Empire in Black and Gold (Shadows of the Apt)

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So, after gazing lovingly at the cover for a good long while, we opened up EMPIRE hoping the unique premise we had read about was delivered. It could have gone wrong. Horribly wrong, even. It wasn’t perfect, but it was a far cry from bad, or even mediocre.

A massive series with worldbuilding, that feels like done by a veteran. Seriously, before starting this book, I looked up some maps and the likes, to get a feeling for the setting and to decide, if it was worth a read right now, and was kind of blown away.The Private Life of Elder Things (2016), ISBN 978-1911034025. Co-authored by Keris McDonald and Adam Gauntlett. A collection of new Lovecraftian fiction about confronting, discovering and living alongside the creatures of the Mythos. But meanwhile, in far-off corners, the Wasp Empire has been devouring city after city with its highly trained armies, its machines, its killing Art...And now its hunger for conquest and war has become insatiable. 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. Now, if this was something Tchaikovsky was trying to achieve then he’s succeeded. But I’m not sure. And the more I think about it, the more I’m not fully convinced by the cities we visit. This is an interesting world where the people have traits, think abilities, derived from different insects (Kinden). From the ability to fly or having a sting. These traits also influence their culture and styles of thought.

Just an absolutely fantastic first book in a series that deserves a fandom as dedicated as those of Malazan, Stormlight Archive, or Wheel of Time. I'm happy to say that "Shadows of the Apt" is the second epic Fantasy series after Sanderson's "Stormlight Archive" that convinces me on all levels.And so knowing he could do both science-fiction and fantasy, he seemed like the perfect crossover author to begin this year with. Tchaikovsky still uses role-playing games to help develop his stories, but now also uses live action role-playing, which assists in describing the numerous action and battle sequences in his books. He is currently involved with the LARP game Empire. [15] It’s an interesting plot concept which brings to mind the film 300 (well, my mind. maybe nobody else’s). The Wasps play the part of the Xerxes led Persians as they sweep over the land conquering all before them aiming for their end goal of ‘One Nation’. Stenwold Maker, a beetle spymaster defeated in the books opening battle at Myna, is laying low in Collegium keeping his eye on the advancing Wasps as they slowly make their way to the Lowlands. His attempts at convincing the governors of Collegium to take action and prepare for the inevitable invasion are rejected due to their selfishness. The idea of invasion is a joke to them so they’d rather turn a blind eye and live like fat kings. Fed up of Collegiums ignorance Stenwold assembles a team and departs for the Industrial city of Helleron, which seems to be the Wasps next conquest. I consider this series a must read for any lover of epic fantasy and those readers who are looking for something completely different in the SFF community. It is a crime that this series is such an unknown to the vast majority of fantasy readers and I will take it upon myself to correct this injustice. This is in my top 5 greatest epic fantasy series ever written and I hope you will see this work for the grand epic it truly is. One thing I missed was epic battles which I am rather mad about in my epic fantasy. So I was a bit disappointed on that front. Although there were plenty of duellist melees and group combat.