Empire in Black and Gold (Shadows of the Apt)

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The Lowlands' city states have lived in peace for decades, hailed as bastions of civilization. Yet that peace is about to end. A distant empire has been conquering neighbours with highly trained soldiers and sophisticated combat techniques. And the city states are its desirable new prize. So I would tend towards 5 stars now, but in ligh

Feast and Famine (New Con Press, 2013), ISBN 978-1907069543. This collection contains the stories "Feast and Famine", "The Artificial Man", "The Roar of the Crowd", "Good Taste", "The Dissipation Club", "Rapture", "Care", "2144 and All That", "The God Shark" and "The Sun in the Morning". This brings me round to my first issue. Whether by accident or not, there are some gaps here. Tchaikovsky does a good job with his supporting cast, in particular with Salma, Tynisa and Thalric, who all undergo real development as characters and feel like they’ve grown past their starting limits. I could write a lot about each of their journey’s but I’ve pledged to keep this spoiler free. All the moving parts. New kinds of humans! Very distinct politics all over the place! Found family! Magic! What Tchaikowsky did instead, was telling you about a character named Atryssa, a ambassador of the spider-kinden. Don't get me wrong, there are some great arcs in this book alone, but they never get into a territory of being especially deep or layered. But that doesn't always need to be the case and can also evolve pretty easily in the sequels. They get the point across, you root for them and relate at most times.If - for example - I tell you about a character named Rut Djawiar, an elder prophet of the Kshintu-people, a race of Fraktuars, I would then need to slowly introduce you into what each of these things mean. If there would be plots at play, that focus around changes in the culture of the Fraktuars, the society or whatever, there would be some type of legwork woven in. The idea of an all devouring race slowly conquering an entire world just appeals to me and the execution is pretty good. The standout sections are the political scheming and negotiations between the different insect/human races; dialogue is definitely the authors strongest writing skill. The downside to this book is the fighting/battle scenes; they’re such a drag. I found myself zoning out every time there was a scuffle. They seemed amateur compared to the rest of the book. TERRY WEYNA, on our staff since December 2010, would rather be reading than doing almost anything else. She reads all day long as an insurance coverage attorney, and in all her spare time as a reviewer, critic and writer. Terry lives in Northern California with her husband, professor emeritus and writer Fred White, two rambunctious cats, and an enormous library. Stenwold and his last disciples, his spider-kinden ward Tynisa, his niece Chee, his apprentice Totho and a young prince of the Commonweal Salma try one more desperate attempt to do something, while Intelligence Captain Thalric of the Empire currently emissary to the Collegium has Sten on his hit list.

All of the characters are layered and some are more grey tinted than others. Their struggles and doubts feel real in this epic war world. Everybody, including the antagonist, goes through emotional development - and since this is only book one I am eagerly looking forward to see what is in store for them. The author also created some really intriguing characters. You have Stenwold, an aging engineer (what they call an artificer), who has become a spymaster in the face of an invasion he knows is coming yet no one will believe. He assembles four younger charges, each of them different in ability and temperament. Salma, a Dragonfly kinden, and Tynisa, a Spider kinden, were 2 I particularly liked. Special mention has to go to Tisamon as well, a Mantis kinden who is simply cool. The author also managed to add depth to the conflict by presenting a character from the enemy, Captain Thalric, who is a Wasp officer working against the rest of our characters. The Wasp Empire itself, with its entire male population serving as soldiers and its use of captured people as slave labor, reminded me a bit of ancient Sparta, which as someone who finds the Spartans fascinating was another positive. I can only speak for my own experience, but it felt like a pretty brutal way into the story. Had I missed something? No, but it was definitely his way of saying: ‘You’re in it now, best finish it so you understand it properly.’ The city states of the Lowlands have lived in peace for decades, bastions of civilization, prosperity and sophistication, protected by treaties, trade and a belief in the reasonable nature of their neighbours. This strange melange of humanity for hundreds of years was ruled by a theocracy of Moth-kinden, the most 'magical' of the humans in alliance with the 'mantis-kinden' who provided the muscle with their legendary prowess with blades. 500 years ago, the 'slave races' rebelled and cast off the moth yoke. It seems moths and some of the races possess an inability to employ technology while beetles (what is called the 'apt'), ants and so forth are really good at it. In a way, it was new tech and mass production that lead to the downfall of the moths and company. The moths have been reduced to living in a few scattered cities while the former slave races populate an area known as the lowlands. Whew!Thalric is a highlight. He’s a good, 3-dimensional, interesting antagonist with more on his mind than hunting and destroying our heroes. He has some nuances and there’s more to him than just being a plot obstacle. There are several insect groups represented and I hope to see more in forthcoming books. Stenwold is a beetle who is an academic. Tisamon is his Mantis warrior friend. Tynisa is his foster Spider-daughter. Che is his beetle niece. Salma is a flamboyant Dragonfly swordsman. Tothe is a half-breed who is very good at mechanical devices. Achaeos is a Moth-seer and becomes an unwilling participant in their fight. Then there’s the main antagonist, Thalric, a captain of the invading Wasp Empire. These are all great characters and easy to route for. Ma il colpo di genio si ha con un altro fatto: non sono normali umani. Cioè, lo sono, ma in un mondo dove da sempre camminano insetti giganteschi. E le tribù umane per sopravvivere e prosperare hanno da sempre appreso come "legarsi" a loro, dividendosi così in base ai tratti "insetti" che hanno assorbito.