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A review by brents
Blood of the Mantis by Adrian Tchaikovsky
4.0
Cloak and Dagger Fantasy
Another excellent entry into the Shadows of The Apt series which has become the most pleasant surprise of my 2023 reading year. I will say though I felt Blood of The Mantis was a but different than the first two volumes.
Whereas the first two books in the series are about direct conflict with the Wasp Empire with sieges and big battles being the main set pieces, this book shows a different side of conflict. To me what this series really is at heart is a big geo-political thriller in a fantasy setting. It makes sense that if we got the big battles we might also get the cloak and dagger espionage part of it as well. We really get that here as characters split off into different groups and try to have an effect on the war behind the scenes. It works because everything in these books is interesting and Tchaikovsky never stops introducing us to new kinden, new elements of thus world and new mysteries. That being said it feels much more like moving pieces into place for the next book than a complete satisfying arc like we got in the first two.
I did really like all the political games and manipulations here and seeing the spider politics and wondering what they are up to. And oh yeah we get more about magic here as well. And finally we get some really interesting new povs and and significant character development even for characters that don't have much page time like Totho.
Even though I may have enjoyed this entry slightly less than the first two it really wasn't by much. And honestly I kind of loved the different feel of this book. This series is becoming an all-timer for me and I can't wait for the next one.
Another excellent entry into the Shadows of The Apt series which has become the most pleasant surprise of my 2023 reading year. I will say though I felt Blood of The Mantis was a but different than the first two volumes.
Whereas the first two books in the series are about direct conflict with the Wasp Empire with sieges and big battles being the main set pieces, this book shows a different side of conflict. To me what this series really is at heart is a big geo-political thriller in a fantasy setting. It makes sense that if we got the big battles we might also get the cloak and dagger espionage part of it as well. We really get that here as characters split off into different groups and try to have an effect on the war behind the scenes. It works because everything in these books is interesting and Tchaikovsky never stops introducing us to new kinden, new elements of thus world and new mysteries. That being said it feels much more like moving pieces into place for the next book than a complete satisfying arc like we got in the first two.
I did really like all the political games and manipulations here and seeing the spider politics and wondering what they are up to. And oh yeah we get more about magic here as well. And finally we get some really interesting new povs and and significant character development even for characters that don't have much page time like Totho.
Even though I may have enjoyed this entry slightly less than the first two it really wasn't by much. And honestly I kind of loved the different feel of this book. This series is becoming an all-timer for me and I can't wait for the next one.