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Title: Dragonfly Falling
Title: Dragonfly Falling
Series:
Shadows of the Apt #2
Author:
Adrian Tchaikovsky
Rating:
4 of 5 Stars
Genre:
Fantasy
Pages:
692
Format:
Digital Edition
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Synopsis: |
The Empire defeats a supposedly unbeatable Ant City with new weapons and we are introduced to the Head Artificer of the Empire. A half breed named Drephos. He takes Totho under his wing and Totho ends up throwing his lot in with the Empire so that he can make what he wants and take the respect he feels he deserves.
The Empire makes an alliance with
another Ant City that has a grudge against Collegium. With the city
of Tark out of the way, the Vekken can take Collegium. Stenwold must
muster the forces of Collegium to throw back this attack.
Cheerwell is captured and escapes.
Salma is captured, escapes and begins a guerilla war against the
Empire. Tisamon and Tynisia go to the last surviving Mantis
stronghold so that Tynisia can earn her Master Swordsman badge.
We are introduced to the Wasp Emperor;
a young, insecure man who ends up with a Mosquito kinden as
counselor. This Mosquito promises him eternal life if he can get
ahold of a certain object of power. A disparate group is sent to
Collegium to recover this box and ends with one of the group going
off on their own to sell the box to the highest bidder.
Fighting, fighting, fighting!
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My Thoughts:
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I powered through this. It is just one massive battle scene after another. You get a reprieve, just long enough to catch your breath, before Tchaikovsky throws you head first into another fight. I read the second 50% of the book in one afternoon and I almost felt like gasping when I was done, the battles were so palpable.
We also learn that Magic isn't quite so
gone as many of the Apt kinden would like to believe. As long as
there are InApt kinden, magic will continue to exist. So far, all
the magic I've seen is pretty bad stuff. Taking fears, darkness,
rage, hatred and a lust for power and turning them into usable power.
There is no Gandalf the Grey kicking around this land. Magic was used
for subjugation and that was why the Apt kinden overthrew their
masters hundreds of years ago and claimed the land.
The politics of the Empire begins to
take a big part of the book as well. It is not nearly as monolithic
as presented in the first book. There are political factions as well
as Security factions and the Empire has truly gotten big enough that
people are beginning to think of taking some of that power for
themselves. It makes the Rekef [the Security people of the Empire] a
much more scary thing, as we see it begin to fracture and be used for
personal power instead of being an Idea.
I am also realizing, on this re-read,
that there is no Super Group to win a few battles and turn the tide.
This is a battle for survival and very few characters are guaranteed
that. Achaeos apparently dies as do boatloads of side characters.
Stenwold Makers corp of spies keep getting wiped out and it is brutal
to watch. This might be a fantasy series, but it really does show the
ugly side of war.
This was just as good a read as the
first time back in '10. It just was a bit darker for me.
★★★★☆
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