Seal of the Worm (Shadows of the Apt Book 10)

I have rushed through this series - OK, I read fast - because of the steady, inexorable build-up through the books of Something Dreadful This Way Comes.And it did: The Worm. Nastiest community in the worlds of the Apt; isolated for over a thousand years in the dark, until a petulant Empress unleashes them inadvertently (not a spoiler; read the previous book!).Adrian Tchaikovsky then proceeds to run his character list down ruthlessly, until he really does get to GRRM-level culling. Noooooooo, I would say to myself, as another bit the dust, got shot in one of several ways, fell out of the sky, was eaten by a centipede….But a satisfactory ending to a monumental series - which I will remember forever. Sadly, which is why the 4 stars, and not 5.

incredible series so sad it’s ended. Tchaikovsky continues to amaze with his rich, intricate, deep breadth of storytelling. The characters grow and develop all the time, keeping me a riveted reader throughout this entire series. I could not put it down. Amazing work, please keep writing!!

Typical of the author - fabulous character development and plot lines. Nothing lazy here, nor obvious attempts at fluff. Just a great, adult, read for anyone who likes F/SF. Hard to describe how sad I was finishing book 10.

This series wrapped its faceted tentacles around my heart and mind, resulting in my caring for so many “kinden”. Every emotion was wrung from me, ending with grateful tears at this saga’s end. If you like master world-building and in-depth character development, Tchaikovsky is the author for you. Oh yes, and if you are adverse to the pain and suffering of human strife and the power of hope, then this series may not be what you’re looking for.

Couldn’t put down this entire series. This book is a perfect conclusion. Will be looking to read another Tchaikovsky masterpiece!

Disappointing, maybe should only be 2 stars. I have loved this series and have read every one of them as soon as they came out. I felt the series was a bit uneven in the second half of the releases with some books meh and some quite good. The penultimate title in the series was great and seemed to make up for some of the less compelling ones before it. I looked forward to a strong ending. This is more of a whimper and is probably only for hardcore Shadows of the Apt lovers such as myself. It is very dark and there is alot of talking/philosophizing. Not very much happens and, most importantly, there is very little suspense and few, if any, unexpected plot twists. The suspense and being surprised by the unexpected have always among the greatest strengths of the author, and unfortunately they were not much in evidence is this offering. Also - spoiler alert - all through the book there is a great deal of talk about how The Worm is so awesome and powerful and cannot be defeated by the Apt. The end of The Worm is rather predictable and not at all what one would expect for the vanquishing of the "god" of the centipede Kinden.

This is an appropriately dark ending to Tchaikovsky's epic series. I had reservations about his vision of the Worm as the ultimate destructive force in his universe, but I couldn't stop turning the pages even as I was aware of some fairly obvious plot machinery. (Hard not to compare the climactic moment with Frodo and Gollum wrestling over the Ring in the bowels of Mount Doom, for example.) Still, I rate this a grand finale to an extraordinary series. With great skill, Tchaikovsky ties together many plot lines - and left this reader exhausted but satisfied.

I was able to guess parts of the plot, while other aspects surprised me.This is a great conclusion to the series, with more elements of horror than past installments.The "several years later" epilogue does a very nice job of wrapping things up for the reader.

This is an amazing journey through a different world. Several of the books were just a damn good read, there were a few I stayed awake way too late because I couldn’t put down and two books I struggled to keep going through. The story was gripping though and an alternative world, it’s peoples and struggles was really brought to life.

I admit I was worried about how this series was going to be wrapped up to end but my worries were unfounded.Superb story,. Superb characters. And a conclusion that tied up every loose end.The last sentence was the perfect ending.I never thought I’d read another book series that reached double digits but it was recommended to me and it has Adrian Tchaikovsky’s name on the cover. Only the latter is the. only reason you need to invest the time required to start this.I’m going to miss Stemold, Che, Tynesa, Thalric, Tisamon, Eujen, Straessa,Taki and everyone else.

A fitting finale.Considering the book on its own first, it brought all the skills that have been developed throughout the series: pace, character, motivation, and development. The author's ability to operate on multiple threads whilst maintaining energy and commitment to character and plot has always been impressive and I thoroughly enjoyed being carried through this ultimate outing.; as a standalone tale, I felt thoroughly satisfied with the journey it offered me. Many finales, both of multi-book series and of standalones, have often left me disappointed, for endings seem to be the most difficult to write: the requirement to tie up a tale and provide a satisfactory emotional decoupling from characters and causes that a successful author has caused to be created lays a heavy responsibility often dropped. In Seal of the Worm, I felt as if the author had provided both comforting ending and the possibility of a new beginning, so I thank him for that duty of care well completed.So my ten book journey with Stenwold Maker is over, a journey through a unique and well considered land and history. I have thoroughly enjoyed the series and the craft, intelligence, and care that was taken with its implementation. My only issue is a personal one, of structural focus, in that whilst I enjoyed all of the books in isolation, books 5-7 pulled away from the bigger picture, creating a feeling of disconnection with the overall journey, and leaving me with a feeling that the final book, whilst excellent, represented a rushing to completion. Given the power of the Worm and its effect upon history, I would have expected its discovery and development phase to have started in book 6 or 7 and build from there; to me, it feels squashed into the final tale, in a similar way to how the Game of Thrones final series totally blew the weight of the canon by dispelling the hugely powerful and feared White Walkers in the first few episodes whilst focusing the rest of the series upon the human conflict, rather than sorting out the human conflict and then uniting to fight the more powerful threat.Thoroughly recommended though. I shall miss many of the fictional friends I made and will always wonder just what has been going on since in that amazing world.Fleecy Moss, author of the Folio 55 SciFi fantasy series (writing as Nia Sinjorina), End of a Girl, Undon , and 4659 now available on Amazon.

Shadows of the Apt has been one of my favourite series for a while now, since taking a punt on the first instalment back in 2010. One thing I really like about Shadows is the speed at which the books have become available. The entire series of 10 books was released between 2008 and 2014 – that averages out at a pretty staggering 1100 pages per year and at no point does the writing suffer from this prolificness.Seal of the Worm manages to pull off some really vivid imagery in what is largely a lightless world, with a good portion of the book being set deep inside the earth. While one band of our main characters is starting a revolution in the underworld, we have another group fighting to retake the city of Collegium from the hands of the Wasp Empire.Those reading Seal of the Worm should be comfortably at home with the concept of the series, this being the tenth and final volume. Other than just for the sheer enjoyment factor though, it’s recommended to have finished the previous volumes first, especially as this instalment is a direct follow up to the events at the end of War Master’s Gate.The Empress Seda has broken the Seal of the Worm and sent Cheerwell Maker and her companions deep into the world of the ancient kinden we began to see during the battles with Argastos in book 9. As the magic holding back the Worm fails, Che and Seda have very different views on how to save their world from the mindless hordes of Worm warriors that begin to break free to wreak havoc in the Lowlands and beyond.The book is written with a real purpose, it’s fast paced and manages to tie up loose ends almost without you realising that’s what’s happening, so engrossing is the tale. There’s a good sense of closure in terms of certain character arcs, while the book doesn’t shut down all avenues of continuation, with other character arcs clearly leaving the option open for new adventures.Continuing a theme noticed in previous novels in the series, Tchaikovsky manages to introduce new Kinden even in this last volume, as well as giving us new characters from Kinden we have only had a little interaction with before.In total there are around 30 different species of insect-Kinden introduced throughout the ten book series, not including half-breeds of course. From around 10 in the first book, our knowledge of the different Kinden expands as we see different parts of the world, and there’s a real feeling that there’s a lot more potential for adventures in this world. Certainly there are some characters here I wouldn’t mind hearing more from, with the likes of Thalric and Che from the outset, and Straessa and Eujen from the latter books piquing my interest. Unfortunately some of my other favourites have passed along the way, but now the main series is finished there’s always the option of revisiting some earlier experiences featuring these as well.

There's always a concern that the final installment in a long running fantasy series will disappoint but Adrian Masterfully brings the series to a satisfying conclusion resolving many character arcs and story threads that have been building since day 1. The series-long war comes to a head and alliances are made where it becomes very possible that a possible wasp defeat may merely allow another faction to become even more dangerous. This is largely thanks to Adrian making a point to show the Wasps as "human" as their adversaries can be "inhuman". This is exemplified in Tynan, my favourite character of the last few books and his counterpart Milus. Elements from earlier books come to fruition and it really does feel like their was a plan throughout or Adrian covers his tracks well.If I had to pick a criticism, I think it would be that the Worm sublot wasn't really required and that the main thrust of the battle could have easily filled the book. That said, I was impressed how this new idea was resolved and fed into the main events - it also provided characters with things to do that may have seemed redundant otherwise. Speaking of the characters, they all feel pretty fleshed out at this stage and characters I criticised being introduced in "the air war" were more than welcome here. Some of the series earlier characters felt a little extraneous and I still feel as though Thalric faded into the background midway. This was counterbalanced by an enjoyable return to form for Totho though and it shows a level of maturity in the author when he knows not to force a character into the limelight.I'd probably give this book a 4 but given it's a concluding chapter it is a solid 5. The concept is still one of the best in fantasy and the mixture of ancient and modern military makes it pretty unique in a crowded marketplace. It has also been a joy to watch Adrian's writing skills match his ideas over the course of the series. I'll be checking out his future books and crossing my fingers he'll eventually return to the world of the kinden.