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Title: For Love of Distant Shores
Series: Tales of the Apt #3
Author: Adrian Tchaikovsky
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 364
Words: 118K
Series: Tales of the Apt #3
Author: Adrian Tchaikovsky
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 364
Words: 118K
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Synopsis:
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Amazon
and Me
For Love of Distant Shores features the
exploits of scientist-cum-adventurer Doctor Ludweg Phinagler, as
recorded by his (semi-)faithful assistant, Fosse.
A maverick academic, Phinagler is able to charm almost everyone he meets… except for his fellow academics at Collegium, with whom he is frequently at odds. In part to escape the resultant animosity and scandal, and in part to satisfy his own thirst for knowledge, Phinagler mounts a series of expeditions to the far-flung corners of the world (regions which the author always knew were there but which the main narrative of the novels never allowed him to fully explore). In the process, he confronts ancient mysteries and deadly dangers that the majority of kinden would scarcely believe exist.
A maverick academic, Phinagler is able to charm almost everyone he meets… except for his fellow academics at Collegium, with whom he is frequently at odds. In part to escape the resultant animosity and scandal, and in part to satisfy his own thirst for knowledge, Phinagler mounts a series of expeditions to the far-flung corners of the world (regions which the author always knew were there but which the main narrative of the novels never allowed him to fully explore). In the process, he confronts ancient mysteries and deadly dangers that the majority of kinden would scarcely believe exist.
In the first story, Phinagler and Fosse
explore an underwater lake and barely escape slavery and vivisection.
In the second story they head to the
Desert of Nem to find lost treasure and find a mad Slug Magician
instead.
The third story has them hiking into
one of the great forests to track down the Kinden who built a
mysterious tower. Not only do they find the kinden, they find 8 wasps
who seem to have immortality through being reborn using the
aforementioned Kinden as hosts.
The final story has them crossing the
Great Sea and discovering a new land where the people don't talk
their language, appear to have no kinden and can apparently change
shape. The story ends with Phinagler vowing to come back and Fosse
retiring so she can have a polygamous relationship with 2 of the men
she met.
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My
Thoughts:
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Sadly, each of those Tales of the Apt books has been slowly
going downhill for me. With the final story ending up with a menage a
trois arrangement, I was very disappointed.
I liked the format of 4 novellas (they're not really short stories)
making up the book. Very pulp. Definitely riffing on the 1900's
Adventure Stories. Yet still fun.
Character wise, I wouldn't have minded if the main characters had
died each time and been replaced. Phinagler was an egotistical
jackass and Fosse was a gambling lowlife. I have to admit, there were
times I was really hoping they'd die. I really didn't like them.
The stories themselves were great. I like a good Adventure Story and
these were definitely that. Well, I didn't like the final story, but
that is because I knew it tied into his Echoes of the Fall
series and I really didn't care for that series. The other 3 though,
they were cool.
There is one more book of short stories in this series and I believe
it is by different authors, so we'll see how it goes.
★★★☆☆
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