The Air War (Shadows of the Apt)

More of the same slightly plodding narrative but perhaps more adventure in this one.The Empress pieces are the best and keep you interested.The aerial battles are frankly an utter bore and really drag the story down. As does the Fly spies piece.Biggest problem is plot though. The Empire seems to have been able to develop all kinds of new weaponry without the much vaunted intelligence services of Collegium finding out. More ludicrously somebody in Collegium has managed to build the biggest Deus ex Machina ever, without it ever getting a mention in previous books..the minute that thing is drawn to your attention you know how things will end in this book so everything becomes a drawn out anti-climax.There’s an attempt to balance things out with the Wasps not being so black and white but, to do this, they make Stenwold (ostensibly the good guy) a bit of an ass.Overall the series does still engage but it’s flagging badly at this point.

What a book! Following on from a few almost standalone novels, this outing returns us to the machinations of the Wasps and their insatiable hunger to consume the rest of the nations even as their misogynistic leaders rail under the dominance of an Empress barely a woman.Never pausing for one moment, the sheer pace and camaraderie of this highly intelligent commentary on the technological revolution of a driven dictatorship draws strong parallels with the advance of  earthly nations from the 1850s to the 1940s.But one of the strongest weapons in the author's armoury is his ability to personalise every thread, even within the horrors of battle and blitz:  in that I was oddly reminded of the Sven Hassel novels. Highly Recommended.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.

This is the eighth book in the Shadows of the Apt series (of a total of ten books, the last of which has recently been published). It’s taken me a while to get around to reading the last three books in the series, purely because of other time constraints and wanting to be able to concentrate on the wonderful world that the author offers us in this series of books.Now that we are into the eighth book, it feels at times like there is a cast of thousands that the reader needs to be aware of. Some are old friends or enemies, others are introduced into the story as the narrative progresses. Some fall by the wayside for various reasons, others stick it out to the end. Either way, the canvas on which the narrative is painted is broad and vast, and there are all sorts of people of all sorts of persuasions living their lives and doing things for all sorts of reasons. It all makes for riveting reading, but requires concentration by the reader to ensure that nothing is missed.The Wasp Empire has revived its plans for conquest, and the Empress Seda is now honing her skills and military might. As the Empire’s forces rolls out of Capitas, those in its path either capitulate or fight – but either way, it may not do them any good. In towns to the south and west of the borders of the Empire, there are those who seek information, and in the heart of the Empire itself there is one who seeks to strike the ultimate blow against the Empire. In Collegium, Stenwold Maker struggles to get those in power to listen to him, again, and to act on his warnings. This time the Empire has new weapons, and has learned their own lessons from their ancient enemies; but could there still be hope for those who hold out?This is fantastic stuff; I have been hooked on this series since the release of the first book, Empire in Black and Gold, back in 2008, and I am looking forward to the next, and final two books in the series, to see how this all ties together. I sincerely hope the author does not give up writing now that this series is complete, as he has a unique talent for weaving tales and building worlds that should not be left to waste.

This is a tricky one to comment on as I found the quality shifted quite a bit. Essentially I found the first act of the book to be an incredible drag. We were introduced to a new generation of collegiate students who felt partly redundant and had to endure Stenwold and co refusing to to prepare for the inevitable. At the same time we had a fairly tedious build-up of the wasps with an unexciting POV character. Lastly we had the fly spies which I could not get in to. The other weird problem was that I found the air battles boring and long-winded. In fairness I'm pretty sure the air battles are pretty authentic and well researched but for someone wanting entertainment I was lost. Sounds pretty negative?The thing is once the second act kicks in the book is entertaining throughout (minus the fly spies and the aerial combat). It essentially feels like the series' "battle of britain" and the politics surrounding tactical decisions and war time behaviour are well played out. Those collegiate students that seemed redundant? All of a sudden I realised they were there to give weight to various stories set within a city under attack. The other thing that Tchaikovsky captures really well is the fact that soldiers on either side of the war are just people and the wasps often seem just like those on the side of Collegium. Case in point, a wasp general is likeable because he is competent at his job and never comes across as "evil". It's nice to see this world isn't black and white.This book also maintains the seamless mix of steampunk tech, swords and magic that the series is renowned for.So if the intro had maybe been streamlined and if I had a greater appreciation of aerial combat (it's probably a must for people who like that kind of thing), this would have been an excellent book. As it is the latter half of the book feels dragged down by the former. I'm still looking forward to reading the next installment though.

Shadows of the Apt has been one of my favourite series for a number of years now, even if you consider that it's rather more technologically advanced that the fantasy I like to read. The unique insect-kinden and their gripping story were enough to get me sucked in when starting Empire in Black and Gold, and once that happened I was hooked even when it began to include snapbows and orthopters and all the other advances the artificers brought us. The Air War is the eighth instalment in the series and while I've never ranked them in order of enjoyment, I'd say this would be in the lower half of the list if I did.The first half just seemed to drag on without the usual excitement I've come to associate with Adrian Tchaikovsky's writing. Whole chapters seemed filled with text and so little dialogue to break it up. Even with another two books scheduled to complete the series, I struggled my way through the first half of The Air War wondering to myself if this was the end of Stenwold Maker's tale as far as I'm concerned.Fortunately for me, things did pick up after I persevered through those opening chapters, and the second half of the book was back close to the sort of level I expect from this series. Where early battles in the air seemed slow and almost forced, the latter ones took on new life and zipped back and forth across the pages. Where new characters had come in and added nothing, suddenly I cared about them and appreciated their freshness compared to those I'd been reading about for much of the previous seven titles.One key joy to picking up any Shadows of the Apt novel is the introduction of new insect kinden. We've previously seen the moths, butterflies and sea-kinden to name but a few, and these additions can really freshen up a multi-title series. With The Air War, we have assassin-bugs and fireflies coming to the fore. I admit, I didn't fully appreciate the former, but I did like the addition of the little firefly and the opportunity that new kinden presents. I expect to see more of both of these characters, and perhaps some more of their kinden, in the last two books to come.Of those we've already met, our main characters are Taki, the fly aviatrix who fittingly takes centre stage in a book called The Air War; Laszlo, the pirate-turned-spy and of course, Stenwold Maker, the beetle-kinden spymaster and Collegium War Master. Although some personal favourites are missing (Thalric, Che, Tynisa), Taki and Laszlo, plus the addition of Straessa "the antspider" and her group provide a likeable cast on the side of the Collegium forces. One of the things Tchaikovsky does very well with these books is show both sides of the story, and it's great to get inside the heads (literally in some cases) of some of the wasp-kinden antagonists. There's plenty of focus on the wasp empress Seda and her increasingly mystical ways, and the major players of both the wasp army and its aviation corps also feature heavily. The unbiased way this is done is refreshing and allows the reader to view both sides and make up their own mind who to root for.Although this novel more than any other in the series is a bit too steampunk for my liking, I still have a great fondness for the Shadows of the Apt and look forward to finishing the story. So long as the next two titles follow the second half of The Air War rather than the style and pace of the first half, it could be a heck of a finale coming up.