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Title: Seal of the Worm
Series: Shadows of the Apt #10
Author: Adrian Tchaikovsky
Rating: 4.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 641
Format: Digital Edition
Series: Shadows of the Apt #10
Author: Adrian Tchaikovsky
Rating: 4.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 641
Format: Digital Edition
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Synopsis:
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Che and her
compatriots are stuck in the kingdom of the worm. They find out that
the worm kinden found an alternate source of power to magic or
aptness in the form of a giant centipede that they worship as a god.
This god wipes out all thought of magic and aptness from the minds of
those in its vicinity. Che tries to raise the populace to revolt but
it ends up turning into a run for survival as the Worm begins to
devour all of its underground slaves in preparation for breaking
forth upon the surface.
Empress Seda
figures out a ritual to re-seal the seal of the worm but she needs so
much power to do so. To obtain this power, she will use the death of
the thousands of Inapt subjects of the Wasp Empire. She begins a
progrom using the Slave Corp and once the camps are established, uses
the Red Watch to oversea the setting up of machinery to distribute
the bee-killer gas in the camps.
General Tynan, now
governor of Collegium is torn between his duty to the Empire and
plain old common sense. The Empress has him rounding up Inapt instead
of fighting the Empire's enemies. He is eventually driven out of
Collegium by Stenwold Maker and his sea-kinden allies. Tynan
retrenches in the Wasp capital and prepares to face multiple armies
that are all taking advantage of Seda's preoccupation with the ritual
instead of running her Empire.
The Worm begins
breaking out all over the world and destroys half of Capitas (wasp
capital). When Seda begins her ritual, a lot of the guards at various
camps rebel and do not use the bee-killer on the prisoners. Seda
reaches out to Che, as her sister in magic and Che drags Seda to the
underworld. They duel and Che wins. Totho, rogue artificer and
rejected lover of Che, is also in the underground kingdom. He is
captured and taken to be fed to the worm but has a belt of grenades.
He is able to use the grenades and destroys the giant centipede. This
destroys all the worm segments attacking the surface world and
fighting grinds to an immediate stop.
General Tynan, now
in charge, makes treaties with the various armies and their cities.
Stenwold dies in a worm attack. Tisamon is finally set free from
Seda's magical imprisonment as her bodyguard. Che and Thalric make
their way to the surface.
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My
Thoughts:
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I did not race through this book. I would read 20-30 pages here and
there and it took me almost 2 weeks to finish this off. Yet at the
same time it was not because I wasn't enjoying it. I immensely
enjoyed this re-read. It just felt like a big steak that I simply
couldn't gulp down. I had to take the time to cut it up into small
pieces and then chew each of those pieces thoroughly.
My only real complaint was how the worm god died. As I was reading
it, it struck me how exactly the same it was as the movie Edge of
Tomorrow. Both this book and that movie came out in 2014. They
were released within months of each other so I find it hard to
believe that one influenced the other. At the same time, the whole
idea of a belt of grenades killing the big baddie almost at the end
of the story seems too similar to ignore.
I had forgotten that Stenwold dies. I was under the impression that
he went back under the sea with his lady friend. It was rather
fitting though, since the group that started the book are now all
dead. Very “circle of life” and all that.
In that vein, I thought Tchaikovsky did a good job of wrapping up all
the various characters and their storylines. Very few have a happy
ending but those who live have a decent ending and a chance to go on.
After 10 books of almost continual warfare, you really can't ask for
much more than that.
The series overall upon this re-read came out even better.
Tchaikovsky can write and each book told a good story while advancing
the series narrative. The quality of his writing was top notch and
shows that he has mastered the art of writing entertainment. I bought
this decalogy when it came out and this re-read has shown me that
that was money well spent. I started this re-read back in February of
2017 and am finishing it now, so its been 1 ¾ years of making my way
through this. I have enjoyed my time and don't begrudge it in any
way.
I realize that Tchaikovsky isn't going to be for everyone, but he is
one of those authors that I think everyone SHOULD try at least once.
Highly recommended.
★★★★½
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