Blood of the Mantis (Shadows of the Apt 3)
and over 900,000 other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Visit the Amazon.co.uk Trade-In Store for more details. |
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Review
`Blood expands this scope further, and brings a richer diversity of tone...this leaner instalment foes to interesting places.'
--SFX
--SFX
Review
'There is magic and engineering, epic fantasy story lines and steampunk ones, love stories, betrayals, and intrigue...Highly, highly recommended.'
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Red Baroness jions the party,
By
This review is from: Blood of the Mantis: Shadows of the Apt (Shadows of the Apt 3) (Paperback)
Having loved the first two in the series, I was very anxious to read this next installment of the Shadows of the Apt series. And a series it definately is, as there is not only no conclusion to the story here, but no immediate sign of one either, as Tchaikovsky weaves an ever more complex web of intrigue and world conflict.
By the time I had prised my copy off my wife, I had read a couple of fairly negative reviews of the book which reduced my expectations significantly, so I was actually very pleasantly suprised by it. Yes, it is not quite the masterpeice Dragonfly falling was and is a couple of hundred pages short of his previous offerings. But there is still an enormous amount to enjoy here. This includes a couple of exciting new charactors, one a female fighter pilot Ace, who is part of an exclusive little pilot club, with it's own code of honour. (Very Red Baron like) Also as other reviewers have alluded to, there is another new wave of Kinden races. I think Tchaikovsky has with this brilliant idea sown a harvest so potentially rich he doesn't know quite where and what to put in next and is just starting to throw the goodies about like a spoilt kid coming out of a sweet shop. I would urge him not to get too carried away but curb the creativity till this story and already huge cast list conclude! Then perhaps write another series on the same world. There is just a risk readers could be swamped by all storylines and ideas coming at them. Anyway back to the book. Our party of heroes are once again sent to the 4 corners of the world. Che and Nero to spy on the Wasps further expansions. Tisamon and Tynisa (and interestingly Thalric) are sent in search of the Darakon box and Sten continues to try and unite the Lowlands against the wasps. On the other side of the fence the 'slave' Mosquito Uctebri starts to flex his magical wings to bring a bit of internal trouble for the wasps and the Rekef continue their own private battle for power. It's action packed, clever, witty and within a fantasy framwork very original. I think lovers of Trad Fantasy will enjoy it as will fans of sci-fi and 'Steampunk'. Particularly those who enjoy Stephen Hunt.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Solid but suffers from "middle-book" syndrome,
By
This review is from: Blood of the Mantis: Shadows of the Apt (Shadows of the Apt 3) (Paperback)
I think this is probably the most solidly written installment of the seires so far and pretty much all of the new characters introduced this time are very strong and instantly recognisable or likeable. I also enjoy how Adrian is giving us a tour of his world and how distinct his cities are in peoples, politics and customs. The main drawback with this book is that it is very much an intermediary novel, that is necessary for the overall narrative but doesn't have any key developments (even the ending is very much to be continued/ open ended). This is not a problem if you are enjoying the series though and the quality and the concept remains strong enough to keep me picking up the next installment. I also have a growing suspicion the series is going to get better and better as long as the world doesn't become too large to keep a hold of the overall arc.
One final quibble is the title which is catchy but very misleading as it has virtually nothing to do with the overall plot, if anything it has more to do with a fly but i guess it's hard to come up with a good title with fly in it (excluding lord of the flies). So for people expecting a story focusing on Tisamon and his mantis-kinden, don't be fooled.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Strong continuation to an excellent series,
By Helen Walter (London, UK) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Blood of the Mantis: Shadows of the Apt (Shadows of the Apt 3) (Paperback)
"Blood of the Mantis" is a tight and well-plotted addition to the Shadows of the Apt series, and boasts the same vivid characterisation and powerful innovation as the earlier offerings. Tchaikovsky is going from strength to strength, and clearly not suffering from the sort of malaise that can afflict fantasy authors around the middle of a series. The only criticism I can offer is the wait for the next installment!
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews |
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
