Dragonfly Falling (Shadows of the Apt) [Kindle Edition]

After reading and enjoying Adrian Tchaikovsky's debut novel Empire in Black and Gold last year, I was looking forward to Dragonfly Falling, the second instalment in the Shadows of the Apt series. While Empire did have its drawbacks, I saw enough promise there to believe that Tchaikovsky could deliver a really good series: the world was fascinating, the storyline had the potential to become suitably epic, and there was some good characterisation. All I wanted from Dragonfly Falling was more of the same, but on a more dynamic, epic scale.

Boy, did I get it - and then some.

Possibly the most pleasing aspect of this novel is the plot. While the storyline of Empire was solid, it took a while to get going and generally you had a feeling as to where it was going. Dragonfly, by contrast, explodes into life from the first page with an epic siege (one of two - yes, two - sieges in the novel) as the Wasp Empire clashes with the ant-kinden city-state of Tark. Around this brutal storyline Tchaikovsky skilfully weaves a number of sub-plots that carry on the stories of characters from the first novel, as well as introducing a number of new faces. Make no mistake, this is a truly epic story that combines hard-edged action with subtle webs-within-webs of politics, and Tchaikovsky deserves serious credit for the way he manages to juggle the respective story lines. The pacing is pleasingly fast throughout, with not a dull moment to be had.

Characterisation (which arguably was a little hit and miss in Empire) is cranked up several notches in Dragonfly. The novel continues the stories of the main protagonists from the first book, and it's good to see them develop more fully this time around. Stenwold's struggle with the responsibility piled on him is intriguing to watch unfold, but I was most impressed with Totho's development. He really does undergo some serious changes, and the struggle he faces as his old and new worlds collide is excellently handled. Cheerwell - one of my least favourite characters from the first novel - is thankfully largely sidelined this time around, though no doubt we'll see more of her in the next book, Blood of the Mantis.

There's plenty of new faces as well: Drephos the Imperial auxiliary-artificer is superbly creepy and unpredictable, as is Uctebri. As usual, new characters means new insect kinden, and as always it's exciting when new races make an appearance (there are a couple of very cool new ones, but I won't spoil the surprise!). The leader of the spider contingent (can't recall his name!) is also nicely drawn, as are the spiders as a whole - hopefully we'll see a lot more of them, as their society (and the inherent politics) appear very interesting indeed. Once again - with both old and new characters - Tchaikovsky develops complex, believable relationships that evolve over the course of the novel (the relationship between Stenwold and Arianna is a very good example). The strong military aspect of Dragonfly means that we get to see the true impact and horror of war on various people, and this is a theme that Tchaikovsky uses to maximum effect.

Having looked at my criticisms of Empire, I'm pleased to see that all have been rectified in Dragonfly. The prose is a more dynamic and visceral, and the novel itself - due to the skillful plotting - is more cohesive as a whole.

Verdict: With Dragonfly Falling, Adrian Tchaikovsky has basically taken everything that made Empire in Black and Gold so enjoyable, added some new characters and story lines to the mix, and then turned it all up to eleven. The result is a gripping novel that is easily one of the best epic fantasies I've read in some time, and I'm now feverishly anticipating the third instalment, Blood of the Mantis. Highly recommended.

The action in Dragonfly Falling picks up right where Empire in Black and Gold left off. And for those who haven't read Empire yet, this review will contain some spoilers about what has gone on before. The Wasp Empire has suffered its first major setback but they are unrelenting and press ever onwards, intent on dominating the Lowlands. In this book we are introduced to some new characters, including the much talked about Emperor of the Wasp Empire, a paranoid and bored man who wants to carve out a destiny for himself unlike any ruler before him in Wasp history. He is also willing to work with anyone and do almost anything to avoid what he sees must happen. Whilst juggling the politicking and press of the army, he pursues his own dark ambition which introduces us to a new mysterious Kinden and the hint of a dark, old and very dangerous power. Magic, in the main, is regarded as nothing more than superstition and sleight of hand. Kinden's Art is the only real reflection of power outside of what we would consider normal, but once again Tchaikovsky makes us question what we think we know.

Stenwold Maker has been talking for decades about the threat of the Empire, and sadly, his words have not been heeded. Long ago he witnessed the fall of one city, and now the Wasps lay siege to the Ant city of Tark. Ants are some of the best soldiers in the world. Their hive mind makes them implacable, a unified fighting force that is incomparable to anyone and yet as a race they are not able to adjust quickly and adapt to new ways. The Wasps have many artificers from many conquered Kinden, who bring deadly war machines the Ants have not faced before. Facing new tactics and a new way to wage war, the result is a messy conflict to put it mildly. Dragged into this maelstrom of blood and destruction is Totho and Salma. The former goes through quite an epic journey in this book, starting out from a dark place internally and by the end of the book he is actually in a worse position, stuck between a rock and a hard place. He make some difficult decisions, he effectively sells his soul, and yet finds joy and happiness in some unexpected places. Once again, Tchaikovsky offers no easy answers. Nothing is black and white, no characters are truly good or evil, and even those we may previously have disliked or have been encouraged to hate, are now objects of pity, respect and in some cases admiration.

There are a lot of other characters in what is an ever growing cast, who also move through important phases in their lives, so it is difficult to cover them all. Put briefly, Tynisa and her father, the amazing Tisamon, embark on a personal journey that will dramatically change both of them, but also our understanding of the Mantis Kinden. Salma follows his heart but the end of his journey is not what he or I was expecting. Stenwold must defend his home and rely on those, who at first, seem like some of the weakest allies he could ask for in a deadly conflict. Strength, heroism and sacrifice for the greater good is found in some remarkable places. A couple of other favourites of mine from this book were a new character called Parops who is a Tarkish Ant, and the slightly terrifying, Balkus, a Sarnish Ant and ally of Scuto, the Thorn Bug. Che and Archaeos seek new and old allies to stem the tide, as no one can ignore the Wasps anymore, and the story Stenwold has been telling is finally coming true. There are others I have not mentioned, but all our favourites are there, plus a couple of new faces.

Summarising this book is incredibly difficult as there is a lot going on and it is very much one chunk of a much larger story. Despite being a hefty tome I clawed my way through it in less than a week because I was just desperate to know what happened next to characters that I had grown to care about. Relationships are complex and realistic and all of the characters are very well drawn and unique. This is epic fantasy on a grand scale and I can see why Tchaikovsky mentioned in a recent interview it is likely the series will run to ten books.

New Kinden are introduced in each book, but we are never forced to read pages and pages of background, choking the plot and bringing the pace to a grinding halt. The information is introduced subtly, hinting at parts of the world we might never see, but Tchaikovsky has clearly thought about and planned out. If the story were to suddenly veer off in one unexpected direction, and sometimes it does, we do not fall off the map into a place marked only with a skull and crossbones. The history of the world is also introduced in a similar manner, carefully and when important to the story, and we have glimpses of what went before the current story. For me, this is how world building should be done, with care for the reader and with an eye on the pace of the story. This is a real page turner as the story grows more complicated and also more unpredictable, the lines between friend and enemy become blurred, and the future for the characters is uncertain. Terrible costs have been paid while others are well past due and it is very likely that some of our favourite characters will not make it. An excellent second chapter in a unique fantasy epic.

War has come to the Lowlands. Three great cities - Tark, Collegium and Sarn - are in danger of assault from the Wasp Empire and their allies, with the Empire hoping to seize all of the Lowlands in a single, swift campaign. In Collegium, the spymaster Stenwold Maker finds himself pressed into leading the defence of the city of students and artificers against the disciplined Ant-soldiers of Vek. In Tark, Salma and Totho find themselves aiding the defence against the Wasp onslaught, whilst in Sarn Che and Achaeos are hoping to find new allies amongst the Ant-kinden and their Moth and Mantis neighbours.

But in Capitas, in the heart of the Empire, the young Emperor has found himself a new prisoner, one with access to dark and powerful sorcery which he has offered to put at the Emperor's disposal...

The second volume of The Shadows of the Apt series picks up where Empire in Black and Gold left off, with the Wasp-kinden and their allies launching their invasion of the divided Lowlands in force. Whilst Empire was a story of back-alley knife-fights, political intrigue and clandestine dealings, Dragonfly Falling is an outright war story. Great armies and naval fleets clash, walls are defended and all manner of heroic last-stands and unexpected reversals (for both sides) take place. The slightly over-familiar military activity (Tchaikovsky is good at this stuff, but nowhere near as good as say David Gemmell or Paul Kearney) is livened up by all manner of steampunk battiness: airships, gyrocopters and even primitive submarines join the battles, one engagement turns on the deployment of a primitive air-rifle, troops are rushed into the warzone by steam trains and so on. This gives the scenes of combat and battle some much-needed freshness, as do the different kinden using their racial abilities in a massed form on the battlefield.

All of this action comes at the expense of some of Empire's quieter moments of intrigue, scene-setting and characterisation. Tchaikovsky hasn't got the time, even in a book almost 700 pages in length, to dwell on some moments like he did in the first volume and some elements are under-developed as a result (and some, like the formation of the Ancient League and the growing concerns of the Spiderlands over the Empire's expansion, take place entirely off-page). That said, there are some very well-developed subplots. Totho, one of the less-visible characters in the first novel, gets his own story here which may be nothing new (the corruption of power and ambition) but is told extremely well and based on his character development through the first two novels. Salma, the foppish swordsman of the first book, finds himself reluctantly becoming a Robin Hood figure behind enemy lines, whilst Major Thalric of the Wasp intelligence service finds himself drawn into political infighting whilst being relentlessly hunted by a murderous old nemesis.

These storylines are handled well and come together satisfyingly at the end in a solid convergence. However, after several hundred pages the battles do start blurring into one another and the relentlessly fast pace with barely a room for breath is somewhat wearying at times. In addition, the sudden deployment of a magical deus-ex-machina talisman into this steampunk story feels a bit redundant, especially since it seems mainly to be scene-setting for the next book. Still, this is for the most part a page-turning, inventive read.

Dragonfly Falling (***½) isn't quite as inventive as the first novel, but remains an enjoyable and different slice of epic fantasy. It is available now in the UK and USA.