final arc. This will be the shortest review I’ll write so far, as I am feeling lazy and will only meme my experience.
Well this was bleak but lovers of anything airborne will love this book.
Totho and Drephos inventing the most badass war machines that can and will end millions of lives 🤝🏾 Empress Seda entering her gaslight, girlboss, genocide era.
Me:
As the famous line goes: "You either die a hero or live long enough to start becoming a villain" and I'm starting to side-eye Stenwold. He's ready to capture, torture and kill every Wasp and Wasp supporter he sees, even kids 💀
He was death and she was his mistress, and the world would soon know all the fear that she denied in herself.
June 20, 2022
The series has genius world-building and an endless list of great characters. I'm sad that I'm getting near the end (8 books down, 2 to go!), but I'm also thrilled.
November 21, 2021
https://undertheradarsffbooks.com/202...
We have come to the final three volumes in the Shadows of the Apt series and from here on out the heart racing action, pain, and turmoil will only be accelerated. The second war between the Lowlands and the Empire has begun and there is not a moments rest for us the reader to catch our breaths, since it will be held the entire time. New technology will be introduced, secret plots will be revealed, and a great deal of foreshadowing in this book will make the final 2 volumes for the series a must read. This will be a spoiler free review but I will be touching upon events from the previous books in the series.
I should mention from the start that this book switches back to Stenwold Maker and the Collegiums plans to fight back the Empire. Che, Tynisa, and Thalric are not in this book but the ramifications of their actions will be felt in The Air War. Che has banished the ghostly form of Tisamon from the mind of Tynisa, but his presence has not left the world. Tisamon finds himself in the service of the Empress Seda and honor bound to his lost blade to carry out his masters orders. Seda is rounding up her generals and eliminating those she deems a threat to her rule. Seda’s dreams are haunted by Che as the two now share the powers granted by The Masters (Slug Kinden) and the nightmares will not end while Che still lives. Seda sends her servants to look for more power in the world and particularly the Inapt magic left behind by the moth kinden. What she finds may be too powerful for her to control.
Stenwold is mustering the troops and preparing for an attack by the Empire on Collegium. Stenwold has spies in friendly cities that are now coming under attack by the Wasp Empire and he may be forced to make a great sacrifice in order to ensure victory. Taki has seen first hand the new weapons the Empire will use against the Lowlands and she is tasked with building an air fleet to repel an invasion. She has limited resources and time is running out. The assassin bug Esmail has been held in solitude since the near extinction of his race. Now he is called upon by his same oppressors’ with one simple task, kill the Empress. He will have to infiltrate the capital but his plan will not be so simple and he will get put into the crosshairs.
As I have mentioned above, The Air War is non stop action from beginning to end. Each chapter will contain several moving parts and story lines are on a collision course with only one goal in mind, destruction. The way Adrian writes these air battles is the equivalent of watching a World War II movie where the audience is always on the edge of their seats. One wrong move will mean chaos for the Lowlands and that energy for the characters and world is felt with each stroke of the pen. This book is hands down the most intense novel yet and I know the bar will be raised for the finale two volumes.
If you have made it this far in the series with me, thank you from the bottom of my heart. This series I have been screaming about for many years and to finally see it all come to fruition once again is a sight to behold. Nothing in this series is predictable and your heart will be broken ten times over. With two volumes left, you might be thinking I have seen it all. Well, YOU ARE WRONG!
Cheers!
We have come to the final three volumes in the Shadows of the Apt series and from here on out the heart racing action, pain, and turmoil will only be accelerated. The second war between the Lowlands and the Empire has begun and there is not a moments rest for us the reader to catch our breaths, since it will be held the entire time. New technology will be introduced, secret plots will be revealed, and a great deal of foreshadowing in this book will make the final 2 volumes for the series a must read. This will be a spoiler free review but I will be touching upon events from the previous books in the series.
I should mention from the start that this book switches back to Stenwold Maker and the Collegiums plans to fight back the Empire. Che, Tynisa, and Thalric are not in this book but the ramifications of their actions will be felt in The Air War. Che has banished the ghostly form of Tisamon from the mind of Tynisa, but his presence has not left the world. Tisamon finds himself in the service of the Empress Seda and honor bound to his lost blade to carry out his masters orders. Seda is rounding up her generals and eliminating those she deems a threat to her rule. Seda’s dreams are haunted by Che as the two now share the powers granted by The Masters (Slug Kinden) and the nightmares will not end while Che still lives. Seda sends her servants to look for more power in the world and particularly the Inapt magic left behind by the moth kinden. What she finds may be too powerful for her to control.
Stenwold is mustering the troops and preparing for an attack by the Empire on Collegium. Stenwold has spies in friendly cities that are now coming under attack by the Wasp Empire and he may be forced to make a great sacrifice in order to ensure victory. Taki has seen first hand the new weapons the Empire will use against the Lowlands and she is tasked with building an air fleet to repel an invasion. She has limited resources and time is running out. The assassin bug Esmail has been held in solitude since the near extinction of his race. Now he is called upon by his same oppressors’ with one simple task, kill the Empress. He will have to infiltrate the capital but his plan will not be so simple and he will get put into the crosshairs.
As I have mentioned above, The Air War is non stop action from beginning to end. Each chapter will contain several moving parts and story lines are on a collision course with only one goal in mind, destruction. The way Adrian writes these air battles is the equivalent of watching a World War II movie where the audience is always on the edge of their seats. One wrong move will mean chaos for the Lowlands and that energy for the characters and world is felt with each stroke of the pen. This book is hands down the most intense novel yet and I know the bar will be raised for the finale two volumes.
If you have made it this far in the series with me, thank you from the bottom of my heart. This series I have been screaming about for many years and to finally see it all come to fruition once again is a sight to behold. Nothing in this series is predictable and your heart will be broken ten times over. With two volumes left, you might be thinking I have seen it all. Well, YOU ARE WRONG!
Cheers!
May 15, 2022
Wow, book eight! This epic series is continuing apace with its massively entertaining story, and somehow the world continues to be increasingly well-developed. We didn't get any major expansion in terms of locale, but we do get to watch the world's powers come to grips with the rapid evolution of technology (always a likely development during a massive war), plus we get the other side of the coin as one of the world powers looks back to ancient, scary powers lost to time (but probably not for long!). The only reason I am not rating this as highly as the others in the series is because for the first time I felt lost in all the combat. It's very well-written, there's just so much of it and at some point I became a little confused and disconnected from the action. The high point for me was definitely all the drama at Capitas with the extremely sinister Empress and her arcane ambitions, and an intriguing new shapeshifting character. I think I kept missing the intimate, spooky psychological drama of book seven, so all the wild aerial shenanigans just didn't click for me this time. On we go to book nine!
July 12, 2024
4.5/5 ⭐
Another great addition to the series, that veers away from the more mystical elements of its predecessor in place of more grounded, technological military plot with intense action sequences and high suspense. The book reads similar to Dragonfly Falling, but feels more mature and better paced compared to it, balancing the personal strife of key characters and Kinden with the overarching machinations of war. The subplots were very interesting, and nestled neatly into the main story - however, I felt the book could've done with either another chapter or an epilogue at the end, as the number of plot points that were tied off felt slightly rushed overall. That being said, the book was great and was one of the standouts of the series so far - excited to revisit the intense final two books!
Another great addition to the series, that veers away from the more mystical elements of its predecessor in place of more grounded, technological military plot with intense action sequences and high suspense. The book reads similar to Dragonfly Falling, but feels more mature and better paced compared to it, balancing the personal strife of key characters and Kinden with the overarching machinations of war. The subplots were very interesting, and nestled neatly into the main story - however, I felt the book could've done with either another chapter or an epilogue at the end, as the number of plot points that were tied off felt slightly rushed overall. That being said, the book was great and was one of the standouts of the series so far - excited to revisit the intense final two books!
April 10, 2025
Another good entry in this 10 book series. The constant war scenes at times in the first half of the book became a bit much. As with all Tchaikovsky's ending, it was superb. Looking forward to book 9.
October 25, 2025
I quite enjoyed this 8th book in the series! Lots of action in a way that shows how technology has advanced in the series.
The rating gets knocked down due to some characters getting zero time during the book… which was a choice.
The rating gets knocked down due to some characters getting zero time during the book… which was a choice.
September 15, 2024
4.5* (Audio) Another great entry in a compelling and original series. Things begin to escalate towards conclusion plot-wise in this epic tale as military forces are marshaled once more and the various strands of mystical lore are starting to be woven into an emerging tapestry of impeding fate.
Introducing a party of new characters with only a few books to go seems perhaps a bit distracting to readers who are desperate for any tidbit of story for an already expansive cast of characters, with some not having real updates for a couple books. However, said readers should trust Adrian Tchaikovsky to know what he’s doing and this group of students unfold into equally memorable, likable and interesting as so many of the rest!
Of course, the novel’s emphasis on emerging new technology in siege warfare and even more so on the rapidly evolving air capabilities of the great powers proves delightful world building and keeps the reader guessing as to which real world analogues the story may allude to next in fresh and exiting ways. The reveal as to the Empire’s culmination of their budding aviation advancements while predictable is quite enthralling as it places equal weight on the cost and development of the human personnel to man it as it does the actual technological ingenuity.
The one matter that may distract or impede any reader’s momentum is the detailed descriptions of aerial combat and maneuvers. For something so kinetic and fast paced, the explanation for the maneuvers can bog down swift comprehension forcing pauses to make sense of it (but a lot of that is alleviated in the audio version with Ben Allen’s masterful narration placing great care on pacing to match the swift nature of the events up above the Lowlands). This, more so than any of the books thus far, could particularly be improved with an animated or visual telling to match its sky-sprawling action!
I can’t say this enough, but do seek out to listen to the audio version of these stories for your second read, if not on your first. Allen’s work infuses the world and story with such rich nuance and flavor that truly enhances Tchaikovsky’s engaging and wonderful tales.
Introducing a party of new characters with only a few books to go seems perhaps a bit distracting to readers who are desperate for any tidbit of story for an already expansive cast of characters, with some not having real updates for a couple books. However, said readers should trust Adrian Tchaikovsky to know what he’s doing and this group of students unfold into equally memorable, likable and interesting as so many of the rest!
Of course, the novel’s emphasis on emerging new technology in siege warfare and even more so on the rapidly evolving air capabilities of the great powers proves delightful world building and keeps the reader guessing as to which real world analogues the story may allude to next in fresh and exiting ways. The reveal as to the Empire’s culmination of their budding aviation advancements while predictable is quite enthralling as it places equal weight on the cost and development of the human personnel to man it as it does the actual technological ingenuity.
The one matter that may distract or impede any reader’s momentum is the detailed descriptions of aerial combat and maneuvers. For something so kinetic and fast paced, the explanation for the maneuvers can bog down swift comprehension forcing pauses to make sense of it (but a lot of that is alleviated in the audio version with Ben Allen’s masterful narration placing great care on pacing to match the swift nature of the events up above the Lowlands). This, more so than any of the books thus far, could particularly be improved with an animated or visual telling to match its sky-sprawling action!
I can’t say this enough, but do seek out to listen to the audio version of these stories for your second read, if not on your first. Allen’s work infuses the world and story with such rich nuance and flavor that truly enhances Tchaikovsky’s engaging and wonderful tales.
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